BECAUSE WE BELIEVE there is no better way to read social media, we are producing eBook content as a by-product of several third level academic projects. We are making content for e-books concurrently as students create major projects in their multimedia degree programme at Tipperary Institute. The time is ripe for this because we believe the eBook equivalent of an iTunes syndication is nearby. Our first indicator comes in the form of the Sony Reader, a paperback-sized device with a six-inch screen that can store about 80 eBooks inside or many more in its memory card.
More than many earlier devices, the Sony Reader's exceptionally crisp text makes on-screen reading easier for me. I cannot read a computer screen after 10PM at night without labouring. I read screens most of the day. My eyes get tired late at night. The Sony Reader does not feel like a computer screen to me.
It has many of the things associated with web reading--things like hyperlinks, multimedia content, cut and paste, high degrees of interactivity and updated content. When students update projects, their work written in Adobe Acrobat will download over cable or drag-and-drop Memory Sticks.
We will probably teach future classes how to write for eBooks and to use different levels of DRM or no DRM at all. Sony's Reader allows eBooks to be read on up to six different devices.
There's a natural market for eBooks on college campuses when you consider textbook costs and the hassle of carrying around a bag of dead trees. It's far easier to store lecture notes, reading materials, books and multimedia excerpts on an eBook than it is to lug around a laptop. Most eBooks are up to 50% less expensive than their printed versions.
I think it's important to create products for this market segment and to produce eBooks for the masses on niche subjects that would never rise above a blogging conversation. So we have started.
George Cole -- "Will the eBook Finally Replace Paper?"
