• Why did the Kindle succeed in the e-book market where other devices had failed?
• What are the major issues in the debate over digitizing millions of books for web search engines?
• What are the concerns over Amazon's powerful role in determining book pricing and having its own publishing division?

In 1971, Michael Hart, a student computer operator at the University of Illinois, typed up the text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and thus the idea of the e- book-a digital book read on a computer or a digital reading device-was born. Hart soon founded Project Gutenberg, which now offers more than forty thousand public domain books (older texts with expired copyrights) for free at www.gutenberg.org. However, the idea of commercial e-books-putting copyrighted books like current best- sellers in digital form-took a lot longer to gain traction. In the 1990s, early portable reading devices were criticized for being too heavy, too expensive, or too difficult to read from, while their available e-book titles were scarce and had little cost advantage over full-price hardcover books. But in 2007, Amazon- the largest online bookseller-developed an e-reader (the Kindle) and an e-book store that seemed inspired by Apple's iPod and iTunes, which had already changed the music industry. The first Kindle had an easy-on-the-eyes electronic paper display, held more than two hundred books, and did something no other device before could do: wirelessly download e-books from Amazon's online bookstore. Moreover, most Kindle e-books sold for $9.99, less than half the price of most new hardcovers. This time, e-books caught on quickly. In 1971, Michael Hart, a student computer operator at the University of Illinois, typed up the text of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and thus the idea of the e- book-a digital book read on a computer or a digital reading device-was born. Hart soon founded Project Gutenberg, which now offers more than forty thousand public domain books (older texts with expired copyrights) for free at www.gutenberg.org. However, the idea of commercial e-books-putting copyrighted books like current best- sellers in digital form-took a lot longer to gain traction. In the 1990s, early portable reading devices were criticized for being too heavy, too expensive, or too difficult to read from, while their available e-book titles were scarce and had little cost advantage over full-price hardcover books. But in 2007, Amazon- the largest online bookseller-developed an e-reader (the Kindle) and an e-book store that seemed inspired by Apple's iPod and iTunes, which had already changed the music industry. The first Kindle had an easy-on-the-eyes electronic paper display, held more than two hundred books, and did something no other device before could do: wirelessly download e-books from Amazon's online bookstore. Moreover, most Kindle e-books sold for $9.99, less than half the price of most new hardcovers. This time, e-books caught on quickly.