The strategy I used in pursuing my central question began with brainstorming the major contributing factors affecting the topic. Following this, I consulted my supervisor for an additional opinion. Based on my brainstorming and my supervisor’s input, I compiled a list of what I believed to be the most relevant aspects. I then chose a specific date by which I intended to have completed the research associated with each aspect. My intention was to continually revise my research direction as I progressed and complete a discussion and conclusion once I had completed my research.

I knew, out of experience, that piracy has been a major legal issue that applied to the mp3 player market. My first direction of research therefore, was to investigate how this issue applied to e-books. I had a significant finding relating to the piracy of songs compared with books. Through P2P networks and other similar technologies, it was easy to distribute digital media, be it music, text, images or videos between multiple computers. CDs contained songs that were already in a format that could be directly copied to a computer whereas printed books were not. Thus it took much more effort to copy a book compared to a song.

My next direction was to find a history of e-books in order to see who began to put effort into the conversion of hard copy books into electronic books and why they did so. I found that books, in 1971, were the first type of media to be digitized and distributed. The reason for this was in hopes of finding additional uses for computers. Distribution of public books in the late 20th century was heavily restricted due to fear of loss in profit and employment which was already becoming problematic in the music industry. The percentage of books that could legally be digitized and distributed was substantially reduced as a result. The production of devices dedicated to reading books, beginning in in the early 21st century; saw that online bookstores would sell digital and hard copy books. Thus the significance of the finding which I had pertaining to the legal aspects of e-book distribution is only now beginning to be addressed in the form of a relatively immature technology.

The direction that I am currently investigating is oriented towards the psychological aspects of e-books. I am focusing on the interest that reading enthusiasts have in using e-readers and for the most part, I have am receiving mixed emotions. Some readers are excited about storing all of their books on a single portable device while others cannot imagine the thought of reading off of a screen. The latter tends to correspond to people who love to read. I the main issue pertaining to non-supporters is that the experience obtained by reading off of a screen is different from reading off of a sheet of paper.

I believe that an understanding of the psychological experience involved with reading e-books is a good foundation for the investigation into the usability of e-books. This is a wide area which I expect is the major driving force in the successful transition from hard copy to electronic copy. Since the thought of reading off of a screen seems to be the most significant deterrent, I intend to investigate attempts made to mitigate this difference in experience. Examples include the use of flexible displays as well as displays without backlights.

In addition, I intend to explore the advantages that e-readers present for different groups of people, for example; students need to carry multiple textbooks which are sometimes used only as a reference. Also, e-readers present the potential for people in developing countries to have access to a much more expansive variety in reading material. My next direction of research is then to find a way to evaluate the impact that both e-readers and mp3 players make in the market. I will then discuss my findings, and proceed with further research suggestions.