In another case of "The Future is Now", here is a development that is similar to the PADDs used on Star Trek.
Downloaded a Good Book from Internet Lately?
BY MICHAEL S. DERBY GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
Imagine snuggling up on the sofa with a good book.
But instead of opening the cover, you push the book's power switch and navigate its pages via a touch-sensitive electronic screen.
Three companies, SoftBook Press Inc., Everybook, Inc. and NuvoMedia, Inc., are set to unveil small electronic ``books'' that display the text from conventional publications.
Scheduled for September availability, SoftBook Press Inc.'s $299 SoftBook is for ``people who must read lots of essential information regularly,'' says James Sachs, the company' president.
The SoftBook's 8.5-by-11-inch tablet, has a leather cover, holds about 100,000 pages of text, along with the user's personal notes and comments, Sachs says. All text is searchable.
``Our competition is mountains of paper and trying to read on a PC,'' Sachs says.
The SoftBook will be offered on the company's Internet site and be marketed to students, business people and academics, Sachs says.
Due early next year, Everybook, Inc.'s $1,500 EB Dedicated Reader may cost as much as a computer, but maintains the feel and appearance of a book, says company president Daniel Munyan.
The Pennsylvania-based company's electronic book has two 8.5-by-11-inch high- resolution color screens and weighs 3.65 pounds.
Munyan says the Everybook will pay for itself based on the up-to-40 percent discounts he plans to offer in his on-line book store. And Everybook's price will drop to about $1,000 after it becomes established, he adds.
NuvoMedia Inc.'s RocketBook ``is exactly the size of a paperback book,'' says company president Martin Eberhard.
Weighing in at about a pound, it's the smallest of this first crop of electronic books and the only one that interfaces closely with personal computers. And like the other electronic books, it allows the user to both search and to mark up the text with personal notes.
Eberhard says that because the personal note files can be saved separately from the text, he envisions scholars making their personal note files available to the public.
The RocketBook also allows users to select how they want their reading material to be displayed on its high-resolution screen, Eberhard says.
Eberhard adds that portions of electronic text can be pasted into the user's personal computer documents.
To prevent copying entire documents, however, the text's publisher determines how much text can be snipped, Eberhard says.
Eberhard expects the initial price of the device, which will go on sale on the company's Internet site sometime this fall, to be about $500.
Designed by the same company that created the popular Palm Pilot electronic organizer, Eberhard says the RocketBook also has the potential to run small computer programs because it's based on much of the same computer coding that makes the World Wide Web operate.
Each of the three electronic book makers will rely on some sort of Internet-based connections to deliver reading materials to their readers.
The RocketBook will rely on existing and already familiar on-line book stores -- Barnes & Nobles is on-board so far -- to distribute its books, Eberhard says. And users will be able to select titles marked ``electronic.''
The electronic publication will then be downloaded to the purchaser's personal computer, which serves as the RocketBook's main archive and from there into the RocketBook.
Everybook's Munyan says his users will log on to the company's virtual-reality book store via the device's modem, where they'll navigate a three-dimensional collection of bookcases arranged by subject. They then download their selections into the electronic book.
The Everybook also can be set up to automatically access the bookstore at a user-specified time and update reading materials such as periodicals or frequently changed reference materials, Munyan says.
All publications, along with user notes, are stored on the Everybook reader's removable storage card, Munyan says.
SoftBook customers download their reading material through what Sachs calls a connection to the company's Internet-based bookstore. They download titles and pay for them based on subscription plans.
When the SoftBook's memory limit is reached, Sachs says users can store their electronic publications and notes on SoftBook's Internet site at no additional cost.
The most difficult challenge facing the book makers is the number of books and magazines available for the electronic books.
SoftBook is working with publishers such as Simon and Schuster and Random House to provide reading material oriented to professional interests, Sachs says.
He adds that consumer fare such as paperback novels won't be available at first because the number of titles makes it impractical.
Everybook is also working with major publishers to bring professional and technical reading materials to its electronic book, Munyan says.
RocketBook's Eberhard says NuvoMedia is working with 12 publishers to get electronic content online.
In addition to titles in the technology and health fields, Eberhard says recreational books also will be available.
Whether the initial crop of electronic books is ready for a world already swamped with computers and personal digital assistants is far from certain, some electronic industry watchers say.
``They're a terrific start,'' says David Rothman, head of the electronic publishing advocacy group TeleRead, based in Virginia.
But he adds, ``They're not ready for the mass market.''
``I love that these gadgets are out there but they're not blending in with the `Net,'' Rothman says. He says electronic books lack Internet-like interactivity, such as the linking of pages, that most people have come to expect from electronic media.
Everybook, Inc.
SoftBook Press Inc.
NuvoMedia Inc. (RocketBook)