It can be cumbersome to move through text electronically, and reading from a computer for long periods can cause eye strain. But the new breed of electronic publishers, including Peanut Press and FableVision, aims to offer readers novelty reading experiences. Peanut Press gives variety and portability to travelers, hikers, and campers. And both companies let readers electronically interact with books in a way that is impossible with printed text. But some have doubts the idea will catch on.
Some avid readers balk at the idea of taking away the feel and smell of paper books.
And book publishers themselves wonder how many people will want to read the newest fiction on a screen, and those publishers willing to try electronic versions of books are not sure which type of gadget will win over consumers. In a couple of months, an Addison Wesley computer science book will be published on the Rocketbook, a tablet-like electronic device made by NuvoMedia. Peanut's cofounders realize they are tapping a still-limited market. Dataquest Inc., a San Jose, Calif., market research firm, said 3Com shipped more than 1 million PalmPilots in 1997, up sharply from 360,000 in 1996. That gave it a dominant 63 percent market share over competitors Hewlett-Packard Co., Casio Computer Co. Ltd. of Japan, and Philips NV of the Netherlands.