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Timeline of E-Book History

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The Birth of Digital Text

  • 1971 – Project Gutenberg is founded by Michael S. Hart, marking the first major effort to digitize books and distribute them freely (first e-book: the U.S. Declaration of Independence).
  • 1985 – Random House experiments with CD-ROM books.
  • 1992 – Sony releases the Data Discman, an electronic book player for data CDs.

E-Books Go Online

  • 2000 – Stephen King’s “Riding the Bullet” becomes the first widely distributed digital novel.
  • 2000 – Microsoft releases Microsoft Reader (.LIT format).
  • 2001 – Adobe launches Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader for PDF e-books.

Mainstream Breakthrough

  • 2004 – Google Books begins scanning and digitizing millions of titles.
  • 2007 – Amazon Kindle launches, bundled with the Kindle Store — a turning point in e-book adoption.
  • 2009 – Barnes & Noble introduces the Nook.
  • 2010 – Apple iPad launches with the iBooks store, pushing e-books into the tablet era.

Modern Era

  • 2015 – E-book growth slows; print experiences a resurgence, but digital remains strong.
  • 2017 – Kindle Oasis introduces waterproof e-readers.
  • 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic boosts e-book and audiobook usage.

Explosion & Industry Shifts

  • 2011 – E-book sales surpass paperback sales on Amazon.
  • 2012 – Self-publishing surges with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
  • 2013 – Oyster and Scribd launch e-book subscription services.

Today (2025)

  • 2025 – E-books are integrated with AI tools for real-time translations, adaptive learning, and voice interaction. Formats like EPUB 4 support interactive, multimedia-rich reading experiences.
  • Subscription models, digital lending, and AI-driven personalization dominate the e-book ecosystem, alongside a stable print market.
michael hart at hope conference (cropped)
Biography

Michael S. Hart

Michael Stern Hart was an American author, best known as the inventor of the e-book and the founder of Project Gutenberg, the first project to make e-books freely available via the Internet. He published e-books via ARPANET years before the Internet existed, and later on BBS networks and Gopher servers.

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