Hi All,

Below is one section of a lengthy article from the New York Times talking
about the e-book industry.  This section, which appeared at the end of the
original article, outlines the leading methods for reading e-books.  For
anyone interested in e-publishing, the full article is worth reading but I
thought this section worth sharing because it discusses the display
technologies for e-books.

The Struggles Over E-Books Abound
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/27/technology/27BOOK.html

November 27, 2000

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK


  The Software RaceIf They Do Read,
  How Will They Do It?

  Perhaps the most visible contest over the
future of digital publishing is the heated competition among three
technology companies hoping to set the standards for publishing and
reading books on screens. Microsoft, Adobe Systems and Gemstar-TV
Guide International are all rushing to convince publishers and
readers that their format is the most secure from copying,
convenient to use and the easy on the eyes. To publishers' delight,
they are also spending lavishly to promote their rival systems,
often promoting authors and books in the process.

  Adobe Systems has by far the largest share of the digital
publishing software market. Customers have downloaded over 180
million free copies of its software for reading and printing
digital documents. Adobe also recently acquired technology to make
digital type easier to read. But Adobe has recently fallen behind
in the rush to make deals with book publishers and attract new
readers.

  Microsoft's greatest strength is its enormous resources as the
dominant provider of computer operating systems. It has campaigned
aggressively for public attention. But it was just this summer that
it released its software for reading electronic books on desktop
computers, making it a relatively late entry into the market.

  Microsoft and Adobe provide similar systems for seling electronic
books. Customers download a digital file over the Internet, and the
software maker receives about 3 percent of the book's retail price.

  Henry Yuen, founder and chairman of Gemstar, has a different
plan. Unlike his rivals, his company holds patents on the
technology to read digital books on specialized hand-held devices.
Mr. Yuen is betting that these devices, easily portable with lower
prices and high-quality screens, will appeal to consumers more than
expensive personal computers or small personal digital assistants.
But Gemstar's devices are not cheap yet. The latest generation,
built under the RCA brand by Thomson Multimedia, is appearing in
electronics stores this week at the lofty price of about $300.

  Mr. Yuen's pitch to publishers preys on their fears about Internet
hackers. "The reality of the matter is that you cannot put things
on the Internet   I don't care how strong the encryption scheme, it
is going to be broken one way or the other," he said.

  Gemstar's system avoids both personal computers and the Internet
all together. Online bookstores sell electronic books for Gemstar's
format, but to download the digital texts consumers need to plug
their hand- held devices into phone lines and dial directly into
Gemstar's central computer servers. As exclusive distributor of
electronic books for its format, Gemstar will collect a hefty 15 to
20 percent fee on each sale.

  Gemstar's system also means that users of the devices will store
and retrieve all their books on Gemstar's computer server. Mr. Yuen
hopes to sell advertising they will see while they are there, and
Gemstar may sell them electronic books directly, too. He plans to
enable them to shop through his devices by downloading catalogs,
making a commission on each sale.

  Eventually, Mr. Yuen envisions devices built with Gemstar's
electronic book reading patents to blossom into personal
organizers, wireless pagers and phones and generalized portable
entertainment devices for text, video and sound. "I would like this
particular well-documented habit   reading   to be my entry into
the consumer mobile-device arena," Mr. Yuen said.


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html