Adobe Offers eBook U; Mac e-Book Reader

Looking to solicit research information from faculty members about the use of digitized educational material, Adobe has created Adobe eBook U, a collaboration with six universities that will provide faculty members with Adobe software and allow them to generate their own digital course materials.

Adobe will provide faculty members at the universities with the software to convert text, encrypt and distribute text files as PDF-based e-books. The software will include Adobe eBook Reader, Adobe Content Server and training in the creation and distribution of PDF e-books. Adobe, in turn, will get feedback from professors and students on the ways they are using e-book materials.

The six participating universities are Maricopa Community College, MIT's Sloan School of Management, Miami-Dade Community College, Mills College, University of Utah Health Sciences and the University of Wisconsin.

Michael Looney, Adobe's director of education and government marketing, told PW that the eBook U is "a combined pilot, seeding and research project," to better understand the use of e-books in educational settings. "It's an exchange for feedback," said Looney, adding that the most important sources for higher educational materials are "textbooks from publishers and faculty-generated materials." Looney also noted that the project involves "a variety of campuses. We're already learning stuff."

Adobe has also released the first e-book reader of any type for Apple Macintosh users. Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader 2.1 for the Macintosh includes such features as CoolType, which improves the readability of type on color LCD screens; ReadAloud, automated synthesized speech; and the ability to lend or give a book to another person.

The new e-book reader is available as a free download from Adobe's site, www.adobe.com/products/ebookreader/main, as well as from Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.