Ebooks: book to the future
Bron: telegraph.co.uk
22.05.08
The new breed of e-readers could do for
reading what the iPod did for listening to music, say Claudine Beaumont
and Matt Warman.
If the book-buying public of Glasgow is anything
to go buy, it seems we might finally be ready to change a centuries-old
habit - the way we read.
When seven Borders bookstores started to sell the
£399 iRex iLiad electronic book reader earlier this month,
sales were brisk. The Glasgow store has already sold out, and, says
Borders, the other shops are doing a roaring trade.
Electronic book readers - also known as e-readers
- are the book equivalent of the iPod. Just as your MP3 player allows
you to store thousands of songs and CDs on the device, so e-readers
enable you to cram thousands of books into a slimline, lightweight
gadget that's less than the size of a paperback.
And while e-readers have been around for a while,
it's only in the last year or two that the technology has got to
a point where they are a viable alternative to a real, dog-eared
book.
One of the biggest challenges was developing screens
and fonts that would be easy on the eye - after all, no one wants
to feel as though they are staring at a computer monitor while reading
a novel. The introduction of "eInk" technology and the
creation of low-glare screens has made electronic type more readable.
Another big barrier to mainstream popularity has
been the lack of titles in compatible electronic formats. But many
of the big UK publishers are in the process of digitising their
catalogue of books and Penguin is leading the charge. It has pledged
that by September it will be releasing ebook versions of all its
titles across its major imprints.
The iLiad e-reader comes preloaded with 50 classic
books, including The Jungle Book, Pride and Prejudice, Gulliver's
Travels and Dante's The Divine Comedy.
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Of course, the greatest hurdle facing e-reader manufacturers
is the fact that many people regard such gadgets as a luxury. Whereas
most people will agree that digital downloads and MP3 players have
revolutionised the way we consume and listen to music, the humble
book remains a technology uniquely suited to its purpose. read
on at www.telegraph.co.uk
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