E-books from Rough Guides
Rough Guides has selected Texterity, a leading provider of eBook conversion services, to create high-quality electronic books for the Microsoft Reader.
The eBook conversion was done using Texterity`s TextCafe automated conversion system, which allows publishers to create industry-standard electronic books. Texterity supports Microsoft eBook technologies, providing conversion services to publishers using Open eBook (OEB) and the Microsoft Reader (LIT) format. Rough Guides` travel eBooks were designed with the mobile user in mind and fully support the features of the Microsoft Reader and the latest PocketPC technology. The travel guides will be used as a part of “The Mobile Experience Tour!” which demonstrates server, wireless and device technology from Microsoft and Microsoft partners around the world. Travel guides for major US and international cities will be available to coincide with the Tour. Rough Guides will make over twenty eBook versions of their travel guides and dictionary phrasebooks this month using the TextCafe system. In addition, Rough Guides is working with Texterity to convert additional titles for eBook distribution.
Jennifer Gold, Director of New Media for Rough Guides stated, “Our agreement with Texterity is a major step in helping us achieve our strategy in providing customers with easy access to our travel books and dictionaries. By providing our material as an eBook, we give customers another way to use our content, and allow a path in the future to deliver through wireless and other digital delivery methods.”
“We are delighted to be working with Rough Guides and Microsoft to deliver eBooks in Microsoft Reader format to the travel market,” said Cimarron Buser, Texterity`s Vice President of Marketing. “The eBook format is a great fit for this type of information, and we believe that the Microsoft Reader provides a superior experience for users in terms of both readability and access.”
“We`re excited to see Texterity`s unique conversion system supporting the Microsoft Reader format,” said Steve Stone, General Manager for Microsoft Reader Product Group.
“Texterity`s technologies help enable the growing momentum of eBooks and make more titles than ever available in Microsoft Reader format.” The Rough Guides agreement further enhances Texterity`s extensive list of publishing customers, and expands the use of the technology to reference works. TextCafe is the industry`s first fully automated PDF to XML conversion system, and uses expert systems and proprietary recognition processes to deduce and make explicit the structure that is implied by original formatting, allowing direct conversion from PDF to XML, Open eBook, and Microsoft LIT format.
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