Many of the volumes appear complete with ‘covers,’ title page, editor and publisher, along with a copyright notice.

eBooks, Wave Of The Future?
by molly martin

Simply put, eBooks, Electronic books, are nothing more than books assembled in computer file format. They are meant to be read on various kinds of computers and/or in the modern handheld gadgets that are being produced for the reading of e-books. Many of the volumes appear complete with ‘covers,’ title page, editor and publisher, along with a copyright notice. These editions as are other works are assigned with an ISBN. They contain the manuscript content, and often they list a blurb or review or two about the book. Information about the author and cover artist, is generally provided, in addition there are often graphics included within the body of the book itself.

eBooks costing as little as $3.50 to $10.00 a download are pretty economical when balanced against the price of either paperback or hardbound volumes. Your new book can often be conveyed from the publisher almost as quickly as you order it via download or email file attachment. The eBook may be presented as a tangible diskette or CD-ROM which are sent to purchasers via postal ‘snail’ mail or may even be sold in brick and mortar bookstores. A broad diversity in formats including exe, html, pdf, lit are available. These downloads are intended to be viewed on your ‘regular’ computer, both PC and laptop, along with any of the flourishing market of ‘hand helds.’

Palm Gear, Palm Pilot and other hand held devices are available at prices ranging from as little as $200 or so to upwards of $1000 or more, today and have capacity for holding as many as 40 books at a time. One large benefit found in using the hand helds is that a whole vacation’s worth of reading can be downloaded onto one small gadget leading no need for lugging a weighty piece of luggage filled with books onto airplane or train. The least expensive will offer good readable text while the more expensive also support a wide range of graphics.

When taking along a library of books on your hand held you won’t be forced into attempting to fit a cumbersome stack of books into the trunk of your car amongst all the other ‘just gotta haves’ needed for making a long motor trip. Another bonus, you will not need to strive to determine which one or two at the most heavy paper books you will slip into your back pack for a tenting adventure. You will only need to download your books onto your hand held and go! One nice plus comes from the fact that the hand held devices are self lighted and come equipped with long life batteries… making ‘reading in bed’ within your tent at night an easy matter. And, if you decide you just have to have a paper copy of your eBook; most times the purchaser is given the right to make one printed copy of a download. eBooks are not expected to replace paper and ink books, they are another avenue for enjoying the printed word.


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