A main issue for digital libraries is the lack of proofreading of digitized books, that ensures a better accuracy of the text without any loss from the print version. The only digital library proofreading its books has been Project Gutenberg, with 28,000 high-quality ebooks available in January 2009. Good OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software run on image files - obtained from scanning print pages - is said to ensure 99% accuracy. If the step of the proofreading seems essential to Project Gutenberg, whose goal is to reach a 99.99% accuracy for its ebooks - above the 99.95% accuracy set up as a standard for Library of Congress -, this step is skipped by the Internet Archive, the OCA, Google and many others. Some R&D teams work on better quality OCR technology, which means that they would have to go back to the original image files to provide a higher quality book in the future, if they do want to provide digital versions without any loss from the print version.
2007: WE READ ON VARIOUS ELECTRONIC DEVICES
= [Overview]
Amazon.com launched its own reading device, the Kindle, in November 2007. In the mid-1990s, people read on their desktop computers before reading on their laptops. The Palm Pilot was launched in March 1996 as the first PDA, and people began reading on PDAs. 23 million Palm Pilots were sold between 1996 and 2002. Its main competitors were the Pocket PC (launched by Microsoft in April 2000) and the PDAs of Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Handspring, Toshiba and Casio. People also began reading on the first smartphones launched by Nokia or Sony Ericsson. Some companies launched dedicated reading devices like the Rocket eBook, the SoftBook Reader, the Gemstar eBook and the Cybook, all models that didn't last long. Better reading devices emerged then, like the Cybook (new version) in 2004, the Sony Reader in 2006 and the Kindle in 2007. LCD screens were replaced by screens using the E Ink technology. The next step should be an ultra-thin flexible display called electronic paper (epaper), launched in 2001 by E Ink, Plastic Logic and others.
= First reading devices
How about a book-sized electronic reader that could store many books at once? From 1998 onwards, some pioneer companies began working on dedicated reading devices, and launched the Rocket eBook (created by NuvoMedia), the EveryBook (created by EveryBook), the SoftBook Reader (created by SoftBook Press), and the Millennium eBook (created by Librius.com).
The Rocket eBook was launched by NuvoMedia, in Palo Alto, California, as the first dedicated reading device. Founded in 1997, NuvoMedia wanted to become "the electronic book distribution solution, by providing a networking infrastructure for publishers, retailers and end users to publish, distribute, purchase and read electronic content securely and efficiently on the internet." Investors of NuvoMedia were Barnes & Noble and Bertelsmann. The connection between the Rocket eBook and the computer (PC or Macintosh) was made through the Rocket eBook Cradle, which provided power through a wall transformer, and connected to the computer with a serial cable.
EveryBook (EB) was "a living library in a single book". The EveryBook's electronic storage could hold 100 textbooks or 500 novels. The EveryBook used a "hidden" modem to dial into the EveryBook Store, for people to browse, purchase and receive full text books, magazines and sheet music.
SoftBook Press created the SoftBook along with the SoftBook Network, an internet-based content delivery service. With the SoftBook, "people could easily, quickly and securely download a wide selection of books and periodicals using its built-in internet connection", with a machine that, "unlike a computer, was ergonomically designed for the reading of long documents and books." The investors of Softbook Press were Random House and Simon & Schuster.
Librius was a "full-service ecommerce company" that launched a small "low-cost" reading device called the Millennium eBook. The website offered a World Bookstore that delivered digital copies of thousands of books via the internet.