Ebook Readers Grow Up

-- Library Journal, 5/14/2007

Ebooks greatest challenge always has been the need for an accompanying handheld reading device, with many different designs from the Rocket Book on up rotting in their graves. The advent of cell phones and the Blackberry, etc., give the reading device more acceptance, while at the same time raising the issue of how many gizmos people are willing to carry. Hopefully, a bunch (or better, U.S manufacturers will catch up to their European counterparts and offer cell phones capable of everything from storing ebooks, Internet connectivity, and TV to calling mom). At the recent International Digital Publishing Forum, Bill McCoy, general manager of Adobe's ePublishing Business unit, advised "don't wait for the iPod of ebooks, there won't be one," predicting, alas, that no single device will suit everybody. He did offer a glimmer of hope by demoing Adobe Digital Edition, an open XML format authoring tool that can be used on small-screen devices. Willem Endhoven of iRex Technologies came armed with the firm's iLiad portable device, which has separate buttons for electronic newspapers, ebooks, personal documents, and printing to the device itself. Wi-Fi enabled, the iLiad can be updated with as many as ten newspapers daily and can hold 3000 ebooks with the addition of a memory card. In all of its storage capacities, users can highlight text, make comments, and more.