Finding and buying e-books

As an e-book is a book in a digital form. When we think to buy this type of book, we may have to know where to find and buy it. There are some sources that can help you to find e-books more easily.

1. Fictionwise.com - secure Mobipocket, eReader, PDF formats. Moreover, multiformat books, which are usually non-DRM (Digital Rights Management) books.

2. eReader.com - is actually powered by Fictionwise. But this is a separate site carrying only eReader/.pdb format.

3. bn.com(Barnes&Noble) - even through they bought Fictionwise in March 2009, e-books in eReader/.pdb format are also available through bn.com.

4. Books on Board.com - a mixture of EPUB, Mobipocket and eReader formats.

5. Mobipocket.com - Mobipocket format (owned by Amazon).

6. Amazon.com Kindle Store - Kindle format only.

7. http://www.ebook.com/ - Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, secure EPUB formats.

8. EPubBooks.com - a list of places to find EPUB format books.

9. Wizz-e.com - a site that focuses on e-books for children.

10. Diesel ebooks - Adobe, Mobipocket, eReader, Microsoft formats.

11. eBook Store from Sony - Sony format (BBeB) for Sony Reader.

12. Penguin eBooks (U.S.) - Microsoft Reader, secure Adobe PDF and secure eReader formats.

13. Penguin eBooks (UK) - secure EPUB format.

14. WHSmith eBookShop (UK) - secure EPUB, secure Adobe PDF, secure Mobipocket, secure Microsoft Reader.

15. Waterstones (UK) - for Sony Readers, utilizes secure EPUB.

To summarize, according to this data, we can find that buying an e-book is very easy. Because now we can buy e-books either from a bookseller's or a publisher's website.

Ref: http://www.whenihavetime.com/where-to-buy-and-find-free-ebooks-and-learning-resources/

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/PromotingeBooksReportB.pdf

E-book Readers

Now e-book can be read through many different devices. Or in other words, there are many e-book devices to use for reading e-book that come in different formats. However, they can be cassified into 3 main categories.

1. Your Computer: A simple solution since almost all e-book formats have software that is installable on Windows and Mac operating systems.

2. Multifunction/Smartphone: This group is perhaps the most interesting, because, if you have one of these devices in your possession, you can set up it to read e-book very easy. Blackberry, Treo, iPhone (and iPod Touch) are all examples of Smartphones. Many e-book formats have ways to read content from Smartphone.

3. Dedicated e-book readers: There are a lot of e-book devices out on the marketplace now. The feature that characterizes these devices is that most of them are utilize E-Ink technology, which is a non-backlit electronic display that simulates text printed on paper. These are some well-known e-book readers in this type:

- Amazon Kindle: now it is in the third generation (Kindle 3). E-book formats that can be read on this device are AZW(Kindle format), PDF, TXT, MOBI, PRC, HTML and DOC.

-Sony Reader: the PRS-700 is the most recent version with a touch screen. E-book formats that can be read on this device are Sony's e-book format (BBeB), PDF, EPUB, HTML and TXT.

-Barnes & Noble Nook: B&N released the Nook in October 2009. This tool is a relatively new contender in the e-book reader marketplace. It supports eReader format, EPUB and PDF.

Ref: http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com

http://www.whenihavetime.com/where-to-buy-and-find-free-ebooks-and-learning-resources/

E-book Formats

Since an e-book is a book in a digital form, it can exist in different formats. For this reason, there are many e-book formats that appear in the e-book world. These are some popular e-book formats.

1. Mobipocket/.prc/.mobi - is now owned by Amazon. It is available to be read on several devices.

Features: can be used on any PC or mobile device. Includes bookmarks, table of contents, and more.2. Microsoft Reader/ .lit - Microsoft's e-book format which is readable on several types of devices.

Features: clear type display technology, book-like reading environment, bookmarks and annotations.

3. eReader/ .pdb - originally developed by Palm. Or in other words, it is a program for viewing Palm Digital Media electronic books.

Features: can be used on many popular mobile devices. Includes bookmarks, table of contents, and more.

4. PDF/ .pdf - is widely available and readable on several types of devices.

Features: Windows, Mac, device compatible. Bookmarks, single or double page view. Zoom in on pages.

5. EPUB/ .epub - is created by the IDPF (The International Digital Publishing Forum). Features: Windows, Mac, device compatible. Bookmarks, single or double page view. Zoom in on pages.

Ref: http://www.ebookmall.com/choose-format/

http://www.whenihavetime.com/where-to-buy-and-find-free-ebooks-and-learning-resources/

The history of e-book

A brief history of e-book is:

- In 1971, the first "e-book" was born. Michael Hart was the creator of this innovation and founder of the Project Gutenberg of lllinois University, a public library of digital books, which houses 20,000 free books, and over 100,000 books are available through their partners.

-In 1981, the first e-book with commercial aims (a dictionary by Random House) was launched on the market.

-In 1998, the first e-book Fair took place in Gaithersburg, Maryland in the U.S. At this event, the Norm Open e-book, a series of regulations to standardize the format of electronic publication was presented. Moreover, libraries began to pay attention to e-book in this year when NetLibrary, a Colorado-based firm began to provide content.

-In 1999, the specification Open e-book Publication Structure was established, which set HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the stnndard platforms for this type of books.

-In 2001, the e-books boom started when "Riding the Bullet", a Stephen King' s well-known novel, was launched exclusively on the internet. This digital work was a resounding success, with a great amount of copies sold in only 2 days at a very affordable cost-$2.50.

Additionally, one of the first genres to become successful in the e-book field was that of the romance story. Because e-book romances were easy to shop for and easy to read, so romance novels were perfect for e-books.

Ref: http://www.myebookdesign.com/History-Of-E-Book-Design.aspx

http://www.ebookweek.com/history.html

What is e-book?

For the second half of the semester, I will be blogging about e-book that is one of technology tools can be used for educational world more effectively. E-book or ebook or digital book is shortly said of an electronic book. The easy way to understand the meaning of e-book is to write it as a formula as e-book = electronic + book. There are many definitions available of e-book, for examples:

1. E-book is a book whose contents are in an eletronic format.

2. E-book is a small, portable device onto which the contents of a book in eletronic format can be downloaded and read.

3. E-book is a portable electronic device with a video screen, for reading such text.

4. E-book is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer or by using an e-book reader.

5. E-book is a text- and image-based publication in digital form produced on, published by, and readable on computer or other digital devices.

To summarize, the term of e-book is used to refer to either a written work in a digital format, or a hardware device used to read books in digital format. However, the second meaning is disapproved by some users. They think it is accurate to use e-book device insted.

Ref: http://www.yourdictionary.com/e-book

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/ebook

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-book

The Future of E-learning

According to the report "The Worldwide Market for Self-paced elearning Products and Services: 2009-2014 Forecast and Analysis" by Ambient Insight, it is found that:

1. In 2009, e-learning reached a dollar volume of $ 27.1 billion, and by 2014, e-learning will reach $ 49.6 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8 % over five years. The dollar figures in the research included expenditures in five categories of electronic learning technologies: packaged content, custom content development services, learning platform and tool hosting services, authoring software and tools, and installed learning platforms.

2. North America is the largest region for eletronic learning, the growth is being driven by academic institutions, both preK-12 and higher education. The largest expenditures for packaged content in 2009 were made by the preK-12 and higher education buyers, which accounted for 43 % of all North America purchases. the higher education segment will be the largest buyer by the end of the forecast period driven by the robust expansion of online programs in both non-profit and for-profit institutions.

3. North America will continue to be the largest e-learning market for the next five years while Asia, with a "breathtaking" five-year CAGR of 33.5 %, will edge out Western Europe by 2014 to take the No.2 slot.

4. In higher education, particularly in career and vocational programs, the current economic situation is helping to fuel the growth. For-profit institutions are dominating online education, owing partly to this trend.

5. In preK-12, growth is being fueled by the proliferation of online virtual schools that are part of state and local education systems and online charter schools that operate independent of these systems in many cases. Both are helping preK-12 experience a 17 % CAGR over the five years.

6. The United States is unique in the world, even in North America, in the organization of its online preK-12 programs:

-The virtual school and the cyber charter school phenomenon is a distinct US trend.

-Virtual schools in the US are administered by the school systems and many offer full time programs to students.

-In 2009, there were over 200,000 students enrolled in virtual schools in the US.

-Many virtual schools in the US purchase content and services from commercial "education management", and the trend of purchasing growth rates are impressive. For example, from 2008 to 2009, K12's purchasing grew by 35 %.

-There are over 185,000 children in the US enrolled in cyber charter schools in 2009, and by 2014, 1.5 million US children will be taking online class in cyber charter schools.

In conclusion, e-learning appears to grow more rapidly in the future, because it mainly takes the form of online learning that tends to increase more in the educational system in the near future.

Ref:http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2010/03/03/The-Future-of-E-Learning-Is-More-Growth.aspx?Page=3

The advantages and disadvantages of e-learning

E-learning can provide more obvious advantages for using in this present-day. However, there are some disadvantages occur when we consider e-learning in the opposite side.

Advantages of e-learning

1. Flexibility and convenience: students can access an e-learning course anywhere, anytime and learn as much as they need.

2. Travel costs and savings: there are no travel costs for bringing remote students to a centralized place.

3. Ease of updating information: it is very easy to change the information, because the changes are made on the servers storing the program or courseware.

4. Inexpensive worldwide distribution: there is no need for a separate distribution mechanism and internet is widely available to use for e-learning nowadays.

5. Increase of number of students without demands on extension of teaching capacities: students are able to proceed through a program at their own places and instructors are not held by geographic boundaries.

6. A possibility of exploitation of new forms of communication: an e-learning course gives students to have opportunities to share experiences among students as well as between students and instructors.

Disadvantages of e-learning

1. Bandwidth limitations: long waits for download that can affect the ease of the learning process.

2. Loss of human contact: students only move towards more computer usage for an e-learning course.

3. Too static: the level of interactivity in the e-learning course is often too limited.

4. Not all courses are delivered well by computer: some learning topics are not best served by computer based learning and require a more personal touch.

5. Progress of e-learnong quality: the quality of many e-learning courses are still not better than many years ago. Because focus is often on how to develop a lot of courses and not on how to improve the quality of learning.

6. Confusion about technology: as e-learning is delivered to students via a computer using internet technologies, some students who lack of ICT skills may have the problems in this type of learning.

Ref: http://www.namahn.com/resources/documents/note-e-learning.pdf

http://www.e-learnmedia.sk/en/main.php?menu=102