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College student Michael S. Hart kicks off a new era in reading and creates the first digital book by typing the Declaration of Independence into a computer at the University of Illinois. Hart soon founded Project Gutenberg, the ongoing initiative to convert the world's written works to electronic formats for free, public use.
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Eastgate Systems publishes and distributes Michael Joyce's "afternoon, a story," on diskettes. Considered the first work of electronic literature, the hypertext form allows readers to interact with the story through links.
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Project Gutenberg releases its 100th e-book: the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
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The new online bookstore founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com, sells its first text through the Internet: a science textbook. What began as "Earth's biggest bookstore" today dominates web sales of everything from toys and furniture to tablets and e-novels.
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With roots at the MIT Media Lab, E Ink Corporation takes flight to bring electronic ink and paper-based products to the market. E Ink creates technology for e-books, from the Kindle to the Nook.
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Shortly after obtaining the first ISBN for a digital book, publisher Kim Blagg brings e-reading to the Boox Expo America in Chicago. A year later, Blagg founded Books on Screen to publish and distribute authors' works on CDs. "Electronic books are creating an entirely new reading environment," Blagg told the Tuscaloosa News in 2000.
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The Associated Press heralds the beginning of e-readers, devices dedicated for digital books. In the fall of 1998, two of the original e-readers lit up literature for the first time: the Rocket eBook and the Softbook Reader.
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As downloads of digital media soar, President Bill Clinton signs the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, criminalizing efforts to skirt measures that protect copyrighted material. Figuring out how to regulate intellectual property rights in an online age persists as one of the chief legal issues with digital media.
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Adobe launches a website to sell downloadable PDF versions of books, magazines and other materials. The Adobe Digital Media Store carried content from major publishers, including Random House and HarperCollins.
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The Authors Guild, which represents more than 8,000 published authors in the United States, sues Google for copyright infringement in the company's Google Print Library Project. Though agreements with university and public libraries, Google was scanning published materials (without authors' consent) to create an online database.
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At a launch event in New York City, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos introduces the company's new e-reader: the Amazon Kindle. After three years of development, the much anticipated device boasted 90,000 downloadable digital books, most for less than $10 each. The device's success exceeded expectations: within a year, Amazon sold out of the debut version, just before the holiday gift-buying season.
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Less than two years after launching its first e-reading device, Amazon.com delivers the next round: Kindle 2. The updated gadget offered better memory and web browsing features.
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Bookstore titan Barnes & Noble launches the Nook, an e-reading device designed for the company's products.
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Borders, the 40-year-old book retail giant, files for bankruptcy. With dwindling sales in-store and online, the company announces plans to close at least a third of its more than 650 stores nationwide.
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Electronic book sales surpass all printed versions at Amazon.com for the first time. In July 2010, the company announced that e-book sales had overtaken hardcovers; by January 2011, digital books were out-selling paperbacks as well.
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After announcing plans to liquidate its stores in July, Borders finally shuts the doors on its remaining stores.
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Amazon.com announces a new service: the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Available to those enrolled in the company's Prime membership program, the library is the first to offer e-reader users free content to borrow - with no due dates.
