Ebooks’ Next Chapter
RSSIndustry Seeks Tipping Point of Public Adoption
By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 06/01/2007
Will ebooks ever have their day? That was the question pondered at the recent Digital Book 2007 conference in New York City, an annual meeting of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), a trade group of tech, publishing, and library leaders, all invested in getting the technology off the ground. The upshot: while still not widely accepted by the reading public, ebooks are making progress, according to Steve Potash, IDPF president and CEO of OverDrive, a digital book technology company.
As an example, Bill McCoy, general manager of Adobe Systems’ epublishing business, demoed the software giant’s new Digital Editions at the May 9 event. The XML authoring tool supports reflowable content in alliance with technical standards the IDPF adopted last year. Standardization eliminates a major hurdle in implementing ebooks for publishers, retailers, technology providers, and, most critically, consumers. Previously, ebook buyers had to choose from several formats—which weren’t all compatible with various ereading devices on the market. Little wonder then that Computerworld recently named ebooks as among the 21 biggest tech flops ever.
Still, McCoy told his industry colleagues, “Don’t wait for the iPod of ebooks,” implying that no single gadget will fit every user.
Perhaps the most high-profile device so far, the Sony Reader, has performed well in its first seven months of distribution, according to Sony VP Ron Hawkins, with high customer satisfaction. But he admits to low recognition among the broader public. Other devices displayed at the event were iRex’s Iliad (above), Wi-Fi-enabled to facilitate access to newspapers, and the PDA-sized Librofonino. The “cellular book” from Telecom Italia has a flexible roll-up screen that exceeds the dimensions of the device when unfurled and will be available in the U.S. later this year.
An increasingly social Web was also a factor at the Forum, where several companies promoted a more interactive digital reading experience. Bookshelf 4.5, from VitalSource Technologies, is an upgrade to ebook software that will enable student users to share highlighted text and related notes with each other, as well as teachers.
For their part, several book publishers showed off recent efforts to bring digital content directly to the public. One example: a HarperCollins (HC) MySpace page for teen readers. HC plans to publish more children’s titles digitally, as the publisher expects “ebooks will rapidly become a favorite format for computer savvy kids,” says Theresa Horner, HC’s director of ebook operations. Random House (RH), too, is ramping up ebooks for children, namely in middle grade and YA fiction, says RH spokesperson Judith Haut.
“It’s not about the book anymore,” says Frank Daniels, president and CEO of VitalSource, noting the various forms for distributing content beyond the traditional sandwich between two covers. “The conversation about what’s happening in the digital world is not dramatically different from what’s happening in the physical world. Everybody’s trying to make the content more relevant, more valuable…. Students want content on many different devices and love to share—legally and illegally,” he says.
Daniels wasn’t the only industry rep to recognize consumers’ growing dissatisfaction with DRM, digital rights management software, which content providers attach to their product in order to control its dissemination (See “Imagine No Restrictions,” pp. 52–54). Garth Conboy, president of eBook Technologies identified a “high-level goal” of the company—providing unencrypted (DRM-free) content.
