eBooks Part 1
This Article delves deeper into issues revolving around eBooks and the technology surrounding them. Let’s start by looking at options as far as eBook readers are concerned. While most readers are free, an exception is the Rocket RCA eBook 1100, currently priced at US $ 299. It’s a neat-looking portable device that promises to hold up to a dozen books in one little piece of hardware, apart from offering lots of other features.
For a comparison of three main readers in detail, to help you choose one that suits you best, check out (http://ebooks.barnesandnoble.com/education/compare_readers.asp?userid=3WRU8AGL6L).
Assuming you’ve downloaded a reader, what do you do next? Why, you’re ready to browse through eBook bookshelves around the world! Ebooks.com has a unique concept that lets users cut pieces from many books and pack them into a single digital anthology. It’s fast, cheap, convenient and extremely useful for students. Barnes and Nobles also has a full fledged eBook section and offers the latest releases in a number of formats ranging from Microsoft Reader to Rocket editions.
Back to the copyright issues involved. After the current imbroglio the music industry is going through, the protection of digital material from infringement and unauthorised proliferation is an issue being dealt with very seriously by developers. Says Patricia Halstead of Versaware, Pune, a leader in the Internet and electronic publishing industry: “Most ebook formats have their own encryption rules e.g. for a palm book, the user has to key in his PID (which is the device number), and this gets encrypted on the fly so the downloaded book can only be read on this device.”
Currently, eBook developers hope to unify the industry with the Open eBook 1.0 Publication Structure Specification (http://www.openebook.org/), a public domain offering that outlines a common file format for eBook based content based on HTML and XML. One of the biggest issues is the lack of security, though Open eBook Authoring Group and other developers are addressing this issue. Working together, they have crafted proposals in DRM and a common content format to secure the future of eBooks.
A good reference guide to the who’s who in the digital copyright industry and their initiatives can be found at the ePaper Center at Adobe.com (www.adobe.com/epaper/features/newleaf/whoswho.html).