eBook Readers
by Dan Logan
In 2000 I was living on the Central Coast of California, teaching various technology classes, and writing technology columns for several newspapers. Companies would send me products to review, and one fancy device I received was the Softbook Reader.
The Softbook Reader was designed for reading digital books called eBooks. Roughly the size of a closed laptop, it had had a faux leather cover that opened like a book cover and protected the monochrome screen.
I could download books and read them, highlight text, write notes on the pages, and generally do book things with it. It was a little heavy and unwieldy for reading in bed, but it would hold about 5000 pages of text without getting any bigger or heavier--and the company said a thousand books were already available.
I'm an avid reader and thought this was a very cool tool, particularly for a first generation attempt.
My students, however, were thoroughly unimpressed. Even the hardcore readers. The Softbook Reader faded away; the interest in eBook readers was pretty much a nonstarter at the time.
But, a dozen years later, the eBook concept has taken hold. People have decided they love reading eBooks.
get all of the details in the South Coast Prime Times
