Abbreviated term for electronic book. An eBook is a digitally produced and published literary work made available to consumers over the Internet, either for a fee or at no cost.
 
There are four eBook formats currently used for the majority of eBook titles, namely HTML, PDF, PML (Peanut Markup language) and XML.
 
HTML eBooks can be accessed and read using a standard Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator.
 
A new breed of eBook publishing applications have come to the fore that produce media-rich, minimal-size eBooks which in many cases do not require any special viewer application or installation to open the book on the user's PC. The viewer is contained in the eBook or is easily downloaded from the Web. These eBooks can have unlimited web links, images, movies, animation, sound, music, flash presentations plus all the power of HTML.
 
However, some of the current commercial eBook titles require special reading software and or appliances. Gemstar and goReader are two such eBook vendors that require dedicated eBook reader appliances in addition to specialized software.
 
The mainstream eBook industry is now leaning away from reading appliances since they are an unnecessary component and cost to the consumer. It’s no surprise that hardware manufacturers looking to create new products and revenue streams introduced the concept of eBook reading appliances.