brius was a "full-service ecommerce company" that launched a
small "low-cost" reading device called the Millennium eBook.
The website offered a World Bookstore that delivered digital
copies of thousands of books via the internet.

The Gemstar eBook was launched in October 2000 by Gemstar-TV
Guide International, a company providing digital products and
services for the media. Gemstar first bought Nuvomedia (Rocket
eBook) and SoftBook Press (SoftBook) in January 2000, as well
as the French 00h00.com, a producer of digital books, in
September 2000. Two Gemstar eBook were available for sale in
the U.S. in November 2000, with a later attempt in Germany to
test the European market. The REB 1100 had a black and white
screen, like the Rocket eBook. The REB 1200 had a color screen,
like the SoftBook Reader. Both were produced by RCA (Thomson
Multimedia). New and cheaper models were then launched as GEB
1150 and 2150, produced by Gemstar instead of RCA. But the
sales were still far below expectations. The company stopped
selling reading devices in June 2003, and digital books the
following month.

= What people thought of them

In 2000 and 2001, I was interviewing some book professionals
about these new reading devices they were so curious about,
while wondering how a reading device could ever replace a print
book. (As shown in the answers below, people often used the
word "ebook" for an ebook reading device.)

Peter Raggett is the head of the Central Library at the OECD
(Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development). He
wrote in July 2000: "It is interesting to see that the
electronic book mimics the traditional book as much as possible
except that the paper page is replaced by a screen. I can see
that the electronic book will replace some of the present paper
products but not all of them. I also hope that electronic books
will be waterproof so that I can continue reading in the bath."

Henk Slettenhaar is a professor in communication technologies
at Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland. He wrote in
August 2000: "I have a hard time believing people would want to
read from a screen. I much prefer myself to read and touch a
real book."

Randy Hobler is a consultant in internet marketing living in
Dobbs Ferry, New York. He wrote in September 2000: "eBooks
continue to grow as the display technology improves, and as the
hardware becomes more physically flexible and lighter. Plus,
among the early adapters