eBooks.com’s read-online service: Read your purchases instantly and without eBabel hassles
I want people to be able to own e-books for real—no small reason for why I favor e-book standards for the long term. I hate the E Book Museum-only approach, under which you can read e-books via your Web browser but not download them for permanent reading.
But wouldn’t it be be nice if newbies could enjoy e-books without messing with downloads and DRM-complicated software? Or what if you could read your titles from anywhere just by calling them up from the e-bookstore where you bought them? If nothing else, online reading is one way to avoid the hassles of the Tower of eBabel of conflicting e-book formats.
And so you might be interested in eBooks.com’s “eb20, a web-based ebook reader” that will help the big indy e-store be competitive with read-online services from Google and Amazon. Word of eb20 is not new. But the news just doesn’t seem to have circulated wisely even though the Web app is already in operation. A Google search shows that eBooks.com already has scads of books in eb20.
In a pop-up, eBooks.com explains the new wrinkle: “In addition to downloading an ebook to your computer or device, you can now read the book online from any computer that’s connected to the internet. eb20 requires no software installation and enables you to just start reading a work, seconds after buying it.” Ahead I’ll repro the full pop-up.
Technorati Tags: eBooks.com , eb20 , Google , Amazon
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You can now read your ebook online from any computer, anywhere …
eBooks.com has just released eb20, a web-based ebook reader application. This means that, in addition to downloading an ebook to your computer or device, you can now read the book online from any computer that’s connected to the internet. eb20 requires no software installation and enables you to just start reading a work, seconds after buying it.
In the coming months you’ll see more and more of our books available through this simple online reading interface. As books are converted to eb20 format, you’ll see a little Read Online link next to the book in your eBooks.com account. Just click on that link and start reading. When buying a book, if you see Available to read online in eb20, it means that, once you’ve paid for it, you’ll be able to download the ebook and read it online anywhere, anytime.
Popularity: 6% [?]
October 19th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
If eBooks.com really means “any computer that’s connected to the internet”, i.e. any web browser, then it should not take too long for someone to produce an application to remove the DRM from eb20 e-books. The basic problem for web-based e-book applications is that either the encryption is removed on the server (DRM-free data steam entering your computer, and easy to redirect) or by the browser (browser-specific software on your computer: can’t be used on just “any computer” and may still not be secure). However, perhaps eBooks has worked out a third way - delivering screen-sized images to the browser for example.
October 19th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Good to see someone’s paying attention!
October 20th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
The only problem is that you can’t take your books with you to the beach, the park, the doctor’s office or the supermarket line.
The only reason why my non-techie sister could be motivated into reading ebooks was that she could carry tons of books on her Pocket PC. If she had to look for a wifi connection whenever she wants to read, she would definitely not even bother. Besides, free wifi connections are not as ubiquous in Europe as they are in the US.
It’s a nice service for techies and people who do not read ebooks outside of their own home - not for anyone I know, though.
October 24th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
This is about computers, not books. Please leave my books alone.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Alan and Xendula and Therese…
A: If people are determined to pirated books, they’ll be able to do so with or without DRM, such as by scanning.
X: Hey, but aren’t there plenty of other locations where you can read. ebooks.com is increasing the options.
T: Shouldn’t people be able to enjoy e-books, too—and do so any way they want? The eBook.com approach will make it easier to shop for just the right book and read it from most any Web-enabled computer hooked up with the Net. To me, it’s the WORDS that count. By the way, if you want to write an anti-e-book essay, I’ll be pleased to give you space in the main part of the blog for some civil dialogue between you and us E-lovers. Thanks. David