E-book formats...

As e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some garnered support from major software companies, such as Adobe with its PDF format and others supported by independent and open-source programmers. Different e-readers followed different formats, most of them specializing in only one format, thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Due to the exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independent publishers and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books... However, in the late 1990s, a consortium formed to develop the Open eBook format as a way for authors and publishers to provide a single source document, which many book-reading software and hardware platforms could handle- US Libraries began providing free e-books to the public in 1998 through their websites and associated services, although the e-books were primarily scholarly, technical or professional in nature, and could not be downloaded. In 2003, libraries began offering free downloadable popular fiction and non-fiction e-books to the public, launching an e-book lending model that worked much more successfully for public libraries; Enjoy Your Day!