5 years ago: E-books make their appearance

15.09.1999: UK publisher, Dorling Kindersley, is to allow customers to read complete books online before they buy them.

It is believed to be the first time a major UK publishing company has taken the decision.

Dorling Kindersley's executive chairman, Peter Kindersley, said that up to 10 per cent of the company's backlist will be available on the web site, including its Eyewitness reference series and travel guides.

Kindersley claimed that the high cost of printer cartridges will deter users from printing off the books. The company this summer put its Star Wars tie-ins on the net; despite having the option to print off the entire book online, the titles were bestsellers in the UK and US.

15.09.2004: Ecommerce has come up with some great shopping staples and some not so great ones. While cheapo flights and music downloads have taken off, reading entire books online never really caught on.

A quick glance around the Dorling Kindersley website reveals a few choice extracts from their travel guides, but the whole books have gone the way of a fair chunk of the dot-coms. Amazon, however, has been making use of its search technology to give readers an insight into the inside of books it sells but without the need to publish the entire tome on the web.

That's not to say the e-book phenomenon is as dead as Elvis. Some companies are believe there's still a market for virtual books - putting them into schools, for example. However, like many e-goods before them, it seems the book industry has yet to crack the DRM question, with fears that if the copyright criminals aren't suitably dealt with, the suffering e-book industry could be crippled before it ever gets off the ground.