Vagmita,
an ardent book lover, is a worried girl. Every time, she goes out for
shopping, she cannot help but flip for the latest John Grisham novel or a
Jeoffery Archer thriller. But her problem is to find place to keep them. Her
book shelves and racks at home are already overflowing. And her mother has
forbidden her from buying any new book till she discards some of her old
collection. She does not know what to do.
But not to worry, the solution is
close at hand. Courtesy, companies like Adobe, Gemstar and Microsoft. If the
trio and several other e-Book makers and publishers across the globe–Fatbrain.com,
Everybook, GlassBook, Barnes & Noble–have their way, book lovers may no
longer need to bother about the ever decreasing spaces in their book shelves or
having to lug their favorite titles while going on a holiday. For, e-Books are
here.
e-Book
Electronic book,
or e-Book is a digital reading material which one can view with an e-Book reader–a
portable piece of hardware with a large storage capacity. It is an electronic
representation of the written text or on any device with compatible software
installed, like palmtops or notebooks. It can be–anything from the latest
bestseller to your company’s R&D report. Users can download text or
e-Books onto their readers and carry them much like they would carry actual
books or magazines. Again, instead of going through a site and downloading it,
one could also download books from an electronic bookshop or a kiosk vending
books. All that book buffs would require is take their readers through these
kiosks, and walk away with their favorite titles.
‘Booking’ the reader
But then, one
would obviously ask, why e-Book, when the printed book is still so comfortable
and reliable? It still has all the nice features. I can take it anywhere, read
it in a bus or car, and most importantly, go off to sleep with it. So what is
the big deal about an e-Book?
Systems, "First, it’s searchable, has links and one can also cut and
paste. Second, you can carry as many books as you want. Third, till now, if one
had to send some information given in some book, he needed to either scan it or
get it key entered.
In both cases there are chances
of errors creeping in." Another advantage, is ecological, "These books
will help you save paper, for which you have to cut trees, adds Gupta."
Plus, one would no longer need to run for a dictionary. Within seconds, a
dictionary or thesaurus can be accessed. Electronic books can also prove to be a
boon for school students who have to carry books of large numbers and sizes.
‘Cost economy and the speed of
delivery,’ are also other important benefits. As in a paper book, there are
many channels involved in the entire transaction, and each has his own margin.
This apparently hikes the final price of the book. Similarly, wastage is also
done away with. As in paper books, you might publish 10,000 copies, while only
8,000 are actually sold.
In India, according to Gupta, the
segment that would first go for e-Books will be the education segment.
"e-Books will prove to be a big relief for the school and college students,
especially those from the IITs and medical institutes since they no longer will
have to carry or find a place for their bulky books. Then making notes on an
e-Book is much easier, so that too would be a big incentive." There are
many universities in Singapore and the US which are already experimenting with
the technology.
Market scenario
Though at
present it will be plain naive to announce the death of the printed word,
analysts estimate the e-Book titles market to touch $70 billion in the next few
years. Comments Gupta candidly, "At present there are certain problems
with e-Books, the eye strain factor is one. Then, it’s still not very easy to
carry laptops around, like you can’t read them in sunlight, because of the
glare on the screen." Pricing too is another factor. However, the players
are in no mood to relent, and are all set to give a formidable rival to the
printed version.
on technologies to reduce eye strain that seen as one of the biggest
impediments. Adobe has CoolType which improves rendering. The software giant
Microsoft too is launching ClearType which would enhance computer font
resolution, easing the strain of reading text on, screen. It fixes the spacing
between letters and lines, the factor that makes electronic displays hard to
read. Adobe has also come out with a solution to combat piracy, another drawback
for publishers. The solution, which is a combination of Web Buy and PDF Merchant
software, is basically a lock and key method. Files are encrypted or locked and
the key needed to open them is embedded in the application used to read it.
Industry standards and protocols for inter-operability of e-Books with different
systems are also being worked upon.
Preparing for the future
Mergers and
tie-ups too are not far away in this rapidly evolving market space, promising to
provide a new medium of distribution for online publishers. Gemstar
International recently acquired two rival e-Book companies–NuvoMedia, makers
of the Rocket e-Book and SoftBook, manufacturer of the SoftBook reader. Adobe
has entered into an agreement with Barnes & Noble to publish e-titles.
The momentum is clearly
gathering. Says Gupta, "Though it still may take sometime for the e-Book
concept to pick up, the last six months have witnessed hectic activity.
So as of now e-Books may look
little futuristic, but the pace at which technology is taking control of our
lives, the e-Book may not be that distant a possibility. After all, who, till a
couple of years back could have gauged the popularity of email.
Manisha Singh