Website content instantly converted into eBooks for Microsoft Reader on the fly!

 

Cleveland, OH – September 24, 2001 – At the Seybold San Francisco 2001 Exhibition this week OverDrive®, Inc. announced and is demonstrating a new suite of .NET ePublishing services that instantly convert website articles, documents, books, manuals and just about any page into attractive Microsoft® Reader eBooks.  Websites can instantly add the benefits of enhanced offline reading for their online content with a connection to OverDrive Connect Servers.  When combined with OverDrive Connect DRM, premium content and copyrighted material can also be protected on the fly using Microsoft® Digital Asset Server technologies.

“OverDrive Connect is an extraordinarily powerful combination of services that provide all readers enhanced offline reading of web content”, stated OverDrive CEO Steve Potash.  “OverDrive is working internationally with book publishers, online newspapers, magazines, educational, research sites, and enterprise webmasters to offer their communities the option to “really read” their web content offline with Microsoft Reader. Just imagine how valuable it is to have a one-click feature to save an article or reference document from the web for reading on a Pocket PC or notebook,” Potash added.

OverDrive Connect Servers contain software programs and intelligence to transform web page content into highly formatted eBooks and optionally deploy Digital Rights Management services to the content.  Websites only need to add a link to OverDrive’s servers.  When a user selects the article, document, or any other web page content with the link on the page, OverDrive Connect Servers grab the pages being viewed and instantly serve them back to the user in eBook format.  The service supports adding custom cover art and banner or other advertising or branding into the instant eBook created.

For a great example, please visit www.fathom.com, select an article, and select Microsoft Reader eBook.  The article on the screen will be instantly delivered to your PC as an eBook in Reader format.  (Requires Microsoft Reader installed).  “OverDrive Connect eliminates the costly conversion of books, manuscripts, technical and reference documents, news or research information to eBook format to gain the benefits of Microsoft Reader,” added Potash.

 

About OverDrive, Inc.
(www.overdrive.com) is a worldwide leader in technology services to the content industries. OverDrive is a Principal Member of the Open eBook Forum (OeBF) and a proud sponsor of the 2001 Frankfurt eBook Award (FeBA).  It provides secure hosting, eCommerce and Digital Rights Management services for eBook retailers both in the US and throughout Europe. OverDrive operates www.ContentReserve.com, a global wholesale digital distribution service for secure distribution of eBooks and Print-on-Demand files. With world headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio OverDrive has offices in Amsterdam and operates an eBook Technology Center in Montego Bay, Jamaica. OverDrive is a strategic partner for eBook technology for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE).

Contact:

Dawn Clark

216-573-6886 Ext. 207

dclark@overdrive.com

 

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