Most of the ebook products currently on the market can be placed into 3 categories: devices, software & subscription services. Each category has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Devices: Starting with the Rocket eBook and SoftBook, the number of ebook devices on the market has ballooned to several dozen, by manufacturers from around the world. The strength of the devices is that they can carry many titles into a single, portable device. Unfortunately, the content is encrypted to the device. This tight encryption between the content and the device makes it very difficult for libraries to offer ebooks to their patrons, let alone come up with a method for cataloging them! Fact sheets on current ebook devices are available.

Software: The advantage of ebook software is that the user can usually select from a several devices compatible with the software, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, Pocket PCs and handhelds. However, these screens were not designed for long-term viewing, so eye strain may become an issue. As with the ebook devices, the content is usually encrypted, directly tieing the content with the device on which the software is loaded. Fact sheets on current ebook softwares are available.

Subscription Services: While the majority of ebook content for the devices and software is popular, adult fiction and non-fiction, subscription-based services provide access to vast collections of scholarly and academic monographs (and a few articles). Full-text search engines allow the user the search for a topic or term across the entire collection of ebooks, retrieving relevant hits that would never be found through the access points of a traditional MARC record. Unfortunately, the content must be access on-line through a desktop computer, greatly restricting the portability of the content. In addition, some subscription services are bypassing libraries and marketing their products directly to individual users. Fact sheets on current ebook subscription services are available.