Imagine a "book" that is a paperback-sized computer, weighing far less than a single hardcover (just six ounces)but capable of storing dozens or even hundreds of books ar a time. Using it, readers could highlight passages of text, bookmark favorite pages, make notes in the margins using an on-screen keyboard, increase the size of the text for easier reading, find a keyword at the touch of a button, look up unknown words in a built-in dictionary - even deface the pages by scribbling on them.
To the student who has to lug around heavy textbooks or the tourist who wants to carry several guidebooks but still travel light, the "e-book" is a welcome relief. It has the potential to store the equivalent of a shelf full of books - a 300-page novel, for example, would take up just 250 KB on the hard drive. But for those who enjoy the look and feel of wards printed on paper the e-book will prove a difficult sell.
Type designer John Hudson, in a recent talk on e-books ar Simon Fraser University, summed up this lack of appeal in a nutshell "There's no smell to an e-book," said Hudson. "As readers, we encounter books first as physical objects - with an e-book, the physicality is the first thing we lose."
Julie Blackwell of the Reader Group, the e-book division of Microsoft, explained how e-books are sold. The software needed to download and read a book on a home computer or pocket PC is free and can be downloaded via the web. Companies like Microsoft - and other e-book publishers - make money on the sale of the e-books themselves. Encryption is the key. When a buyer logs on to Microsoft's digital asser server (DAS) and makes a purchase, the e-book is downloaded inly to that buyer's hardware where it remains until deleted. The e-book can't be copied, burned to a CD, e-mailed, or printed. At most, the buyer can download the e-book to two machines - a home computer, plus a more portable pocket PC, for example. The software that enables e-books to be read but not copied is just a few months old - Microsoft Reader was launched in August 2000. So far, the encryption hasn't been broken. "We have hackers attacking it every day, but [the encryption] hasn't been broken yet," she said. "We didn't want e-books to go the way of Napster."
According to Microsoft's surveys, the demographic e-books are aimed at is the college-educated professional who's already comfortable with on-line purchasing. "E-books have been most popular with 'Star Trek' fans," said Blackwell. "Trekkies are living out their fantasies of being Captain Kirk and reading their books electronically."
Microsoft is pinning hopes for the success of the e-book in its Clear Type software, said to improve the resolution of text on screen by 300 per cent.
What are the ramifications for writers? Kevin Williams, executive vice-president of Raincoast Books, said that e-books could mean higher royalties for authors. If a book is produced as an e-book only, the costs of conventional printing, shipping, and warehousing ate eliminated. Will e-books ever replace the printed page?
"Right now, e-books are very device-dependent," said Hudson, "On a 200 DPI monitor, they look absolutely lovely. But on a display system of lesser quality, even Clear Type can appear fuzzy."
And while a pocket PC can be taken anywhere a paperback can, its batteries limit reading time to eight to ten hours. For those who like to read in remote locations, far from an electrical outlet, the lack of spare batteries might cut off a favorite novel in mid-sentence.