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eBooks are books that can be downloaded
from email attachments or directly to a PC or a portable reading
device from your computer. In dedicated eBook devices, most
popularly known as handheld computers or PDAs, storage capacities
vary, but you can easily tote several 500-page texts in one
device. The on-screen "page" size ranges from 5x7
inches to 8x11 inches on a dedicated device, or virtually
any size on a PC. To find your place in an eBook, you use
scroll bars, digital "dog ears," and text-search
features. Currently, the text file format is either Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) or a variation of HTML,
Microsoft Reader (LIT), Mobipocket
(PRC), hiebook and XML.
Most eBook content is also encrypted, using technology standards
to ensure that content can't be viewed before it's purchased
and that, once downloaded, the ability to copy, print, or
redistribute material is limited.
Why do eBooks
make so much sense?
Faster Delivery
Easy Portability
Infinity Knowledge
Interactivity and search capabilities
Low costs
Selected works
What's the difference between the various formats?
Adobe
Acrobat (PDF)
HTML
Microsoft Reader (LIT)
Mobipocket (PRC)
hiebook (KML)
XML
Why do eBooks make so much
sense?
Faster Delivery:
The best of courier services fail as compared to the speed
of the Internet. All you need to do is to just log on, download
your eBook, and start reading it. It also means that students
and professionals (doctors, lawyers..) can update their textbooks
and professional reading material quickly and easily.
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Easy Portability:
The largest of books turn small when they become eBooks.
So whether you are carrying a thick 1000-page manual or a
tiny 20-page guide, the amount of space occupied is the same.
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Infinite
knowledge:
Thanks to the compact eBook format, tons of information can
be stored for quick reference. Lawyers with complete, up-to-date,
fully linked case opinions; doctors with entire medical archives
available bedside; students with multiple textbooks in one
easy-to-carry reader: The list is endless.
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Interactivity
and search capabilities:
Searching a document, inserting a bookmark, and adding cross-referenced
hyperlinks are easy tasks within eBook formats such as PDF.
So is including sound, video, and animation – things
one can’t imagine in conventional paper books.
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Low costs:
Since eBooks involve no printing, storing, or shipping costs,
publishers can reduce their overhead, which eventually amounts
to lower costs to consumers.
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Selected
works:
eBooks empower their customers to purchase only what they
want, be it a chapter, a group of chapters from many different
publications, or even just huge pieces of information.
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What's the difference between
the various formats?
Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF)
It enables you to download a document,
whatever software was used to produce it, with all its formatting,
fonts and pictures embedded and preserved.
All you need is Adobe’s free Acrobat® Reader™
software. It can be downloaded from Adobe’s website
here.
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HTML
Whenever you open your internet
browser, whether it's Internet Explorer, Netscape or any other,
you are viewing pages made in HTML. If your eBook is in HTML
format, you can simply double-click on your file and open
it in any browser. You can also open your HTML file in any
Word program like Word Perfect, Notepad or Microsoft Word,
as well as on any handheld computer. A very versatile format.
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Microsoft Reader (LIT)
Microsoft Reader is a free
software application designed to deliver an on-screen reading
experience that approaches the convenience and quality of
paper. Microsoft Reader is the first product to include patented
ClearType display technology, which improves resolution on
LCD screens by up to 300 percent to deliver a print-like display.
Microsoft Reader also pays strict attention to the traditions
and benefits of good typography. It offers a clean, uncluttered
layout; ample margins; proper spacing, leading, and kerning;
plus powerful tools for marking, highlighting, and annotating
your eBooks.
You can download your FREE Microsoft Reader here.
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Mobipocket (PRC)
The Mobipocket Reader Format
is your Universal eBook Reader for all PDAs and brings you
a wide range of eReading technologies to choose from –
Palm Series (PalmOS v2.0 and onwards), Windows CE, Pocket
PC, Psion (Epoch 32) and Franklin eBookMan. Backed by powerful
eReading features, it brings a completeness and versatility
to your reading experience that is quite unmatched. The Reader
features touch-screen page turning, bookmarking to facilitate
quick returns to noteworthy sections, adjustable font size
and color, full text search – in fact all that you need
for an enriched reading experience.
You can download
your FREE Mobipocket Reader here.
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hiebook
Hiebook is a handheld device
that is perfect for reading novels, textbooks and more. It
can easily save hand drawn maps as well as written memos.
It is also a schedule organzier, Memo and Address Book and
you can read your book while listening to music.
You can download your own hiebook
simulator here.
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Extensible Markup Language (XML)
XML is the Extensible Markup Language. It is designed to improve
the functionality of the Web by providing more flexible and
adaptable information identification.
It is called extensible because it is not a fixed format
like HTML (a single, predefined markup language). Instead,
XML is actually a `metalanguage' —a language for describing
other languages—which lets you design your own customized
markup languages for limitless different types of documents.
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If you have more questions about ebooks and how they work,
please contact us at WOLPublisher@writeronline.us
Creative
Fiction Writers Software
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