Bookworm ePub Reader Gets Boost From O'Reilly

stoolpigeon writes in with news that ought to kindle Amazon's attention: "O'Reilly announced recently that they are now hosting Bookworm, an online ePub reader. ePub is composed of three open standards (OPS, OPF, and OCF) that allow users a great amount of flexibility without any lock-in. Bookworm lets users upload ePub files, read them online from a PC or mobile device, and also export them to mobile devices that support ePub. Bookworm can also export directly to Stanza. Once a user has uploaded their ePub books to Bookworm, they can track progress through them even across multiple devices."

Comments

Re:I don't understand the allure of eBooks...

[Bigjeff5]

Frankly, it's much, much, much easier to find information you are looking for in an eBook. Being digital, they a generally searcheable, which is fantastic. Also, depending on exactly what you are doing, it can be much easier to have the book on a monitor and your work right in front of you. None of that is as easy with a textbook. Trust me, I've used textbooks with a PDF option. I don't even like PDF's and I think it's really nice to have the option.

Also, if you just need to -read- the material, an eBook in an eBook reader is infinately more convenient than a large textbook (you know, standard 700+ page books ;)). While the tactile feel is nice in a book, the awkwardness of a large textbook completely negates it and then some, in my opinion.

Plus, have you read on an eInk device? It's like reading paper, only it's small and compact and has a massive geek factor, they rock. Mine doesn't let me search, only flip to certain sections, so searchability is about the same as a textbook, but others like the new Kindle let you search. I'm personally waiting for the Plastic Logic device that has a massive 8x11 screen, perfect for technical documents.

Cheers!

Currently done that way here.

[DrYak]

Geneva university here.
Lots of university made material (professor's slides and notes, other documents written by the faculty staff, chapters from books that professors have authored and have the right to publish themselves, chapters of recommended books [the university libraries pay a tax that gives them the right to make books available to their students] etc.) are distributed in PDF format on a specialised website.

The students can either read it on screen or print it with the university's or their home printers.
Just throw in a low-power device able to read PDFs and it's exactly the situation you describe.
At least with university-produced documents.