Digital Book Blog

"Can Sony do for electronic books what Apple has done for digital music and video?" This article asks just that question. With the release of Sony's new paperback-size Portable Reader System this is a viable question to ask. The device only weighs 9 ounces and is one-half inch thick. The device will sell for $349.99 and will hold up to 80 e-books.

Sony is also establishing a store similiar to iTunes, which is a digital storefront where electronic books may be purchased. Sony has deals with six major publishing houses and almost 10,000 titles at its store, which is called Connect e-Book-store. The books can be downloaded, at a slightly discounted price compared to the printed version, and then put on the Sony e-book reader. This is similar to someone that buys MP3s from iTunes and puts them on their iPod.

The device is very unique. It only uses battery power when a new page is displayed and simulates actual ink on paper harnessing new electronic paper technology. One drawback it is only PC XP compatible and doesn't work with the Mac OS. Also, the device will only display e-books purchased from the Sony e-book store, and not others.

However, the device will display images, text documents, PDFs, and play audio files. I think that is a great addition to the product depending on the amount of space for additional content. Panasonic is currently working on their own e-reader to compete with Sony's.

So, "Can Sony do for electronic books what Apple has done for digital music and video?" Only time will tell, but my prediction is probably not. Apple has a much larger market. Those who are interested in music and video content far surpass those who are interested in e-books.

Digital Books Could Make a Breakthrough With New Sony E-Reader

The following are articles that discuss the deal between Kirtas Technologies, the place we are visiting next class, and Microsoft.

http://www.forbes.com/prnewswire/feeds/prnewswire/2006/10/17/prnewswire200610170935PR_NEWS_B_MAT_NY_NYTU119.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35156

"Kirtas Technologies, a leading innovator and provider of digital scanning solutions, is pleased to announce the signing of a digitization agreement with Microsoft Corp. to provide the highest quality digital books available in the world."

I feel that the presentation we had at Wallace Library, as Jon said, did bring a lot of issues to the table as to why e-books are as popular as they had anticipated. The point that I brought up during that presentation was that the readers, although small, aren't as portable as one would think. With an actual book, there are no issues as to what could happen to the book if I were to bring it to the beach or if I were to bring it on a plane. If I brought a book to the beach or on a plane I wouldn't be too concerned about it being knocked around or if I got sand or water on it. The contents will not be harmed (depending on the damage), however if I were to bring a reader to the beach or on a plane, I would be very concerned with it getting broken or ruined, which could in tern cause damage to the contents. The fact that readers are so expensive cause one to be more concerned with it's handling. If it breaks, that's over $300 down the drain. The rebuttal was that e-books are very useful in education. This may be true and I won't necessarily argue that point, other than to say that in the 4 years I have been here I haven't been asked to use an E-Book once. Now, this may change in the coming years and more professors may be inclined to use E-books which would negate my recent comment. All in all, it was a great way for us to take a look at the different issues at hand.

This article reminded me about David Pankow's presentation on the evolution of books. During his presentation he spoke of how books have been evolving to fit our wants and needs. He made the comparison to the movie The Shrinking Man, and how the tiniest books that may not be convinient for us, may be for others. This article suggests the same for e-readers. It briefly touched on rollable e-ink displays, which I didn't know much about, so I clicked on that link to read more. I think the idea of rollable e-ink displays gives e-reader manufacturers the freedom to have their product evolve with time. The rollable e-ink display allows an individual to carry a reader around in their pocket, pull it out, and roll out a 5 inch screen. This screen is capable of displaying text, graphics and maps, on an easy to read screen that is even readable in bright sunlight. The article goes on to say that when the reader is done they can unroll the display which returns the reader to pocket size. Like David Pankow, I believe that not only will books continue to evolve to suit our needs, but now e-books and e-readers will do the same.

For Reference:
http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=3519

The article "Plastic Paper to 'cut' emissions", found on the BBC news site, talks about how the Toshiba electronics company has developed a thermal printer that uses "plastic paper." The "paper" is made from a plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) that is the same type of plastic used for soda bottles. A thin layer of PET gets a coating of heat sensitive pigment that gets heated or cooled to make it black or white. This "paper" can be reused up to 500 times with text or graphics. The printer has a resolution of 12 dots per millimeter or 300 dpi. With the re-use of the "PET paper" this new printer has comparable costs to today's Industrial laser printers, but costs about $10 a sheet.

The B-SX8R (the printer) is only available in Japan at the moment but is expected to be launched in Europe by 2008. It is being introduced to help reduce carbon emissions because when compared to traditional laser printers it produces about one sixth of the carbon emissions. It will also help reduce the amount of paper that the companies with this technology use. It is not intended to replace paper but it should help a lot in "closed-loop" situations. However, with the plastic of the substrate the solid waste may not meet specifications for introduction into Europe.

I think that this technology sounds really neat, especially because we are all involved in the printing industry. This could be a new step towards future technology that we will all be using, you never know. Although, it does sound like it has a few bugs to get worked out first.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6174052.stm

Hopes for "real" reform of the copyright policy regarding the internet have faded when Representative Howard L. Berman "was named chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the Internet and intellectual property" (para. 1). Mitchell notes that Lawrence Lessig stated on his blog that change is needed "to fit the legitimate objectives of copyright -- to assure that artists have the incentives they need to create great new work -- into the contours of digital technology" (para. 2). Mr. Berman is known as not being an advocate for copyright reform. He once proposed a bill in the committee that would allow copyright holders to hack into and infringe on peer to peer sharing; allowing copyright holders to destroy personal computers. Mitchell simply states that putting Mr. Berman in charge of this type of committee just doesn't make sense. In another section of the article Mitchell talks about the fact that purchasing of electronic media was at its highest on Christmas day meaning that many people are choosing to download songs legally rather than getting them illegally. With the release of Microsoft's Zune, their store's hits are up too, but not as much as Apple's iTunes.

"Copyrights and Congress" by Dan Mitchell: NY Times January 6, 2007

Plastic Logic has raised $100 million to fund a new facility to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale. This just opens the door a bit more for the breakthrough of digital books. The Plastic Logic company expects to expand their product category to 41.6 million total units in 2010. This new expansion for the Plastic Logic company shows that this new technology is seeing a bright future. John Mills, Chief Operating Officer at Plastic Logic, commented that these displays "will enable electronic reader products that are as comfortable and natural to read as paper whether you're on a beach, in a train or relaxing on the sofa at home."

Site:
http://www.plasticlogic.com/news-detail.php?id=300

Today, some colleges and universities are evolving their library into digital environment. Since we are living in the Information Age, most college students would rather use the Internet than card catalogue when doing their school papers. According to the University of Texas librarians, they believed that the digital library is very flexible and easy to use. That is because in the past, students would check books in and out and the librarians would have to work hard to put these books back to where they belong. This time, there would be no book stacks and students could just surf the internet or database to look for all the information they need.

It seems that it is a great idea that the library is transforming into digital library because most students do not use the library books to research for their papers and they want more spaces for their studies. So, the plan is to empty the books and place the computers on the shelves and add some comfortable couches. On the contrast, some people think that throwing the books away is not good idea. They believe that people should to do "the old fashioned way" to find specific information for their research papers instead of "googling" the information. Also, some librarians are concerned because students could become lazy and they would rely on using the Internet more than using the traditional paper books to find information. Today, people are concerned if they have made the right decision to turn it into digital library or they should have kept it the way it was before.

Source: http://www.bookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055493

This article is about a new machine, almost like an ATM machine that can produce books on demand. I think that this concept is pretty interesting, and almost surprised that it was not created before this time. This impressive machine is said to be able to "print, align, mill glue and bind two books simultaneously in less than seven minutes, including full-color laminated covers." As of right now the books can be up to 550 pages long but with assurances that future versions will be able to handle longer pieces with no problem.

The release date for the "ATM for Books" is during this year. The New York Public Library getting theirs in February., being among the very few selected to house this machine, only ten to 25 bookstores and libraries will have this chance.

I think that this invention is quite amazing, but I am skeptical on how it will do on when it is out on the market. I think that for a while it will be a very successful machine due to pure curiosity factor. Once this thrill wares off the profit will subside tremendously. Due to profit decrease I really wonder if would be worth the amount of energy it uses to run.

I would be interested in getting to see this new machine in action and hopefully it is a success. It will be the perfect substitute for when the book you need from the library is checked out and the bookstore is sold out as well.

Article by Emily Maltby

Check this article out at: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2006/12/01/8395114/index.htm?postversion=2006121409

The presentation made me realize that nowadays e-books are becoming more popular but the e-book readers are too expensive to purchase! It seems ridiculous to purchase over three hundred dollars worth for an e-book reader. But since it is a new technology, it is always expensive so nothing is new. Personally, I have never used one and I am curious to see what it is like. When the time is right and the price is low, I would probably buy one! It would be nice to have a reader since it is small and easy to carry around. Another good advantage is that it could hold more than fifty books. This is a great thing to have when going on a long journey so that way you wouldn't have to carry so many books with you.

Of course, in the beginning, e-book readers are not that popular yet. But I believe that it would become successful because readers have many advantages and benefits. Although there are some disadvantages such as e-books could not be printed or it is not readability, company would try to improve their weaknesses and meet people' expectation.

I think that this was a great lecture for this class; I would almost suggest having it sooner in the quarter. I have never really used an eBook nor did I know that we had such an immense collection available for use.

The only issue that I have with eBooks, for myself would be all of the disadvantages. One of the largest downfalls of eBooks is the lack of industry collaboration. I think that if all of the producers of the books worked together the concept would be much more successful. As it is the readers for eBooks are far too expensive to purchase one of those instead of just buying or borrowing books for the normal person who enjoys reading. The convenience of this type of technology I think will create business but one for those that look for convenience and money is not an issue.

This presentation was very informative. This is something that will be helpful to me if I ever choose to purchase an eBook reader for myself. But for now I think I'll stick with paper for all of my pleasure reading.

Reading novels on cell phones has became a latest trend in Japan. Several thousands of people are downloading full length novels to their cell phones. In this nation, mobile phone has become so widespread as an entertainment and communication device that reading e-mail, news headlines and weather forecasts are done on cell phones. Several mobile websites are offering novels that are particularly written for this medium. The improved feature of the mobile phone is also another reason for this achievement. People say that it is more comfortable to read short stories and novels with phones and to carry it around.

A college graduate quoted, "You can read whenever you have a pare moment and you don't even need to use both hands". The Tokyo based wireless service provider started this book service in 2003, and found the number of subscribers increased every year. There were a few successful books written for this medium which then turned to become movie and books. This tradition is also spreading in China and Korea.

Source: http://election.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/23/tech/main682569.shtml

Here is some information I found when researching Kirtas Technologies.
-October 2006: signed agreement with Microsoft to provide the highest quality digital books available in the world
-Kirtas will scan works for Microsoft's Live Book Search Web-based application and books will become available early next year
-project includes copyrighted material furnished by publisher partners as well as select collections of public domain material provided by library partners
-Kirtas is the fastest robotic book scanner in the world
-machine is the APT BookScan 2400 and software is BookScan Editor PRO that guarantees an overall error rate lower than 1 per 10,000 pages
-2,400 pages can be digitally scanned and stored per hour = about eight minutes per book

Links:
www.kirtas-tech.com/uploads/ other/Kirtas-Microsoft-CUL.pdf
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5015cc2a-5e4f-11db-82d4-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=81cea682-52a8-11da-8d05-0000779e2340.html

The presentation gave me a lot of information regarding ebooks and accessing various databases in RIT. It clearly explained the outstanding issues that industry is facing for the ebooks to succeed. It also highlighted the costs of the ebook readers and why they are not getting popular among people. The sale forecast of the ebooks really told us the problems why the technology is not growing fast. From this presentation I got a good sense of the industry.

This article explains the joy of writing and reading on a paper today, even with the lot of advanced electronic hand-held devices for handling text information. The processors in the market today, can handle multiple information and formats of data, but for plain text book seems to be best. For the various reading device, first of all, the complexity of using the device is pretty high, secondly, one have to install a reading software in the system to make it work. After doing all of these, the final experience achieved still does not match reading from a printed book.

Prototype reader reflect the next step toward the e-book technology, but the biggest obstacle to this is the screen resolution. The low resolution, bright contrast and low battery power are some of the problems that the reading device faces. Sony and iRex released e-book reader which uses a technology called e-paper. This display with its electronic ink looks pretty much like looking at a paper.

One of the important issue concerning e-books is handling Digital Rights Management (DRM). The publishing industry want to be sure that each author gets paid for their work. It doesn't want the e-book to be the same as the digital music as today. Sony tries to dominate the e-book market by hosting a e-book store. The article concludes by saying e-books are unlikely to compete, but with the wide spread of new technologies, it could make a change.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/4849368.stm

I love Apple, and pretty much anything they come out with is amazing in my eyes, When some friends mentioned that they came out with a phone I was of course intrigued. I haven't been able to check out all of the specs of the new phone but I found this blog that was a response to someone's post as the iPhone as an eBook reader.

With the phone being able to be read at either orientation, you can switch to a horizontal view from the phones normal vertical orientation. In the horizontal position you have 3.5 inches of screen space, as some have noted, a perfect size for reading.

One of the other main points of this article was that no one really wants to buy one device to do one thing. People want one device to do as many things as possible, on top of being the best and portable at that. The iPhone does just that. I think that this is going to be a major selling point for this device. Although this device is nearing the $500 mark, I know that it will still be a good sell. With some iPods going for almost $350, I'm sure that some won't mind spend $150 more to get a device with internet access and of course phone service.

Another good point that this blog brings up is that Apple may have a few tricks up its sleeve. People typically look at Amazon and Google as big players for distributing electronic information but Apple has done quite a good job as well with iTunes. I think that right now Apple might not be a big player in the electronic information area but are soon going to be taking the world by surprise.

Check out the blog at: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/01/the_iphone_as_a.html

Adobe has now up a list of sites to go to for digital books online and around the world.

http://www.adobe.com/epaper/ebooks/ebookmall/

This site offers you a wide selection of ebooks from different unviersities and around the world.

http://www.digitalbookindex.org/about.htm

I learned alot from the ladies in the library. They had a lot of insightful information from a librarian's perspective. I learned exactly what an ebook is and the history of the ebook. It is amazing how many different formats they have to be available to be displayed on. The benefits of an ebook are tremendous for students needing to do research... they can do it anytime anywhere that internet is available, but they also brought out the disadvantages of ebooks. It was a very interesting class and had interesting information.

Anyone know why E-book readers come no cheaper than $200 a pop? This article from March 2006 opened my eyes as to why readers may be so expensive. The article starts off by making the point that many PDA users may not only be using their BlackBerry's and Palms for just email or notes, but they may also be using these common hand held devices to be the medium for an e-book. The segway into the meat of the article comes in one easy sentence, "That may be a great book, but an uncomfortable means of reading it." The main point of this article is about Electronick-Ink Microcapsules, which are positively and negatively charged white and black beads, suspended in a clear liquid, which is being used in E-book reader screens. This technology is supposed to help in the reading process of text. Due to poorly backlit LCD screens, it makes reading e-books on Palms or BlackBerry PDA's very difficult, which in turn make the experience of reading an e-book overwhelming and not worth it. The E-Ink Microcapsules are designed to immitate the physics of paper. Like I mentioned before, these microcapsules are divided into positively charged white beads and negatively charged black beads. The way this works is, if a positive charge runs through the device, the black beads (being negatively charged) will rise to the top of the clear liquid they are suspended in and then become visible, and vise versa. The article goes on to say that this idea makes up a four-color greyscale screen that reflects light the exact same way it would be on paper. This allows people who read e-books to be faced with a paperless yet paperlike reading experience. With all this technology, you can understand why e-book readers are so expensive now. However, I do have a question for everyone to think about. Notice how through technological advancements, we are able to create paperlike reading in a paperless device that costs a big chunk of change. It seems that no matter how far we try and get away from the physical paper books, something about it always pulls us back. So is it worth spending an enormous amount of money on something that just wants to emulate the physical paper filled book?

Reference:
http://www.physorg.com/news62943824.html

The blog Digitization 101 has an entry by Jill Hurst-Wahl titled http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2005/03/dont-get-goggle-eyed-over-googles-plan.html, which referenced an article from The Chronicle of Higher Education. It is a little out-dated from March 11, 2005 but is very prevalent to what we discovered at Kirtas Technologies. The author states that we shouldn't throw away our library cards just yet because there are issues that have come up for Google. These include copyright, past failures, preserving books, Google's future, and ecological concerns. One thing that they are still failing to do is preservation of books, but from what we found out at Kirtas, Microsoft is doing everything it can to preserve the hard copy of the books they scan and are making the digitized files available for multi-use.

The blog quotes Mark Y. Herring, the author of the article, referring to the preservation of books: "My guess is that Google has underestimated, perhaps substantially, the percentage of books that will be damaged or that cannot undergo rapid digitization. Not only will some books be too fragile, or bound too tightly to lie flat, but even some newer books, owing to rapid manufacture, fall out of their bindings in 12 months or less. Handling -- even by careful digitizers -- will doubtless leave more than a few volumes without covers. Working with both groups of titles will increase Google's costs."

The blogger poses a question that is very interesting; she asks if Google will slow down the process and give libraries more of a thought once a fragile book is really harmed. I wonder if Google has realized what Microsoft has in its hands to digitize books without harming the books and retaining the original character of the books. From what we heard last Tuesday, they have not changed their digitization process, which means that the files created by Kirtas and Microsoft will be of much higher value to the world.

http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2005/03/dont-get-goggle-eyed-over-googles-plan.html

OverDrive, Inc., a digital media distributor, has partnered with the Lakeshore Northeast Ohio Computer Association to launch the School Download Library, a new service for nearly 150,000 students, educators, and parents from over 50 public and private school districts in the Greater Cleveland area to borrow and download audiobooks and ebooks .

School Download Library comes pre-loaded with a core collection of 740 titles with simultaneous access to every title by all students. The titles are organized by grade level and age with many available in both audio book and ebook formats. After downloading free software on a computer, students search the School Download Library and then download and listen or read the selected title using a student library card. The titles can be listened to or read on laptops, computers, Pocket PCs, PDAs, Smartphones, and MP3 players. At the end of the loan period, the download automatically expires.

School Download Library features a wide selection of classics, modern literature, picture books, foreign language learning, and study guides. Teachers can upload their own digital media, such as lesson plans, curricula, or digital audio recordings for students to download.

http://www.managinginformation.com/news/content_show_full.php?id=5425

iriver's horseless e-book reader: Wow - two screens!

http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6041

When I found this blog on the new iriver e-book reader prototype I thought it was worth mentioning. This reader opens up like a regular two page book with binding, but is E-ink of course. It has touch screen ingenuity and is supposed to run on AAA batteries for six months. Although, it still has ghosting and refresh problems according to the manufacturer, but being a prototype these problems could likely be fixed before becoming available for consumer purchase.
The blogger, David Rothman, believes that this reader would be more viable without the second screen because the two column, dual page software may not work out very well. He predicts that the real thing will probably not be available for less than $400 either, which can keep it out of some market segments because of its price. He also reasons that the iriver name may bring problems with marketers and or the Apple Corporation.

With the release of Apple's new iPhone at Macworld less than a week ago there has been nonstop buzz about it in the news. The phone mixes the capabilities of a phone, iPod video, and a PDA all in one. You can browse the Internet, run certain programs, among many other things. The gadget has a huge 3.5-inch wide color touch screen. With a screen this big and it essentially running a "mini" operating system the question: "Can the iPhone help the e-book industry?" becomes a very viable question.

The phone will presumably be able to open and display PDFs, so e-book reading wouldn't be an issue. Most e-book readers out there now only can do one thing, which is read e-books. People don't want to have to carry a laptop, a phone, an e-book reader, etc around with them, so the iPhone is a great all-in-one gadget. Plus, the cost of e-book readers is expensive (the Sony e-book reader is $349), so one could buy one of these iPhones for not that much more with so much more capabilities to do other things.

The phone has a technology built in that automatically switches the orientation of the content you are looking at from the vertical to horizontal view. This gives you a much wider screen to view the content you are currently displaying. Being able to read long bunches of text becomes very practical.

However, there are probably going to be problems, like there are with most first generation technologies. From what I've read the battery life isn't all that great, while devices solely dedicated to e-books have a very long battery life and can simulate actual ink on paper. So, "Can the iPhone help the e-book industry?" Only time will tell, but there is one there for sure, it certainly will not hurt it.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/the-apple-iphone/

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/01/09/apple.macworld.ap/index.html

http://www.apple.com/iphone/

What a great tour and experience. It certainly wasn't what I pictured it was going to be. It was interesting to see how they take an actual book and turn it into a digital one. Now old books get a new life to them in digital form and a longer life. Though I don't know how we are going to form all books this way due to copyrights but I guess that will change eventually too. The way technology is changing it is so much easier just to download a book instead of going to the store to get or have to wait for it to come in the mail. This is going to be the future for books and Kirtas has shown that.

This article explains e-book could be read on a Sony Playstation Portable. This is interesting because Playstation Portable or PSP is a handheld game console. Most people today download e-book on their PDAs and cellphones. Who would ever think that we could download e-book on the PSP? However, there are some weaknesses about PDAs and cellphones. Some PDAs are expensive and people cannot afford to buy them. As for cellphones, some people have a difficult time reading on the cellphones because the texts are small.

It would be awesome if Sony adds an e-book reader feature in PSP. This seems like a great idea because it is cheaper than PDAs, the screen is bigger than the cellphone's, and it has long battery life. If PSP could be turned into en e-book reader, who knows if other game consoles such as Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3 could do the same. It is a neat idea for people who already own a PSP and people who are interested to buy PSP because they wouldn't have to buy a reader device. They could play games and read books on one device. If Sony does or will turn PSP into an e-book reader, I believe it could be a great benefit for Sony and readers since PSP has many advantages. Playstation portable is affordable, has relatively good screen, widely availability and has long battery life.

http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=2505

Everyone seems to want in on the manufacturing of e-book readers. Now, Amazon has been rumored to be making it's debut with it's own e-reader called the Kindle Machine. Most e-readers will end up using a software company such as Adobe for the reading of books, however it seems that Amazon wants to make the leap and not only have their own hardware, but use their own softwear on it. Amazon's Mobipocket is what is said to run on the Kindle Machine. So what do software companies do in this situation? Adobe seems to have the answer by continuing on and making more deals with "hardware people." Not only will Adobe keep trucking on, they have already started laying treds with Adobe LE, which is believed to be a program being used on the newly introduced iRiver E-book reader. This program allows the iRiver to read DRMed PDF files, which does not mean good news for the Sony Reader. Unfortunately, the Sony Reader can only read DRM files in BBeB format. Lucky for Sony, as of right now, the iRiver E-book seems to only be a prototype. It seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie.

Reference:
http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6069

The tour was very informative. Kirtas Technologies started in 2001, began to produce high end digital scanners and as a result of their testing process they found an opportunity for doing business. Currently it has a contract deal with Microsoft to scan books using the fastest robotic scanners. I was surprised when I heard it scans up to 2400 pages per hour (on average 8 mins per book). After scanning each book, the pages are double checked and made corrections to enhance quality of the image. This makes Kirtas Technologies unique when compared to what Google is currently doing. Currently Microsoft is digitalizing thousands of books published before 1923 from Cornell Library. These books are in the public domain and they will be freely available on the web soon. I was impressed by the new concept model scanners (fully automated), which could eliminate the labor cost .

Minnick Web Services, a web site and electronic publication service provider, increased eBook sales by 84 percent in 2006 and eBook hosting sales by 91 percent.

"Our substantial increase in eBook sales in 2006 shows that electronic publications are maturing into an integral part of the publishing world. It's still a new format that a minority of publishers are using, but it is becoming more widespread and accepted," said CEO Christopher J. Minnick.

Minnick Web Services doesn't just convert a printed magazine to an online format. By working with the publishing team, a new product is created that's designed to be read online, doesn't require scrolling, and has an extremely simple user interface.

"Our approach of offering custom electronic publications, rather than digital versions of print publications, uniquely positions us to take advantage of the convergence of the custom publishing and electronic publishing worlds," Minnick said.

This article proves that companies who are willing to work with publishers to create custom ebooks are going to benefit from new technologies.

http://wookie.minnickweb.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=2

Technology is all about digitizing, cataloging, and storing information. The recent trend is digitizing books. Microsoft and Google both have ventures in digitizing, cataloging, and storing books for people to search and read. Google Book Search is trying to digitize massive amounts for people to read online for free. Many have partnered with Google, while many others have been displeased saying they have been breaking copyright laws. Whatever the case, they have been digitizing heaps of books.

The most recent joiner of Google Book Search is the National Library of Catalonia. "The mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalonian bibliographic production and that related to the Catalonian linguistic area, to look after its conservation, and to spread its bibliographic heritage while maintaining the status of a universal center for research and consultation."

The National Library of Barcelona and four associate Catalonian libraries have decided to join the Google Book Search Library Project. They are digitizing the libraries' out-of-copyright books, which will allow millions of people around the world to access and read them, thus allowing them the capability to trace Catalonian history and culture through centuries of text.

Google has many partnerships with publishers, libraries, authors, etc. They are having many issues implementing the Book Search, legally and technology issues both. They are essentially taking photographs of every page of the book. Some are blurry, others are off centered, and many have people's fingers on the pages. You have to remember, its still in Beta.

http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/national-library-of-catalonia-joins.html

This article tells of Googles plan to do for books what Apple's iPod has done for music, quite the challenge if you ask me. Because of Googles large user base of 380 million people the company feels that this could be just the push that electronic books needs to make it big.

Some may think that this will push people away from purchasing books in printed form. But Jens Redmer, the director of Google Book Search in Europe, thinks just the opposite. "He did not believe taking books online would mean the end of the printed world but it would give readers more options when it came to buying." This is a point that can go either way, people could use the electronic format to view a sample of the book and then decided that that is something that they would want to purchase, or many will just use the free copy and not purchase the hard copy.

This will give the reader the power to choose how they read their books. Evan Schnittman of Oxford University Press makes the comment of "Do you really want to go on holiday carrying four novels and a guide book?" With the creation of electronics books, people have the ability to take large amounts of books with them on travels without having to deal with the burden of bulk that goes along with the typical hardbound book. Put all of the text that you want on an electronic device, whether it is a Blackberry, laptop or a special eBook reader and head out on your vacations.

Google does have quite the relationship with the publishing industry though. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are both sue Google with infringement on copyright, so this may be a challenge to surpass. Google will go one way and say that eBooks are the way to go and to make the information available to the public but is also saying, "We have you guys up against the wall." Hopefully Google will be able to take themselves out of the doghouse with the publishing industry and really make a name for electronic books.

Check out this article at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2557728,00.html

This article explains more about the book publishers' concern towards the digital realm and how Microsoft is trying to prevent piracy before it even gets started. Soon after Microsoft launched its new Microsoft Reader technology, a lot of people came forward to support its effort towards e-book piracy. Barnesandnoble opened an e-book store which featured Microsoft Reader. A new Star Trek series was available only online as an e-book version with a promotional sale. In collaboration with Association of American Publishers (AAP), Microsoft combined encryption with enforcement and education. Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft quoted, "The lessons of the music industry are not lost on my friends here". Moreover, he addressed to create an honest market for the e-books. He clearly stated that there wont be any progress until the author sell his/her product without being stolen. Microsoft Reader technology's strong encryption will prevent hackers from breaking information.

A newer version of the Microsoft Reader was under creation for the Pocket PC platform that will allow users from downloading and viewing b-books. A new committee to oversee the education and enforcement of e-book anti-piracy was created to monitor the illegal state of the e-books on web. Publishers and distributors were happy for the Microsoft's copyright protection efforts. Microsoft, book publishers and book sellers will team up together to work. This will prevent e-books from following the same road as music did.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2817

The article, "A Librarian's Lament: Books Are a Hard Sell" written by Thomas Washington discusses his perspectives on the changes in the library. As a librarian, he is disappointed by the fact that the library is changing. He thought that librarians were mostly united in their attraction to books but in reality, books weren't really their focus. It is all about technology. Today, librarians teach students how to use the database search, find information using the internet and use the digital data for sources. He also realizes that students still use books for their research papers but it wasn't the same as before. Back then, students would check out books and return them in two weeks or so. But today, students would check out books and return them the next day because they find more information through the digital media. Students believe that the digital media is more reliable than books.

The author knows books are fading away when he told a junior student about the benefits of reading books and she told him that she thinks that reading is lame. In another situation, some students would rather watch the DVD than reading the book because the book is too long and the movie summarizes everything. He has a hard time to convince the students that reading the book is better than watching the DVD. It is disappointing to see that the students do not have any respect for books anymore. This author tries his best to make the library stays the same but unfortunately it doesn't work. He needs to accept the fact that the library is changing and it will convert to digital format.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901361.html

I am finding nothing every week for an article on digital books. If anyone can help me, please do. I am sure that I am not the only one having trouble.

Dan

The article "Could this be the final chapter in the life of the book" by Dominic Rushe from the Sunday Times on Sunday, January 21, 2007 poses the issue that the book and life as we have known it for the last 500 years is changing and is changing rapidly. Rushe focuses on the issues that Google is facing in terms of copyright issues. He also looks at the libraries' points of view on digitization, as well as what Microsoft is doing. Rushe once typed his name into the Google Books search engine and he got 626 references. He found many passages containing his name that he never new existed, and he also found that some of the results gave him full access to content that he owned the copyright to.

Google began digitizing in and out of copyright material. It is in a legal battle with the Authors Guild, which is supported by the Association of American Publishers over the distribution of copyrighted materials on the internet. Rushe states that "A deal may yet be done, but neither side sounds in a compromising mood, and it looks likely that this will go all the way to the Supreme Court, whose ruling on this case may prove momentous." There is also a backlash against Google concerning its priority of search results. They favor the English language, so a European search engine is being developed to compete with Google and the "American cultural hegemony" mentality it possesses.

Microsoft has its own plans: "Furthermore, with the advance of library digitisation, students will increasingly get through their degrees on screen rather than in libraries. Indeed, Bill Gates expects in the very near future that Microsoft will be able to give all undergraduates a $400 hand-held device that will contain all the text books they need for their course." So who decides whether printed books live or die, or how a person reads a particular book? David Worlock of Electronic Publishing Services said, "Ultimately it's not up to Google or the publishers to decide how books will be read. It's the readers who will have the final say." But, Rushe thinks that it is the teachers who have the power to dictate how students read their textbooks or do research. They can assign a text that is not in digital form or they can assign a textbook that is free online or they have the power to distribute it themselves in digital form.

Rushe ends with the statement that how the digitization of libraries is done will tell us who we will be in the future.

Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-2557653,00.html

Amazon's ebook push: Good for other retailers, writers--or a 'company store' scenario?

http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5299

The author Michael Banks talks about how Amazon's push for ebooks could be very good for those unpublished authors or self-authoring people, and the ebook market holds great potential.

Amazon being the biggest bookstore in the world, has the potential to become a monopoly. They would make money on any publishing whether it made a lot of sales or not, and they'll only sell ebooks made with their software Mobipocket. The author believes that Amazon will legitamize ebooks because readers flock to them because of their reputation for value. The market being what it is there is potential for all books to be in the mobipocket format, and the big name authors will be what push sales. Amazon will also make it easier to find and buy the ebook that someone may be looking for. Being the world's largest book seller will allow Amazon to become the world's largest ebook seller too. Even if they aren't buying mobipocket at Amazon, its likely they will buy it at other sites too. A lot of authors will have to pay to get published, and Amazon will make the profit at 50% of every cover.

Sounds kind of skeptical, yet it doesn't sound like the best scenario that it could be. Although, if you see the short movie "Epic" its not that far out of the way.

ebrary, a leading provider of eContent service and technology, announced the availability of eBOP, a new online ordering platform that makes it easy for librarians to preview thousands of eBooks as well as purchase and subscribe to individual titles.
eBOP has combined with other online databases and Blackwell's Collection Manager. eBOP and the ebrary platform may also be licensed by organizations that need to distribute and sell their own content online.

Christopher Warnock, CEO of ebrary, says, "By developing this new ordering system, and making it available to other vendors and publishers, librarians can now purchase eContent from a number of sources."

Other features now avaliable are a search through thousands of eBooks and other documents, choose multiple searching options, preview titles in full text before purchasing, select a pricing model for each title, choose an access model for each title (either subscription that allows simultaneous, multi-user access or per title), automatically calculate your costs for purchased titles, instantly create a custom collection of different payments and access models, create a personalized portal that stores and manages selected titles and view title recommendations across all eBOP selectors within an organization.

I think this sounds like a great product for librarians because it makes their job much easier. It is well organized and only available to librarians, which should keep the full previews before purchasing from becoming a large copyright issue.

http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001/07/14/20070117005774/ebrary-launches-new-ebook-ordering-platform-ebop-integrates-with-leading-book-dist.html

Google wants to get into the e-book or digital book market in a big way. When you think of the most successful online store to buy legal music downloads, the first thing that comes to mind is Apple's iTunes. Well, Google wants to create an online store similar to Apple's iTunes, but for e-books. With their Google Book Search they want to make all the books they've been scanning available for download (for a price of course). However, there are many problems associated with such a task.

Since March of 2006 Google has been trying to reach agreements with several major publishers to make entire books available online through Google Book Search. On January 18th, 2007 Google stated that it didn't only want to make the book viewable online, but also sell access to the scanned books that could be read on the Internet or possibly portable devices. "It is something that we have been talking about for quite a while," says Google spokeswoman Megan Lamb.

Google book downloads; however, will have problems. First, is which publishers will sign on and which won't. Those in talks with Google include Simon & Schuster and Oxford University Press. Publishers may be hesitant to release their entire catalogs for download due to distribution concerns (i.e. piracy). Another issue is, even if they do create an online store for books, will it even be successful? Sales of digital books aren't nearly comparable to the sale of digital music. Also the acceptance of e-book readers has been slow. Lastly, it will be hard to break the habit of those that are used to the physical book. People tend not to enjoy reading on screen text.

These issues show the obstacles Google will have to overcome if they wish to pursue and be successful at creating an online store for digital books.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2007/tc20070123_295190.htm?campaign_id=rss_smlbz
http://uk.gizmodo.com/2007/01/23/google_announces_plan_to_open.html

This lengthy article that I found touches upon the history of e-books, e-books at a University, how e-books are used, and many other points involving e-books. It gives a brief history and mentions that e-books were started in the 1970's with the Oxford Text Archive and Project Gutenberg. In the decades after that book contents were being put in digital form, mostly on CD-ROM or on PDA's. It has since evolved into what we are faced with today.

The article then goes into talking about e-books at the University of Bergen and how in 2003, the e-book project was given a mandate which was to investigate it's market, and evaluate the future role the University of Bergen would have in having such resources at their library. After the Quality reform in 2003, the project took a shift from just supporting research and researchers, to facilitation for student use and learning.

Finally, the article talks about how one of it's important tasks is making sure users know how to use their digital resources. By providing electronic resources, they feel that usage will increase. At their library they teach and train users in digital literacy. I think that if every University or Institute took the time to educate their users on how to use the electronic resources that they have on hand, students would be more prone to accessing e-books to aid in their education. In the mean time, at least the resources are there.

The posting titled "Certificate in Digital Information Management" by Bruce Fulton discusses a new post-baccalaureate certificate program in Digital Information Management, also known as DigIn. The program focuses on the issues of managing digital archives, digital libraries, and other digital collections. The DigIn program is available to help people gain knowledge or improve their experience with digital information management for those who want to pursue a career in digital information management. It is a six course, 18 credit hour graduate program.
Since there has been a boom of digital collections and digital content, there is a need for people who understand how the digital collections function and have the technical skills to maintain a digital archive.

The new program "will provide both new students and working professionals with a balanced mix of content that includes practical applied technology skills along with a foundation in the theory and practice of building and maintaining today's digital collections." Those to complete the program and gain the certificate will be able to jump into careers that involve libraries and archives for the government or private sectors. The program is great for people who work full time because the coursework is done online and can be completed in 18 to 30 months. "The certificate program has been developed in cooperation with The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records. Major funding for program development comes from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which has also provided funding for a limited number of scholarships."

This certificate program seems like a great opportunity for anyone looking to jump into a career dealing with digitization and maintaining a library or archive of digital books.

Source: http://college.lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/27/1319253&from=rss

Google is working with several major libraries to include their collections in Google Book Search. It works just like a card catalog, it shows users information about the book plus other few details about the book as well or snippets.
When you click on an result from your search of the book you will see a window called the Snippet View, like a card catalog, gives you information about the book.
http://books.google.com/googleprint/library.html

STAReBOOK is the lightest and thinnest ebook reader on the market. The product from Taiwan is equipped with the latest e-ink technology. It comes with a 64 megabyte of storage and it could be expanded. The battery life comes about 10,000 pages when it is fully charged (60 books). The inbuilt mp3 player is an added feature. It uses eREAD 3.0 software to input and export e-books through USB port in STK format. This is the only supported format at the moment. However, the STK maker, a cool tool that comes along with the eREAD, helps in conversion of the other file formats to readable STK format. It comes with different attractive color which the Sony and iRex failed to do. The processor in this device is much faster when compared to iRex iLiad reading device. The electronic ink technology makes the text to look crisp. With $420 as its cost, STAReBOOK tries to exploit the European market.

Pictures:
http://ebook.stareread.com/en/pic.html
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=9475

Video (STAReBOOK vs iLiad)
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2708

Source:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5277698708.html
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=9481

HarperCollins announced last thursday that it would merge with LibreDigital. HarperCollins also revealed that it had already copied more than 10,000 books with a "Browse Inside" option. 2,000 of a total 12,000 books scanned, are now available online. HarperCollins and Google are at odds right now, but their motives do not cross paths. They both have seperate goals in mind and are both achieving them.

http://www.themillionsblog.com/2007/01/harpercollins-inks-deal-with-digital.html

The University of Texas is Google's new partner for the book digitization project. Google's goal for this project is to digitize at least a million volumes from the University of Texas Libraries' collections and the digitized books will be fully searchable through Google Book Search. William Powers, the president of The University of Texas claims that "creating digital access to our library collections will enable a great many more scholars and members of the public to locate and use these tremendously valuable materials". He believes that this will provide terrific materials and good benefits to all the students and users.

Students and users will be able to search for books by using the Google Book Search. Google takes responsible with copyright law and book protection. So that way, anyone will be able to view, browse and read the university's public domain books and historic collections. The University of Texas is trying their best and they hope that this project will become successful and useful in the future. The digitization project will increase the effectiveness of the libraries' collection.

This book digitization project seems very effective and useful. It would be nice if Rochester Institute of Technology is part of it.

Sources:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196902466
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2007/01/libraries19.html

This blog is about the testing of digital paper in school. The experiment will take place at Bonnefanten College in the Masstricht, in the South of the Netherlands. The eReaders will be distributed to the students at the school to use for numerous things. The readers will store the books that the students would usually be lugging around in backpacks and they will be able to do their homework on the reader as well. Students in the study will also be handing in their homework wirelessly using the reader.

The reader chosen for this experiment was the iLiad tablet of iRex Technologies. The iRex was chosen over other technologies because it is considered more technologically advanced, with a screen that has fine contrast, with touch screen and knobs and icons.

The battery life can last up to 20 hours but cannot surf the Internet. This can be seen as a pro and a con. The students in the study will not be able to surf the net while in class but will have to go to a computer with Internet capabilities in order to upload the content they need.

I am in between on this experiment. I think that it is a great opportunity for the students to be exposed to a new technology that may one day be the norm. But on the other hand this type of learning can be distracting, with far too many excuses for not doing work. My battery died, it wouldn't work right or I didn't understand how to use it are all excuses that will come of this. I like technology just as much as the next but a good old pencil and paper never malfunctioned, well except for when the dog ate it.

Check out the article at http://buziaulane.blogspot.com/2007/01/digital-paper-tested-in-school.html

The University of Toledo just released an article on its online newspaper concerning its university library and eBooks.com. The Student Bookstore in the Student Union Building has been affiliated with eBooks for about a year and a half and students now have the option of buying textbooks online or go to the bookstore, but also whether they want one on paper or electronically. The bookstore has several electronic books which are displayed by title and states which Web site to visit in order to purchase them.
The University of Toledo bookstore also works with Whywaitforbooks.com. The Web site allows students to choose a state and university, and it then lists a particular bookstore in seconds.

I think RIT should try this option out as well. The eBooks available to U of T are up to 40 percent cheaper than actual bound books!

http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2007/01/25/News/Ebooks.Alternate.Option.For.Students-2677674.shtml?sourcedomain=www.independentcollegian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

Not sure if this blog supports attachments, so I just threw up the abstract (word) and powerpoint for the Google Book Search group on my RIT webspace. The links are as follows (will download automatically when you go to the addresses below):

http://www.rit.edu/~jrt0454/google.ppt

http://www.rit.edu/~jrt0454/googleabstract1.doc

The powerpoint file and the abstract can be found inside the following zip file.

Download file