With permanent access to all the books in “My Bookshelf” via a simple web site, users can just log in and start reading. No software to install, no hoops to jump through. You’re just reading web pages.
We were the first company anywhere to enable a see-inside-the-book function, and the first to offer full-text search across the full contents of our entire collection of books. EBL and eBooks.com run on proprietary technologies that set these businesses apart from the rest of the field. The centerpiece of the company’s development and competitive edge in coming years will be eb20: Ebooks 2.0.
Ebooks 2.0 says that we should try and understand what end users reasonably expect of an ebook, and then give it to them. In summary, we believe that what users expect and deserve are:
Start reading an ebook as soon as you’ve bought it, without suffering the pain of having to jump through intervening technical hoops. Your ebook should open when you click on it.
Having bought the digital version of a book, I should be able to open it in any digital environment, on any of my devices.
I bought this book – it should be mine to do with as I (legally) want; without clumsy and intrusive DRM getting in the way. Ebooks should come with reasonable print and copy allowances.
Ebooks 2.0 says that users don’t actually mind DRM; what they do mind is when DRM crowds them out and gets in the way of their fair and reasonable use of a book they’ve paid for. DRM should be there, but it should be invisible.
eb20 Online Reader is a revolutionary online ebook reader that acts like a sophisticated installed computer pro-gram but is just a web page. It requires no software installation, not even Adobe Reader. eb20 is at the heart of eBooks.com, and is now available for license to publishers, booksellers and others, to enhance their customers’ on-line experience.
eb20 Online Reader enables users to access their collection of ebooks from any computer, anywhere, anytime. It is more secure than other online reader programs, but it has all the simplicity and the features that users expect from an ebook reading application.
In addition to being the simplest ebook reading experience around, eb20 enables users to do everything they can do with a print book, and much more:
- Highlight sections of the book
- Add comments, notes
- Easy citation
- Bookmark pages
- Print and copy (regulated amounts of) text
- Immersive reading mode lets you get lost in the narrative without visual clutter