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Requiem Time For Paper Book?

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

publive-imageVagmita,

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.

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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.

Software developers are working

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

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