Unlike the LCD screen, E Ink's technology enables the electronic reader to replicate the look and feel of a printed book: Displays have the visual appeal of ink-on-paper and use no backlight so that screens can be viewed under almost any lighting condition, including direct sunlight, all the while using little power. Typically, one battery charge of four hours can power 7,500 continuous page turns.
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In his 2003 thesis, University of Michigan student Greg Kozak studied the life-cycle assessment of paper books versus e-books. He found that a paper book created four times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader.
Print books needed three times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books.
In another study out of the University of Berkeley, reading a newspaper electronically released 32-140 times less CO2 and used 27 times less water.
In the U.S., where e-reader sales have taken off, customers are able to download books, magazines and major daily newspapers such as USA Today. It's a future the newspaper industry is eyeing with careful suspicion -- online readership has already endangered the print format, putting thousands of traditional newspaper men and women out of work.
But French newspaper Les Echos has been offering its content on the e-reader iRex iLiad since 2007. Stories are delivered wirelessly and updated every hour. Cost for the subscription and the unit is around $600 Cdn.
While newspaper subscription is not yet available on the only ebook in Canada, the Sony Reader Digital Book, company spokeswoman Candice Hayman said a major Canadian newspaper, which she declined to identify, recently expressed interest in the device.
Rita Toews who we mentioned in the previous post about E-book Week is quoted several times in this article.
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