ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#22 | May 28, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
This paper is submitted for publication by Ms. Nita D. Parmar, Research Scholar, Kadi Sarva Vishwavidyalaya, Gandhinagar, India.
Introduction
Twenty-first century has seen a paradigm change in printing technology and the publishing sector all over the world. The computer has snatched a place of the typewriter and laser-printing technology has taken a place of offset printing, in the same manner in the beginning of this 1century, a silent uprising has been going on in the development of electronic books (e-books) all over the world. Thus, the e-book is in race of replacing traditional printed books.
An e-book is basically the contents of a book distributed in the form of an electronic folder or directory. Any folder that holds wording can in theory be used as an e-book. In other words, electronic books are nothing but various Computer File Formats, which can be used with any readers. Electronic book is altogether different than its print counterpart as it contains audio, video or live hyperlinks that make it unique. There are numeral specialized formats and reading programmes that are planned with e-book reading in mind. There are several ways for PC users for reading e-books, it is difficult to make a list of all these formats and programmes but here is a list of some of the most popular and frequently used formats of e-books and various types of e-book software.
- Microsoft’s Reader uses an exclusive .lit file format. One can find it with any new Pocket PC, it is available on theROM. It is designed in such a way as to make the reading on the screen as close as possible to reading a printed book. Clear Type technology is used in this software to make it more natural. One can download it without paying anything from the website.
- Mobi Pocket and Palm Reader are readers that use a little variation on the PalmDOC format. These two devices are the most compatible and the most flexible programmes. The Palm Reader is free downloadable software specifically designed for handheld computers using Palm OS software. There in another advanced version called The Palm Reader Prothat has an excellent inbuilt dictionary and extra font support which makes it different than an ordinary reading software and that is the reason that it costs 9.95 US$
- Pocket Internet Explorer can also be used for reading e-books but it will read HTML e-book files in a pinch, because it is really meant to be a web browser, an as a result one cannot find it as a very good e-book reader.
- PocketWord is another progrmme that reads Word Documents, Rich Text Files, and ASCII files. The problem with this progrmme is the same as Pocket Internet Explorer. It is not intended to be an e-book reader.
- Acrobat e-book Reader 2.1 is a free e-book reading software that one can download from website. It uses Adobe CoolType Font Rendering Technology and an interactive dictionary. “This device has recently been ported to the PocketPC operating system, and reads .PDF files quite efficiently; but the weaknesses of the PDF format really show themselves on the Pocket PCs screen, and they make for a really inefficient e-book reading experience.”
Digital Book Index provides access to more than 70,000 titles records. This index is a large body of resources and makes it easier for both libraries and the public to access. DBI is the sole index that has marketable and unmarketable, profitable and unprofitable e-books from more than 1900 publishers and classified publishing institutions.
People argue that reading of e-books is an uninteresting job and it cannot provide the pleasure as one can get in reading a paperback edition or hardbound. But the truth is that reading Books on a Palm Pilot thingy, or a Pocket PC, or Microsoft Reader presents any book lover with a numeral reward. E-books have many advantages as compare to those traditional printed books. There are some people who are of the opinion that the e-book can never replace print form of books because it cannot provide us with the touch of books with the hand and give us a typical fragrance of the book ! But as it said that one cannot have a cake and eat it too.
e-books require very little space compare to those big racks of hard books. I have recently shifted my residence so I know how it is difficult to shift only 900 books on my own. On the other hand one can carry thousands of e-books in a suitcase or in a room of a college one can have Digital Library having a connectivity and storage of thousands of books that too without any disorder. We can store innumerable e-books on computer drives or on CD-ROM. One can have a number of books at a time before one’s eyes, is really a great joy. E-book files are very small, and one can fit many than books on it. “In addition to being able to carry a large number of e-books on our Pocket PC at one time, the Pocket PC is not only smaller than a paper back book, it also performs all of those other functions that Pocket PC excel at.”
Since e-books are essentially text-based files one can search for it or a certain part of an e-book without having to flip through it endlessly as it happened in case of traditional books. I remember the days when I had to search for hours in our dusty racks of library for a book. With the facility of e-books, one can find any title or a particular portion of an article in a fraction of time.
Some academicians argue that e-books have small lines particularly in PocketPC as it’s screen is smaller and holds less text. I do agree with this argument but at the same time it is also a verity that in PocketPC it is easy for our eyes to wander, and as a result we can read a little more effectively and efficiently.
There are thousands of articles and books on various disciplines, subjects, and titles in the form of downloadable or on-line books ON INTERNET. Most major writers, movements, history, authors and their works are accessible on the Internet. One can find subjects range from the highly scholarly to the contemporary as many publishers find more business in “on-line” distribution. There are several books on various topics and disciplines like science, commerce, religion, history, economics, and children’s books available totally free of cost on websites like www.planetbook.com, www.bn.com/e-book, www.mightywords.com and many other such web sites on Microsoft and Adobe sites.
We have seen a remarkable increase of e-book publishers in the beginning of this century. Earlier very few publishers were interested in publishing e-books but recently established as well as emerging Publication Company have also jumped into this developing e-book technology. With this development individual authors have also emerged with their own websites where they can put their work on web. Thus, if one wants to publish research paper or a book s/he can do it personally. Thus, new publishers as well as new authors are emerging in the web world because electronic publication of research papers, small write ups, articles and mini project are dearer that traditional printed form. So far as the problem of copy right is concerned e-book is safer as it does not “allow any copying onto more than two physical devices and therefore it cannot be lent to anyone like printed books if encryption technique is used in reading software. There are some problems with e-book publications for there are quite a few software that can convert copy protected e-books into .pdf files and harm the publishing company economically, this is one of the reasons that perhaps discouraging the publishing company from going on electronics books.
Rose Macaulay (1881-1966) says “Only one hour in the normal day is more pleasurable than the hour spent in bed with a book before going to sleep, and that is the hour spent in bed with a book after being called in the morning.” Those who love printed books are of the opinions that “You don’t think of an e-book curling up in a cosy place with a warm mug of coffee.” It is also true that pocket books are the best friends and partners for bathroom and bed ! Printed book lovers also argue that one cannot feel the texture and smell of ink and paper in e-books as it happens in case of printed books. They also add that one cannot lent or borrow e-book from a friend, borrowing and lending of books on campus and society has its own emotional values which one does not find in e-books. One cannot mark, highlight, show up, and underline pdf format of eboks, which is a matter of charm and pleasure in printed books. They also argue that the facility of key word search in Acrobat Reader is harmful as it searches the word or content immediately from the book, which does not give us a chance to go through a book. They believe that when we search a specific word or content in a printed book without any help of index or table of contents, we get an opportunity to go through several other word, phrases, lines and passages which itself is an inspiring experience. This experience is lost when one just click a search button in Acrobat Reader device. Printed book lovers argue that books are made from renewable energy ie paper where as e-book are not made from renewable energy ie petroleum, thus they argue that we can grow trees for manufacturing paper but we cannot get additional petroleum products. Thus, they believe that printed books are more ecological. On the other hand some ecological diversity lovers argue that cutting down of trees creates more ecological imbalance that digging out petroleum products !
It is an undoubted fact that the next decade will flourish with e-books all over the world replacing most printed books. It will play a vital role in the way people write, publish, read and buy the products related to e-books. It is quite possible that by the next decade, we will not have to wait eagerly for a postman for getting a new issue of UNIVERSITY NEWS but it will be sent to us digitally directly on our mail address and we will be enjoying reading it with pleasure seating in a armchair with a laptop in our hand! It is assumed by leading InfoTech industrialists that by 2010, high-resolution, low-cost, light-weighted, reading devices will be available very easily. For those who just want to read, a special wearable computer will be available with very low cost with the facilities of various reading modes, images and sound. Millions of dollars will be invested in electronic publishing sector in developing the related hardware and software. The best plus point of the e-books is that they are available on the Internet and it doesn’t matter where the book lover lives, or at what time s/he wants to read it. The Internet is open 24/7. The Internet NEVER closes and neither should YOU.
REFERENCE OF Some SURFWORTHY WWW
http://www.e-bookwholesaler.nethttp://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/hdbk.htm
http:// www.planetbook.com
http:// www.bn.com/e-book
http:// www.mightywords.com
http:// www. bibliomania.com
http:// www.digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
http:// www.classicbookshelf.com