Worry not: There isn't a shred of evidence that conventional print books are going away. At the same time, some very big players are continuing to refine the technology for e-books, making them more appealing as a sometime alternative to bound books as we now know and love them. Especially cool are the interactive features that can be built into e-books, bringing a new dimension to the reading experience. All of this is detailed in a piece in the British edition of BBC News. The story is loosely pegged to the upcoming release of new products from Sony, which has been a big believer in the e-book concept over the years. If Sony and others are eventually successful in creating a significant new market, the book-publishing world will be transformed. Nick Hampshire, a digital publishing analyst, told BBC News, "I think we are talking about a whole new breed of author. New skills, new content, new ideas, new ways of thinking particularly, and this will be quite a wrench for some of them to make that move, but it offers new possibilities. The possibility of being able to create a book that includes audio components, moving image components, [and] interactive components is something which to my mind offers enormous possibilities."
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