Why I came here? - Page 4

Quoth · Yesterday, 07:22 AM

As far as I can see, any ebooks, in the widest sense, in the last 40 years are copyright, apart from ones that were actually PD even then.

Quoth · Yesterday, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the eBooks have LIT DRM, then there is no way they can be broken because you need the key and with the servers gone, you cannot get the key. Plus, the key is tied to the account for the DRM.

If I'm right, I think Glassbooks was a DRM used on older Windows phones and if that's the case, any eBooks with it's DRM are no longer able to be read.

I think just actual Windows in 1999 and then Adobe bought them out in 2000. It was a desktop Windows program, with various names sometimes confusingly including Acrobat.
I don't know if the Adobe version was ever ported to the Mac or Windows CE/Mobile/Phone. The real Acrobat reader (PDFs) is about 8 years older and was ported to Palm OS, Symbian, DOS, Mac, Windows CE, Windows 3.x, Windows NT, Windows 9x, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone.

"Windows Phone" was 2010. It was incompatible with Windows Mobile.

"Windows Mobile" was based on Windows CE and on PDAs in 2000 and on phones in 2002. It was rebranded as "Windows Mobile" at approximately version 5 in 2005 when there was no longer a separate PDA Version. Version 6.0 was the last really based on Windows CE and 6.5 was the last version in about 2010. By 2010 Windows on phone, Symbian, Palm OS etc were all irrelevant replaced by duopoly of Apple iOS (2007) and Android (2008).

"Windows CE" was 1996 and only on PDAs and some small clamshell pocket computers. A later embedded version is actually a different OS, based on NT 4/NT 5.x

The major failing of Windows CE and Windows Mobile (but not Windows Phone as its GUI was based on Zune) was the Win9x style GUI that needed a stylus and was also inappropriate for the small screen.

EDIT
There seems to have been a few version of V1.x of Glassbook and the last was 2.0 when Adobe bought them,
See https://web.archive.org/web/20000815...m/products.htm

Portrait mode was an option if you had a rotating screen on desktop or set your laptop on end.
No download links
https://adobe.fandom.com/wiki/Glassbook
https://glassbook-reader.software.informer.com/

From 2000 (last version of website)

Quote:

The Glassbook Reader is a free software program for reading high-fidelity electronic books on your *laptop or desktop PC*.

Of course it was free. The idea was to sell content.
https://web.archive.org/web/20000816...cts/reader.htm

Quote:

Buy and download e-books

The Bookstore is a built-in Web browser where you purchase e-books at stores on the Internet. Buy e-books just as you buy printed books at online booksellers. When your order is complete, the Glassbook Reader downloads your e-books and stores them on your computer.

By 2001 Mobipocket was #1 ebook seller worldwide and [so] they were bought by Amazon in 2005. Mobipocket supported DOS, Windows, Palm OS, Windows CE, Symbian etc.

Quote:

The Glassbook Reader will also display e-books that use the new Open eBook Publication Structure (OEB) format.

The Glassbook Reader supports the Electronic Book Exchange (EBX) specification, a protocol for exchanging and protecting electronic books. The Glassbook Reader can receive e-books supplied by any publisher or distributor who supports the EBX standard.

Supported Platforms

The Glassbook Reader is available for Pentium-class computers running Windows 98, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0. Coming soon: Macintosh and Windows CE versions.

https://glassbook-reader.software.informer.com/2.0/

The Sony Bookman / Sony Multimedia CD player and Sony Data Diskman were the first portable ebook readers (1991 & 1990) but used CD and miniCD (mostly EBG and EBXA format).

SoftBook was one of the the first recognisable dedicated ebook readers that could load ebooks one at a time in 1998 (via a modem). They created Open eBook Publication Structure (OEB) or OEBPS format which is essentially epub1 and made that open in 1999. Obviously it used an LCD screen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftBook

Sony had the first eink based ereader in 2005, though it didn't use epub till later.

Project Gutenberg (Public Domain ebooks) started in 1971, so naturally they have news items on ebook readers and formats
https://www.gutenbergnews.org/201107...ebook-readers/

[1. Open eBook Publication Structure (OEB) or OEBPS format: Essentially epub1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_eBook Though public release was 1999, it dates from 1998 and there was a portable ebook reader with modem that used it in 1998 or 1999]

[2. Electronic Book Exchange: Essentially the original DRM applied to OEBPS, the precursor to epub2 & 3 with Adobe DRM]

CyberRArchiver · Yesterday, 08:13 AM

Even if the eBooks were found, at least I could still be possible to extract images and other stuff found inside.

Could it?

pdurrant · Yesterday, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberRArchiver

Even if the eBooks were found, at least I could still be possible to extract images and other stuff found inside.

Could it?

It depends. It worth be worth taking a look.

CyberRArchiver · Yesterday, 01:21 PM

Here is a screenshot showing the CyberRead homepage in 2000 (taken with the Wayback Machine, it must have looked better actually as now some of the images are unarchived).

What do you see here?

Some eBooks mentioned in this screenshot could be lost or not nowadays, one of them you already know is lost. Some still have available printed editions.

What do you think about the reputation of the eBook on the fifth place of the list in Popular eBooks?

Quoth · Yesterday, 01:56 PM

You've asked about #5 Geronimo Stilton's Illustrated tails before. It will be copyright.

Some of the others were PD even then and are on Gutenberg.

Also likely these particular ebooks had DRM, so will not be preserved and even if they were they can't legally be distributed.

CyberRArchiver · Yesterday, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

You've asked about #5 Geronimo Stilton's Illustrated tails before. It will be copyright.

Some of the others were PD even then and are on Gutenberg.

Also likely these particular ebooks had DRM, so will not be preserved and even if they were they can't legally be distributed.

That's upsetting. DRM is really a curse! Do you also agree?

JSWolf · Yesterday, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberRArchiver

That's upsetting. DRM is really a curse! Do you also agree?

Even if it had no DRM due to not having DRM or the DRM has been removed, copyright prevents the eBook from being posted.

CyberRArchiver · Yesterday, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Even if it had no DRM due to not having DRM or the DRM has been removed, copyright prevents the eBook from being posted.

Okay! I get it...

Thanks a lot!

Yesterday, 08:13 AM	#48
CyberRArchiver Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Device: none	If so... Even if the eBooks were found, at least I could still be possible to extract images and other stuff found inside. Could it?

Yesterday, 01:21 PM	#50
CyberRArchiver Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Device: none	It was really popular at one time... Here is a screenshot showing the CyberRead homepage in 2000 (taken with the Wayback Machine, it must have looked better actually as now some of the images are unarchived). What do you see here? Some eBooks mentioned in this screenshot could be lost or not nowadays, one of them you already know is lost. Some still have available printed editions. What do you think about the reputation of the eBook on the fifth place of the list in Popular eBooks? Attached Thumbnails Last edited by issybird; Yesterday at 07:14 PM.

Yesterday, 07:22 AM	#46
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,812 Karma: 110486575 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	As far as I can see, any ebooks, in the widest sense, in the last 40 years are copyright, apart from ones that were actually PD even then.

Yesterday, 01:56 PM	#51
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,812 Karma: 110486575 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	You've asked about #5 Geronimo Stilton's Illustrated tails before. It will be copyright. Some of the others were PD even then and are on Gutenberg. Also likely these particular ebooks had DRM, so will not be preserved and even if they were they can't legally be distributed.

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