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The very first eReader device was created by Spanish school teacher Angela Ruiz Robles in 1949. Robles noticed that her students were struggling to carry heavy books back and forth from school each day so she invented a device that would allow students to handle their books easier. Her invention was the Enciclopedia Mecánica. This device contained spools of printed text which could be operated using compressed air.
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Bibliobyte was the first company to begin selling books as ebooks online. This webpage can be used to help you determine which e-reader best suits you and your needs
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Four important events in 1998 shaped the future of eBooks: the first eBook readers launched, eBooks attained ISBNs, U.S. Libraries began providing free eBooks to the public, and Google was founded. The first ebook readers were Rocket eBook and SoftBook Reader which both launched from Silicone Valley. These electronic readers were the size of a large book, with a battery, a black and white LCD screen, and a storage capacity of ten books.
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Stephen King is a very famous author so when he released his novel, Riding the Bullet, in 2000 as digital-only and computer-readable it helped expand the popularity of an eReader.
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Sony first began the e-reader trade with their release of the Librie e-reader in 2004. It was the very first commercial e-ink device, and was sold only in Japan, but many devices were sold in the US through online retailers and with a third-party English OS upgrade. This reader was the result of a three-year collaboration between Sony, Philips, Toppan printing and E Ink Corporation.
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The first generation Kindle allowed readers to have 90,000 books at their fingertips. It was dubbed the "iPod of reading". This Kindle had no touch screen features so you maneuvered it through keyboard and navigation buttons. It sold for $399 and was only available in the United States. This video shows how to maneuver through a Kindle
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The Nook was released by Barnes and Noble in 2009 for $259. It was the first time that an e-ink display was combined with a small color LCD screen. It differed from the Kindle by allowing the owner to use color touchscreen to navigate throughout the device. It also had WiFi and 3G functions. First commercial promoting the Nook
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Apple's own idea of an e-reader released in January of 2010. The iPad had the same functions as an iPod but with the release they also introduced the new e-reader application iBooks which stored books and other e-texts on Apple products all in one place.
This video give an overview of how to use the iBook application and what it looks like. -
For the first time the sale and use of eBooks and e-readers had passed the sales and use of paper based books. The newscast attached shows real statistics and how the rise of eBooks affected bookstore owners and workers
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As the growth and popularity of the multiple e-readers released like the Kindle, Nook, and iPad, more and more people found it to be more convenient to download a book onto their tablet rather than buy a hard copy of a book from a bookstore. Use this quiz to review your knowledge
