Book People Archive

Re: speaking e-book?

As perhaps the person most credited with the invention of the word
"eText". . .I would have to say that what Ken Wilson described below
is an "eText" rather than an "eBook."

Quite simply, an "eText" is the file containing the words that make
up the book, sometimes along with various formatting instructions;
while an "eBook" is a physical object containing hardware, firmware,
and whatever software you install on it, including various "eTexts."


Thanks!

So nice to hear from you!


Michael S. Hart
<hart@[redacted]>
Project Gutenberg
"*Ask Dr. Internet*"
Executive Coordinator
"*Internet User ~#100*"


On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Ken Wilson wrote:

> I have listened to Kelly & Dandy Stribling  and I need more information.
> An Ebook is not an object with a plug in for earphones. It is a text file
> containing an article or book length novel. It can be loaded into a word
> processor or by using a text to speech program you can listen to the text
> using a speaker or head phones.  There was a time when I thought an
> Electronic Book (ebook) was a self enclosed book that was listened to
> similar to a talking book.