70. E-Books

Early e-books were generally written for specialty areas and a limited audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. The scope of the subject matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques, and other subjects. Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by major software companies such as Adobe's PDF format, and others supported by independent and open-source programmers. Multiple readers naturally followed multiple formats, most of them specializing in only one format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books. E-books continued to gain in their own underground markets.

Many e-book publishers began distributing books that were in the public domain. At the same time, authors with books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so they could be seen by others. Unofficial (and occasionally unauthorized) catalogs of books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began disseminating information about e-books to the public. As of 2008, new marketing models for e-books were being developed and dedicated reading hardware was produced. E-books have yet to achieve global distribution. Only two e-book readers dominate the market, Amazon's Kindle model or Sony's PRS-500. E-books have seen good growth in Japan throughout the 2000s and it currently has an e-book market worth ¥10 billion. However, not all authors have endorsed the concept of electronic publishing. J.K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has stated that there will be no e-versions of the books.

The audience for e-books was initially limited to small interest groups. Technical manuals made up the majority of e-books. Produced in house by technical personnel for other technical personnel, e-books were popular in software companies, Internet companies and other computer related corporations and organizations. The format lent itself to easy updates, and in the world of computers that meant as often as every 3 to 6 months. Independent and open source programmers allowed the trickle down of e-book software for public consumption. While popular with the technical sector, e-books were initially rejected by the average consumer because the format was not portable. Many standard e-book readers did not allow the material to be altered or printed; this meant that readers needed to stay at their computers to read books. Publishers resisted the e-book format fearing it would impact the sales of traditional paper books and magazines. The fractured market of readers and available materials hampered the format, but academic interest in the e-book format and independent publishers continued to drive the niche market.

For many consumers and students, e-books possess many advantages. The text is searchable and hyperlinks can be used to jump readers from one section to a related section with a point and click. E-books require no physical storage space and will not degrade. Software is available that converts e-books into audio books easily and readers can adjust the text font size as they like it. Portable readers, such as the Kindle, also make e-books easy to travel. Book lovers and consumers still hold some objections to e-books. To read an e-book requires an electronic device (Kindle, computer, iPod) and the software necessary to read it. E-books lack the tactile stimulation of turning pages and storage requirements including hard drive space may limit the number of books kept and reduce the amount of books that can be re-read. E-books are may be mainstreaming, but they are not in danger of replacing print books.