Adobe & B&N.com Announce Ebook Partnership

Posted on February 1, 2001

Adobe Systems and Barnes & Noble.com announced the release of the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0, an upgrade to the Glassbook Reader. Adobe acquired Glassbook, a developer of ebook reading software, in 2000. The companies also announced new graphics-rich Portable Document Format (PDF) based ebooks, including Survivor II: The Field Guide, a title about the upcoming season of Survivor: The Australian Outback. The ebook, published by TV Books, contains interactive components, including a printable scorecard enabling users to participate in the show week by week.

``The Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader provides the most true-to-print rendition of graphics-intensive texts that I've seen,'' said Michael Fragnito, vice president, Publishing at Barnes & Noble.com. ``The use of Adobe PDF allows readers to have the same visual experience as reading a printed book, but with the added benefit of interactivity and the option for the publishers to allow printing.''

Among the new features of Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0 are an interface that allows for full-text search, bookmarks, text highlights and annotations. In addition, the Acrobat eBook Reader has a personalized library that stores and organizes ebooks by subject, author or title. The Acrobat eBook Reader, which supports the Adobe PDF and Electronic Book Exchange (EBX) digital rights management standards, includes a built-in Web browser, enabling readers to purchase ebooks on the Internet from within the application.

``While ebook titles for novels have gained considerable interest, there are volumes of other types of content, such as children's books, cookbooks, textbooks or financial reports to make available digitally,'' said Mike Looney, senior director of ebooks, Adobe Systems, Incorporated. ``Adobe and Barnes and Noble.com understand that the future of ebooks is making all types of content available online to consumers. It's also about delivering an experience that replicates the printed book experience, is printable if desired, and addresses the needs of publishers and authors, such as preserving the original format and secure delivery.''