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 "Books are great. They’re portable, they’re wireless, and they have their own search engine in the back."
–Jim Greenlee, Georgia Tech computer science professor
Books definitely are great. But when you want to carry a bunch of them with you, that's when you run into problems. Books get bulky and heavy. A lot of them are awkward to carry, to say the least.
So, what if you could carry dozens if not hundreds of books with you? And what if they could fit into something the size of a small hardcover, but lighter? That's the promise an eBook reader delivers. While eBook readers are nothing new, they've really started to come into their own.
A little history
eBook readers have been around since the late 1990s. Many of the early models looked either like oversized Palm Pilots, or took the book metaphor a bit too seriously and literally had two hinged covers – either with a screen on one or both sides. For better or for worse, none of them survived. Either the technology wasn't quite ready for prime time (for example, the screens didn't have enough contrast or were hard to read over long stretches), or they were introduced around the time of the dot-com bust, when a variety of promising technologies fell by the wayside because their developers went under or were forced to abandon them due to cost-cutting measures.
Some of the pioneering eBook readers, which influenced today's crop of devices, included the eBookMan, the Rocket eBook, and the SoftBook Reader.
Why not use another device?
Like a smartphone, a PDA, a netbook, or even a laptop computer? Good question. Let's be honest, a laptop is portable, but not that portable. People use smartphones, like the BlackBerry and the iPhone, as eBook readers but their screens are small and can be tough to read for any length of time. You might remember a previous TechTip that looked at how to turn an Eee PC into an eBook reader. A clever solution, but it's also a tad awkward.
eBook readers, on the other hand, have a solid form factor. They're light, the size of an actual book, and have large screens. They also fit into a bag or knapsack quite comfortably.
Note: cialis in usa An upcoming TechTip will look at some of the eBook readers that are currently on the market.
The technology
eBook readers are essentially small, single purpose computers. Like a computer, they have a CPU (which runs in the range of 200 MHz to 400 MHz) and pack anywhere from several hundred megabytes of storage space to a few gigabytes of memory. You can expand the storage with an inexpensive SD card. Many readers run the Linux operating system, and have built-in viewers for a number of document formats. More on these formats in a little while.
But, the really interesting aspect of ebooks isn't the devices themselves but the display technology that is used. This technology is called ePaper or, sometimes, eInk (which is the brand name of a technology developed by E Ink Corporation).
ePaper, short for electronic paper, is a display technology that tries to closely imitate the look of actual ink on physical paper. It was first developed in the 1970s at the famed Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, which also developed the early graphical user interface and the mouse.
While many other devices use a backlight for illumination, ePaper consists of a conductive plastic film. Embedded in the film are oil-filled capsules that contain a mix of white, dark, and clear pigment. The capsules can hold an electric charge, and the pigment in the capsules simulate the black or white dots that make up letters on an actual paper page.
The capsules can hold a charge for quite a long time. This ensures that a page remains static, even when you're not reading it. On top of that, the fact that the capsules hold a charge for so long means that the eBook reader consumes very little power. You can literally read thousands of pages on a single charge.
On top of that, ePaper doesn't use a backlight. You need a source of light – whether sunlight or indoor lighting – to read the display. An ePaper display actually reflects light. But light shining directly on the display can make it hard to read.
 Formats
As you can probably guess, there are well over two dozen formats for eBooks. Most readers support a handful of these formats, and have software built in to display them. To be honest, though, a majority of eBooks come in three or four of those formats.
The most prevalent eBook format is the Portable Document Format from Adobe. PDF is the original device-independent document format. No matter what operating system or what reading software you're using, a PDF will look more or less the same. The only thing that will cause some problems is the choice of fonts. PDF is a fairly universal format. There are readers available for a number of platforms, including the Nintendo Wii!
Another popular format is MobiPocket. The name refers not only to the format (which has the extension .mobi or .prc), but also the company that originally developed authoring and display tools for the format. MobiPocket is a very compact format, with files weighing in at considerably less (sometimes half or more) than a comparable PDF. Like PDF, there are MobiPocket readers available for a variety of operating systems.
 In the last while, the Amazon Kindle has become a popular eBook reader. And it has its own format called AZW. AZW is based on MobiPocket (Amazon bought the company in 2005), with a few minor changes at the file level.
One interesting aspect of PDF, MobiPocket, and AZW are that they support DRM (short for Digital Rights Management). DRM is designed to protect the rights of the people who create content by restricting how someone can use that content – for example, copying it to another device. DRM is quite contentious. Opponents say that it treats legitimate customers like potential criminals. You can learn more about the controversy here.
As mentioned earlier, many eBook readers also support other formats. These include plain text, HTML (the language used to create Web pages), Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format, Microsoft LIT, and ePub to name a few. You can learn more about many of the available eBook formats here.
Drawbacks and criticisms
eBook readers have always had their detractors. One of the main criticisms has always been the price of these devices. In the past, you had to drop $500 or $600 to get one. Nowadays, a good one will cost you between $300 and $400. Still, that's a lot of money for a gadget that only has a single use.
On top of that, while there are a large number of free eBooks available for download off the Internet (at Project Gutenberg and FeedBooks, just to name two sites), not all contemporary books are available in eBook format. And the ones that are can cost as much as their dead-trees counterparts.
eBook readers can also be fragile. They're light, and made of plastic. A drop from a sufficient height or a strong enough bump can damage the internal workings or the screen.
Speaking of the screen, while ePaper is a great technology reading off a screen (even one the size of most modern eBook readers) can be hard on the eyes. Eye strain is a common complaint, as are occasional headaches.
With the success of the Kindle, which supports the wireless downloading of content (at least in the United States), some deem an eBook reader inferior if it doesn't come with wireless capability.
Final thoughts
eBook readers have their drawbacks. But, if you're a serious book hound and want to combine that interest with your interest in technology then an eBook reader is definitely a worthwhile investment. You can carry around literally hundreds of books – novels, non-fiction, technical tomes, and more – all in less space than your average trade paperback. That, in itself, is worth the price.
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