eBooks Part 3
Now for some good news — an eBook reader for the blind. News sources online reveal that a U.S. government standards body is close to unveiling an ebook reader for the blind that transforms electronic text into Braille. The reader was demonstrated at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s ebook conference (http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/ebook2000/) in Washington, D.C. It connects to a computer or a portable device and translates any document — be it an e-book, email or other text file — while browsing on the Web. The reader will cost less than $1,000 as compared to current Braille models that can run up to $15,000!
Keeping in mind the impact eBooks can have for students warrants a little more on Versaware eStudyBooks. Powerful and interactive, these textbooks allow users to search through multiple books and highlight important passages. Students can create notes directly inside their books and export them to their friends. They can also save web research in binders, and check out fully embedded motion media such as video, sounds, speeches and interactive charts. Leading publishers including McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley and John Wiley and Sons have chosen Versaware eStudyBooks as their format of choice for electronic textbooks. Online learning companies like eCollege.com have also partnered with Versaware to offer students a privately branded bookstore where they can purchase Versabook textbooks and reference titles, and then view then online.
BBC Worldwide recorded a new first this month when it published its first ebook on November 13 — the novel, ‘On The Edge’ (www.ontheedgebook.co.uk) by Rupert Smith. The USP here is the speed of accessing the eBook, which will enable users to read the work ten days before it is published in paperback format in the UK.
While it is probably unlikely that you will curl up on a bench beside the beach with an ebook, the verdict seems to be clear - ebooks are here to stay! Which brings us, finally, to the question haunting bookworms, publishers, and booklovers everywhere: Will all this lead to the end of the paperback?
An answer comes well encapsulated from the author of Ice Candy Man, Bapsi Sidhwa who, in a recent interview with rediff.com, said: “The world around us is changing at such a dizzying pace that I dare not predict what the future of reading will be like. Already I find some of my students do their reading and research only on the Internet. I am fairly sure of one thing only — and that is that storytelling and the need to hear stories will never die.”