Chapter 3 Analysis and Findings

Analysis The term eBook is usually referred to the electronic version of the book. This term is used to describe the digital version of books based on simple text files. The history of the phenomenon dates back in 1971, when Michael S. Hart got unrestricted access to the Xerox Sigma V at the University of Illinois. Trying to adequately use the resource, he created the first eBook he scanned the United States Declaration of Independence. The initiative has become a first step to widely known today the Project Gutenberg. E-books can be distributed in files of different types, such as:

E-books in the form of plain text (plain text), formatted text (rich text format), Electronic Publication open format (.epub), (OPF FlipBook), FictionBook, OpenDocument, XML, SGML, (.fb2), Microsoft HTMLHelp (.chm),, PDF, TeX, eReader (.lit), ExeBook, Mobipocket (.prc), PostScript (.ps, .eps), and others;

E-books in the form of raster graphics DjVu, JPEG, TIFF, etc.; E-books in the form of multimedia book audio books, multimedia books, EXE, SWF, etc.;

E-books in the form of java-midlet for mobile devices, such as cell phones with java (J2ME) or PDA.

E-books in the form of applications for a particular operating system, which include, in addition to the contents of the book, and even a dedicated viewer. In addition, such a type of e-book is usually protected from copying.

Some file types (PostScript, OpenDocument, MS Word DOC, PDF, etc.) can also contain raster or vector graphic in addition to the text.

Modern electronic books in addition to text also contain multiple channels of perception: sound, music, visual-dynamic (photos and galleries) and interactive-mental.

The advantages compared to paper books are the following:

small volume (hundreds of thousands of e-books can be stored on a compact disk); Full-Text Search (if the text of the book is recognized or typed); changeable type size and headsets; oral reproduction of the text books (audio book, text-to-speech); reading with no extra light (on backlit devices); low cost of distribution (often free); significantly shorter time to publication (a week for e-books, and six months for the paper book);

ecology (it saves trees);

On the other hand, e-books have their disadvantages:

absence of an aesthetic component, expressed in a tangible medium and elements of design;

dependence on the availability of electronic devices; potential incompatibility with the new hardware or software; screens of some devices quickly cause eye strain; text on e-book screen is not as readable as that on paper; E-books are becoming more and more popular in today's technological world. With portable e-readers, computers, and even phones that can allow a person to view an ebook, it is becoming easier to access digital content.

Serious issues exist when dealing with digital content. Just like the issues with ownership of digital music versus music in hard copy, the question of ownership of eBooks is in question.

OWNERSHIP In http://publicknowledge.org/files/CopiesRightsCopyrightsPKThinks2013.pdf, Sherwin Siy states that "Typically, when a consumer downloads an authorized copy of a computer program,

or comes home from the store with a disc containing the software, hell be confronted with an End User License Agreement, or EULA, as he installs it. Frequently among the pages of legal language contained in the EULA is a sentence that says something like This software is licensed to you, not sold." DRM rights (digital rights management rights) bring up similar issues. When a consumer pays for access to a digital item that has DRM specifications, they are often 'leasing' the item, not purchasing the item for ownership. In Galleycat, Dianna Dilworth talked about how Georgetown professor James J. ODonnell discovered that his e-books disappeared from his devices when he travelled to Singapore. Additionally, in the Standard-Examiner, Leslie Meredith examines Martin Bekkelund's discussion of his friend's encounter with Amazon, after her entire e-book library was closed unexpectedly. Back in 2009, Fiction wise and Overdrive caused uproar when the service went 'dark' and customers lost all their e-books. Issues like this continue in 2013. Mary Minow, the Executive Editor of the Stanford Copyright & Fair Use website, posted a blog back in June about e-books that disappear. "Consumers face the problem of e-book ownership too. Even if the consumer is able to buy an e-book file, he or she cant do much with it besides read it in the original device that it enters. They may not even be able to lend it or give it away, even if they delete their copy of the file." PRIVACY And what about your privacy? Some publishers are tracking the reading habits of their customers. In the Wall Street Journal, Alexandra Alter discusses this issue. Alter writes, "the major new players in e-book publishingAmazon, Apple and Googlecan easily track how far readers are getting in books, how long they spend reading them and which search terms they use to find books." Now, even eTextbooks can be tracked. Some publishers are giving instructors the ability to track how much and how long a student reads their eTextbook. In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marc Parry writes about how some big eTextbook sellers are introducing this feature. Sean

Devine, chief executive of Course Smart, is quoted in the article, claiming, "Students will be able to opt out if they dont want their data shared." E-book Friendly, a website devoted to e-book information, did a mini experiment. In 2011 and again 2013, they use Google's "Instant Google" feature to see what most people were searching for relating to e-books. Some queries remained the same, such as "Will e-books replace print books?" But some queries changed. In 2011, the big question was do e-books have pictures?" In 2013, the top queries are do e-books make money, and do e-books sell?" ACCESS AND LIBRARIES Libraries and e-book publishers have a strained relationship. Often, e-books that are purchased by libraries are much more expensive than eBooks purchased by an individual. Why? Well, eBook publishers are afraid that no one will ever buy an eBook, if they can get it from a library. The restrictions cost and access issues are major hurdles for libraries to overcome when trying to offer eBooks to their patrons. NPR had a discussion about this issue just this month: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/209114978/e-books-strain-relations-beween-librariespublishing-houses. Some of the major issues? Libraries never own the e-book, like we own a print book. Libraries can lend out e-books to other libraries, like we do print books. Libraries have to pay huge fees to access an e-book and usually, it is only a temporary access - a year or perhaps only a certain number of 'checkouts'. Savage Library offers e-books through two vendors - ebrary Academic and Overdrive. Ebrary only offers a certain number or checkouts at a time and Overdrive e-books can only be accessed from a patron's personal computer. Both have their own complications with access, such as additional programs needed to access the e-books and limits on number of users that can view the e-book at one time. Just yesterday, I found an e-book link that linked nowhere. The e-book had been removed from our subscription. This happens from time to time. Our access changes and we have to update our links. We have little control over these issues.