eBooks

I Love Technology

Lafayette Public Library

February 5, 2010

People don't read anymore.

- Steve Jobs, January 2008

eBooks: There's an app for that.

- Steve Jobs, January 2010

Digital Books

source: Forrester Research, 2009

eBooks By The Numbers

U.S. consumer eBook purchases• 2009:  3 million• 2010:  6 million , estimate

 U.S. dedicated reading devices sold• 2009:   3 million • 2010:  10 million, estimate

 Number of downloads of public library eBooks• 2003-2008: 10 million• 2009: 19 million

sources:  Forrester Research and Overdrive, 2010

eBook revenue growth chart  2002 - 2009source: Forrester Research, 2009

First eBook1971

Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) • Began in 1971 by Michael S. Hart• Started with the Declaration of Independence• By 1987 he had added over 300 eBooks to the project• volunteers scanned other public domain eBooks• 100,000 eBooks are available• 3 million eBooks are downloaded each month

early 1990s

• Cost of computer media storage dropped

• Internet expanded from universities to homes and businesses

• File sharing exploded around the world

• Advances in scanning technology

• Growth in personal computing - laptops

1997 - 2007

• PDAs became popular• Dedicated Reading Devices begin to sell

• Rocket eBook• Franklin E-Bookman• Palm Pilot

• MobiPocket and Peanut Press, two of the first eBookstores opened

• Electronic Paper Displays drop in price - begin use in consumer products, Ex: E Ink

• 2005 - Amazon.com buys Mobipocket• 2006 - Sony releases Reader• 2007 - Amazon releases Kindle

Amazon Kindle, November 2007

E Ink

E Ink

• E Ink contains millions of microcapsules• Positively charged white particles• Negatively charged black particles• Suspended in a clear fluid

 • Plastic film screen laminated to a circuit layer

• Display controlled by giving the film an electric charge • Paper-like display, very low power usage, long battery life

• 200 dpi+ grayscale

E Ink - How It Works

Advantages of eBooks

Music has gone digital

Video has gone digital

What about Books?

What is the advantage to going digital?

Advantages of eBooks

For Consumers:

Portable

Font  Available Books stay in perfect conditionHard to damage

Multiple devices

For Libraries:

Shelf reading not required

The dog did not eat your book, and the staff did not forget to check it in

No overdue fines, or notices, ever

Library service becomes more valuable to those who could not visit during regular hours

Current Dedicated Reading Devices

Popular eBook Readers

Amazon Kindle 2• $259

• Largest collection of new releases/bestsellers

• $9.99 for bestsellers

• 3G  Whispernet

•  6" E Ink Screen

• 2 Gig Internal Memory

• text-to-speech capability

• AZW File Format, no EPUB

Barnes and Noble nook

• $259

• 6" E Ink Screen

• Color LCD Input Screen

• 2 Gig Internal Memory

• 3G and WiFi Connectivity

• EPUB and EDP File Formats

The Sony Reader Pocket Edition

• $199

• 5" E Ink Screen

• 512mb Internal Memory

• No 3G or WiFi Connectivity

• EPUB File Format

Apple  iPad

• $499• 9.7" LCD Screen• 16 Gig Internal Memory• Touch Screen Input• WiFi• EPUB File Format

Read eBooks on your iPhone or iPod Touch with apps like Kindle and Stansa.

Advantage:  Many consumers already own device.

How Much Do eBooks Cost?

Most of the Device Manufacturers have their own eBookstores.

• Amazon• Barnes and Noble• Sony

Prices for eBooks range from $5.99 for eBooks on sale to 14.95 for bestsellers and new releases.

New Independent EPUB Bookstores are growingEx: Kobo Books

Most books $8.99 to $10.99. Several books sell for less than $5.00

How much are you willing to pay for an eBook?More importantly, how much profit are publishers willing to give up?

Publishers make the pricing decisions.

Amazon has attempted to hold bestseller prices below $10.  

Are eBook sales taking money away from print books in large numbers?  Not as much as you would think. 

Do publishers have an incentive to "kill" eBooks? 

What impact will Apple make?  Biggest question of 2010.

Sony eBookStore links to One Million Free Google Books

Copy of Longfellow's Evangeline from  OpenLibrary.org

eBook File Formats

eBook File Formats

Amazon Kindle

Plain Text

PDF

MobiPocket

.AZW (properitary)

B & N nook

EPUB

PDF

eReader (properitary)

Sony Reader

Plain Text

EPUB

PDF

BB eBook (proprietary)

Table of File Formats: listed byHardware Device & File Format

EPUB• Open eBook standard of the International Digital Publishing

Forum

• EPUB file format has the extension .epub

• EPUB is designed to have reflowable content, meaning the text can be changed for each device as needed for easier reading

• Pages re-justify smoothly as font and screen size change

• EPUB is an XHTML-based format

• It supercedes the older Open Book format

Tools for Conversion and

Editing of eBooks

Why would you want to convert or edit an eBook?

Grab something from the web and read it on your device.

 Convert a file saved in one format to another format.

 All formats have different properties.  Edit a file format to unlock features.

Create an eBook to share with others.

Calibre - eBook Conversion Software

Calibre  - Converting File Formats

 EPUB eBook Editor   -  Sigil

Digital Rights Management

eBook  Digital Rights Management• Nearly all eBooks have some form of Digital Rights Management.

• eBook DRM: copy protection that follows the eBook and the device the work is registered on.

• Publishers use it to keep eBooks from being pirated and illegally shared; however it also limits legitimate buyers from using eBooks they already own in ways they want.  Ex: What happens to all the eBooks you bought for your Kindle when you buy a nook after having a Kindle for two years?

• DRM free eBooks may not happen any time soon.

• Buyers can protect themselves by purchasing eBooks that are formatted to some standard, like EPUB. These can at least be read on multiple devices, even though they still have DRM restrictions.

eBook Privacy

Concerns

Privacy: Who knows what you are reading and should you be concerned?

EFF's eBook Buyer's Guide to Privacy

Can What You Read Be Monitored? • Google Books:  Yes, books and pages viewed are stored• Amazon Kindle:  Yes, books and pages read are stored• B&N nook:  N/A• Sony Reader: No, Does not collect data on device

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 2010

EFF's eBook Buyer's Guide to Privacy, Jan 2010

Do companies track what books you purchase or checkout?

• Google Books: Yes, all items are associated with a google account • Amazon Kindle: Yes, a purchase history is compiled for each account

 • B&N nook: Yes and No, online B&N purchases are compiled but

books obtained somewhere else are not tracked • Sony Reader: Yes and No, online Sony Reader Store purchases are

compiled but books obtained somewhere else are not tracked

eBooks for Library Patrons

NetLibrary eBooks

Ingram Digital's MyiLibrary.com

Icon from Sony eBookStore

Sony "Library Finder"

Overdrive Compatible eBook Devices

"Most Downloaded" eBook list from overdrive

Overdrive Digital Bookmobile @ Lafayette Public LibrarySouth Regional Library - January 22, 2010

Overdrive Digital Bookmobile @ Lafayette Public LibrarySouth Regional Library - January 22, 2010

Overdrive's eBook Media Partners, January 2010

E-Library Co-Op of Southeast Louisiana:

St. Charles Parish Library, St. John the Baptist Parish Library, Terrebonne Parish Library

Overdrive Bayouland E-Library Co-Op begins in 2010

Co-Op Libraries:

• Acadia Parish Library • Iberia Parish Library • Lafayette Public Library • St. Martin Parish Library • St. Mary Parish Library  • Vermilion Parish Library

  

Materials Available:

 Digital AudioBooks

EPUB eBooks

Starting in 2010 - The Bayouland E-Library Co-Op

Downloading Library eBooks to your Computer or 

eBook Reader

How to:

Link to Book "Scat" saved to my desktop in Win XP. 

1.8mb  EPUB eBook "Scat" downloading to Adobe Digital Editions.

eBook "Scat" now ready to read inside Adobe Digital Editions. Notice "7-days" band on upper right corner of book. The countdown drops each day, until it reads "expired" on the 8th day.

The eBook "Scat" can be now be opened, deleted, or returned to Overdrive/Library so that someone else can read it.

Opening the book inside Adobe Digital Editions, I can begin to read "Scat".  I click on "Chapter- One" in the left-hand column and ADE takes me to page 5 of 237. Page five is the first page of chapter one. By using the ADE menu at the top, I can change the text to whatever style/size I'm comfortable.

I have now decided to transfer the eBook "Scat" to my Sony Reader. I click and drag the eBook to my "PRS-300" in the left-hand column. Notice the "Red X" on the cover of the book.

I now have the eBook directly over the PRS-300 folder icon. Notice the "Red X" has changed to a "Green +" letting me know I am directly over the folder and ready to "drop" the file into my Sony Reader.

Clicking on the PRS-300 icon, I see that I now have 5 eBooks on my Sony Reader. Adobe Digital Editions allows access to all the eBooks on my Sony Reader, as well as all eBooks inside Adobe Digital Editions on my Windows computer at the same time.

"Scat" now ready to read on my Sony Reader

!