Adobe Systems Incorporated and BarnesandNoble.com recently announced the availability of the free Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0 and a range of new graphics-rich Portable Document Format (PDF)-based eBooks.
Adobe claims that the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0, an upgrade to the Glassbook Reader, which Adobe acquired last year, offers consumers vivid, visually accurate representations of graphics-intensive eBooks, such as cookbooks, children’s books, college textbooks and travel books.
eBooks delivered in Acrobat eBook Reader 2.0 and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) offer a rich, high-fidelity experience that can display, and when enabled by publishers, print electronic titles with colorful pictures, complex graphics and rich fonts, exactly as intended by the publisher.
“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 easy-to-use, intuitive 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.”
New eBook titles formatted for the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader available today from Barnes & Noble.com include: “Orpheus Emerged,” by Jack Kerouac, published by LiveREADS; “Evolve!” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, published by Harvard Business Press; “The Physicians Desk Reference: The Family Guide to Prescription Drugs” published by Medical Economics Co.; “The Playground,” by Ray Bradbury, published by RosettaBooks, LLC; and “Personal Injuries” by Scott Turow, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, which is digitally signed by the author.
