To regulate the copyright of digital editions in the wake of the relevant WIPO international treaties signed in 1996, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) was ratified in October 1998 in the United States, and the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) was ratified in May 2001 by the European Commission. Each country in the European Union was requested to draft and pass its own legislation within a given time frame. In France, DADVSI (Droit d'Auteur et Droits Voisins dans la Société de l'Information) passed in August 2006, with the general public being not so happy about it.
1998 > THE FIRST EBOOK READERS
[Summary] How about a book-sized electronic device that could store many books at once? The first ebook readers were developed in Silicon Valley, California. The Rocket eBook was launched in 1998 in Palo Alto by NuvoMedia, whose investors were Barnes & Noble and Bertelsmann. Shortly afterwards, the SoftBook Reader was launched by SoftBook Press, whose investors were Random House and Simon & Schuster. These two ebook readers were the size of a (large and thick) book, with batteries and a black and white LCD screen. They could connect to the internet through a computer (for the Rocket eBook) or directly with a built-in modem (for the SoftBook Reader) to download books from the digital bookstores available on the companies’ websites. Other models followed in 1999, for example the EveryBook Reader, launched by EveryBook, and the Millennium eBook, launched by Librius. The Gemstar eBook was launched in the U.S. in November 2000. The Cybook (1st generation) was in Europe in January 2001.
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How about a book-sized electronic device that could store many books at once? The first ebook readers were the Rocket eBook and the SoftBook Reader, launched in Silicon Valley in 1998.
These dedicated electronic readers were the size of a (large and thick) book, with a battery, a black and white LCD screen, and a storage capacity of ten books or so. They could connect to the internet through a computer (for the Rocket eBook) or directly with a built-in modem (for the SoftBook Reader).
They got much attention from book professionals and the general public, with few of them buying them though, because of their rocket-high price — several hundreds of dollars — and a small choice of books in the digital bookstores available on the companies’ websites. Publishers were just beginning to digitize their own books, still wondering how to market them, and worried with piracy concerns.
# The Rocket eBook
The Rocket eBook was launched in 1998 as the first dedicated ebook reader by NuvoMedia, a company founded in 1997 in Palo Alto. The investors of NuvoMedia were Barnes & Noble and Bertelsmann. 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". The Rocket eBook could connect to a computer (PC or Macintosh) through the Rocket eBook Cradle, a device with two cables, a cable for power through a wall transformer, and a serial cable for the computer.
# The SoftBook Reader