The Next Generation In Electronic Books

"There will always be a market for a PDA that doesn't come with a service contract, but the question is, how does the PDA device evolve in such a way that it stays relevant in the years to come?" Books.

Books--especially the great beefy ones worth reading--are bulky. Their size makes them inconvenient. And with all this electronic equipment we lug around--laptops, personal digital assistants and the like--there's no reason they couldn't be used to carry the text of books.

Getting the display's appearance just right has been a key problem in the evolution of the ebook concept. Paper is ideal for most eyes, electronic displays simply aren't. Paper requires no technical knowledge; electronic devices invariably include instruction manuals--printed on paper.

E Ink's electronic paper display is reflective and can be read in the sunlight and in conditions of dim light. It presents a resolution of 170 pixels per inch, similar to newspaper. The gadget uses four AAA batteries but only uses power when a page is turned and the image presented on the display changes. The companies say a user can turn 10,000 pages before those batteries have to be replaced.

The LIBRIe's screen is covered with a layer of minute spheres with oppositely charged dark and light particles inside. By applying a small bit of power, each sphere can be made to appear black or white. It can maintain its image without power, drawing current only when it changes, which means batteries last a long time.

Electronic Ink displays deliver the readability of paper without backlighting and are thin and light. The LIBRIe's screen is 6 inches across and, according to the three companies, weighs half what a comparable LCD does, and is half as thick, too. The whole device about the same size and weight as a thin paperback book.

Readers can download published content such as books, newspapers, comics and Internet sites. The storage capacity is only 10MB and can hold around 500 downloaded books, if that is not enough you can add a maximum of 512MB with memory stick PRO.

Last year, BarnesandNoble.com stopped selling ebooks for download from its Web site amid underwhelming sales. Also last year, Gemstar stopped selling its Softbook ebook devices and discontinued sales of ebook content.

If the ebook is going to be a hit, a few things have to happen. First there has to be a good selection of material to read, and, for publishers, that means taking the risk that their best titles may wind up being distributed for free on the Internet.

PDA users are already downloading books. Palmsource sells ebooks for use on handheld devices running the Palm operating system. Microsoft also sells ebooks for its Microsoft Reader software on PDAs running Windows Mobile. But last year the security on Microsoft's software was cracked.

Indeed, overall sales for the handheld computing market declined last year by nearly 18% over 2002 when consumers scooped up 12.6 million PDAs.

The recording industry has struggled with this problem in ways both overt and subtle: It has sued batches of pirate downloaders but also circulated its own falsely labeled music files intended to frustrate and dissuade would-be pirates.

If Sony's new reading device turns out to be the iPod of electronic readers, then publishers will have to develop the reader's equivalent of iTunes.

"The precision of this new high-resolution electronic ink display technology will revolutionize the way consumers read and access textual information." The Librie goes on sale in Japan this month. Sony has released the LIBRIe in Japan

Cramming all our reading into a light electronic device that is easy on the eyes makes sense for the reader as long as it's easy to use. If nothing else, it would reduce the size of carryon luggage on long flights.

Sources: http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/333/C2658/ http://www.forbes.com/search/storyTypeResults.jhtml?storyType=Ten+O'Clock+Tech

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