The Gemstar eBook was launched in October 2000 by Gemstar-TV Guide
International, a company providing digital products and services for
the media. Gemstar first bought Nuvomedia (author of the Rocket eBook,
the first ebook reading device) and SoftBook Press (author of the
SoftBook Reader, the second ebook reading device) in January 2000,
before buying the French 00h00.com, a producer of digital books, in
September 2000. Two Gemstar eBooks were available for sale in the U.S.
in November 2000, with a later attempt in Germany to test the European
market. The REB 1100 (successor of the Rocket eBook) had a black and
white screen. The REB 1200 (successor of the SoftBook Reader) had a
color screen. Both were produced by RCA (Thomson Multimedia). Later
on, cheaper models were launched as GEB 1150 and 2150, produced by
Gemstar instead of RCA. But the sales were still far below
expectations. The company stopped selling ebook reading devices in June
2003, and ebooks the following month.
November 2000 > The original Bible of Gutenberg digitized, and
available online
The digitized version of the original Bible of Gutenberg was available
online in November 2000, on the website of the British Library.
Gutenberg printed its Bible in 1454 or 1455 in Germany, perhaps
printing 180 copies, with 48 copies still available in 2000, and three
copies - two full ones and one partial one - at the British Library.
The two full copies - a little different from each other -- were
digitized in March 2000 by Japanese experts from the Keio University
(Tokyo) and NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Communications). The
images were then processed to offer a full digital version on the web a
few months later, for the world to enjoy.
November 2000 > Frederick Forsyth, a British novelist, made a digital
experiment
Following Stephen King's footsteps, Frederick Forsyth, the British
master of thrillers, decided to make a digital experiment in
partnership with Online Originals, an electronic publisher from London.
In November 2000, Online Originals published online The Veteran, the
story of a violent crime in London, and the first part of Quintet, a
collection of five short stories (announced in the following order: The
Veteran, The Miracle, The Citizen, The Art of the Matter, and Draco).
Available in three electronic formats (PDF, Microsoft Reader and
Glassbook Reader), the short story was sold for 3.99 pounds (6.60
euros) on the publisher's website and in several online bookstores in
the United Kingdom (Alphabetstreet, BOL.com, WHSmith) and in the U.S.
(Barnes & Noble, Contentville, Glassbook).
November 2000 > Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish novelist, made a
digital experiment
Arturo Pérez-Reverte, a Spanish novelist, is famous for his best-seller
collection of novels telling the adventurous life of Capitan Alatriste
in the 17th century. The new title to be released in late 2000 was "El
Oro del Rey" (The King's Gold). In November 2000, the author partnered
with his publisher Alfaguara to publish "El Oro del Rey" exclusively in
digital form for one month, on a specific site of the web portal
Inicia, before the release of the print version in bookstores. The
novel was available in PDF format for 2.90 euros, a much cheaper price
than the 15.10 euros of the forthcoming print book. As a result of the
experiment, the number of downloads was very good, but not the number
of payments. A month after the online publishing of the novel, there
are 332,000 downloads, but only 12,000 readers who paid for it.