Samizdat: The Russian word for "self publication" heads a dizzying aggregation of stuff by and about Richard Seltzer. This maze will enable browsing some sought-after sites, plus a few better left unbrowsed.

E-BOOKS.ORG: A clearing house for technical research on e-books and e-reading.

"Bad News for Trees": A brilliant, wide-ranging feature from The Economist (12/19/98). Many solid thoughts and conclusions.  

Eastgate Systems: "The primary source for serious hypertext" according to The New York Times Book Review. Publisher of both fiction and non-fiction in hypertext format.

Boson Books: Another struggling publisher, less interesting list, atrocious graphics.

Quiet Vision: An idea whose time has come? Books on CD with audio tracks to be read aloud if needed. A number of old favorites such as the Wizard of Oz series. The publisher believes that these are a new form of paperback.

Mind's Eye Fiction: A specialist in short fiction with a difference -- "Read thr first part of nay free" and you pay to get the ending.

Palm Digital Media: Publisher, and aggregator, of electronic books and chapters for Palm Pilots.

MemoWare: The PDA Document Repository: Another publisher, and aggregator, of books and documents for the PDA. Interesting list of "Reference" items -- dozens of FAQ-style briefs about investing -- well crafted for Palm Pilot users.

ibooks, Inc.: An enterprise created by the developer Byron Preiss to issue original titles simultaneously in both print and electronic formats.

Hard Shell Word Factory: More electronic publishing.

Nitelinks: Mostly fiction, needs special reading software(NSR) to actually read the encrypted downloads. List includes free public-domain classics such as The Three Musketeers.  

Versaware Inc.: Defunct.

reciprocal: Defunct.

MesaView: Defunct.

NetPaper: Defunct.

OverDrive Systems: Another conversion service: "Since 1986 we have produced thousands of eBooks for many leading publishers and have developed and supplied software tools for many others...."

Digital Goods: Originally Softlock, a security-technology company, hence the name. Digital Goods positioned itself as a "major player in the digital content economy." Had a key role in e-distribution of Stephen King's "Riding the Bullet", making the online work accessible to 80 affiliates. Called by Simon & Schuster "A digital Ingram." In May 2001 the company released all but four employees, prepared for sale. Basically defunct.  

Xlibris: Now 49% owned by Random House, claiming it is "not a vanity publisher," but will accept payment from authors to process their works.

1st Books: Vanity yet again: many options for novice authors.

iUniverse.com: Offers established authors and wannabees the opportunity to reach an audience. One summary of publishing support plans offers several options.

Backinprint.com: The author strikes back! This site, maintained by The Authors Guild, enables authors whose books were mishandled or dropped by their publishers to republish or remarket their books. Not vanity but rough justice.

InPrint.com: This New York-based startup uses the slogan "The future of book publishing. Expect more from us." and has not yet established its web page. The only complete section is the legalese.

E-reads.com: The literary agent Richard Curtis is establishing this site an on-line clearing house.  

DocuRights: A patent-pending secure electronic copyright system for publishers of scientific, technical, and medical information on line. The DocuRights PDF Store is now open.

Copyright Clearance Center: The long-established clearinghouse, now with several rights-clearing services, including the Academic Permissions Service for course packs.  

Gemstar eBook: "We are eBook. We are the technology providers behind the next generation of exciting new reading devices...." Bought NuvoMedia and Softbook in January 2000. Has procuced two readers, b&w and color.

NuvoMedia, Inc: "Dedicated to becoming the electronic book distribution solution...." and SoftBook Press: emerged in 1999 and were absorbed by Gemstar a year later.

Everybook Inc.: The Everybook Reader was to be "A Living Library in a Single Book", the e-book equivalent of a two-page spread (two screens, high resolution, back-lit, full color). Never produced, Everybook has given way to Estari,: A company determined to market a dual-screen reader. Initially intended to "deliver a high fidelity reading experience to consumers, and e-commerce software to publishers and booksellers."

Microsoft Reader: Microsoft reader appears to be software, or fontware, using ClearType technology to be made available on PDAs called "Pocket PCs."

"The Pulse of Tablet Technology": An excellent précis of the field by Roger Fidler, Kent State University. Dr. Fidler is coordinator of Kent State's interesting journal, The Future of Print Media.  

The CrossPad: The interesting result of some very creative thinking about writing, the CrossPad, cleverly matched to IBM Ink Manager software, records drawings and uploads them into PCs. No longer on the market, obviously brushed aside by advanced PDAs.

"The Last Book": J. Jacobson's ominously-titled 1997 article, in the IBM Systems Journal, actually refers to a plastic surface that can be imprinted electronically, not unlike Xerox PARC's Gyricon. Clearly the technology is intended for digital reading devices of power and brilliance. Too bad that E Ink Corp., the commercial organization created to "exploit" the idea. The company is now developing new laptop display technology.  

Sony Readman or Data Discman (1990): Modeled tightly on the popular Walkman, this product never seems to have had a chance. The URL points to an interesting site maintained by the computer scientist Gregory J.E. Rawlings. Explore, enjoy.

The Momenta (1991): Ahead of its time? Contemporaneous with the Sony Readman. More of a writer than a book reader, this handheld was typical of engineers' ideas of public need.

Upgraded Sony Data Discman (1995): This later version of the Sony product required that any new content had to be created using the Sony authoring system. It could also play audio; all this for $900.

The Class of 1999: The latest collection of defunct machines is described, and pictured, in "electronic-books.com", which includes the very rare Summerwood LunchBOOK.