In the interest of keeping an even playing field, we also got the low down on a lesser-known e-reader: iRex’s the iLiad. We also kept the questions, mostly, the same to see how the answers would differ: Karel Byloos tells all.

You are the community web manager for iRex. What have your primary responsibilities been with iRex's iLiad?

As a community manager, I spend quite some time on the i-to-i blog and the iRex forums, keeping into touch with the community.

In addition to that I am also involved with the open source community, as you might know the iLiad runs on Linux and most source codes of the software developed by our developers are available for download. To facilitate for community developers to get the most out of these source codes, we offer a free software development kit that allows them to develop new applications.

What is your favorite feature of the iLiad?

No doubt the display, the electronic paper displays really reads like paper, you have to see it to believe it.

Another feature I like a lot about the iLiad is the flipbar. With the flipbar you can turn pages by moving your thumb across the rocker bar, just like turning a page, which feels very natural. After reading a few pages on the iLiad you just forget about the device and are really into the story.

Your WACOM sensor board and stylus is what sets the iLiad apart from many of its competitors. What does this feature allow the user to do on the iLiad that they would not be able to do on other e-readers?

With the stylus you are able to make annotations in books and documents and write notes. These notes can afterwards be digitized on your computer with handwriting recognition; this is particularly interesting for all those notes you make during a meeting.

How easy is it for an author to publish with the iLiad's main content provider, Mobipocket? How does an author go about getting his/her stuff onto the iLiad? Do they have to already be published? What formats should their books be in?

You can easily convert most digital documents (e.g. word, html, pdf, etc...) into the Mobipocket format and the best thing about it is that the same file can be read on any device that supports the Mobipocket format, regardless of the screen size, the document will just reflow to fit to the screen. For more info on publishing in the mobipocket format

I would recommend to visit the mobipocket website.

You do not need to have your work published to read it on the iLiad, if the book is available in a digital (e-book) format that is supported by the iLiad (Mobipocket, PDF, HTML or TXT)than it can be as easy as transferring it to the iLiad via a USB cable or wirelessly.

An NY Times article recently quoted Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, saying this, "It doesn't matter how good or bad the product is; the fact is that people don't read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year." As a product focused on the book industry, how would those at iRex respond? How are you marketing the iLiad so that it reaches people, readers and non-readers alike?

The iLiad does not only focus on book readers, you can also use the iLiad to read newspapers, office documents, comics, RSS feeds and makes annotations and notes. It is the combination of these things that sets the iLiad apart. To reach the different types of readers, we work with a range of partners, from online retailers to bookstores and even newspapers publishers that combine the iLiad with a newspaper subscription like the French newspaper Les Echos.

With "going green" receiving so much attention lately, are you going to add an environmentally friendly stance to your e-book reader, and do you think this will help widen the acceptance of the e-book concept?

The electronic display technology behind the iLiad is a very environmentally friendly technology. Not only does it allow you to save on paper, but it also consumes very little power. Only when you turn a page and the screen needs to refresh will it uses some power.

The iLiad is possibly the most expensive of the e-readers available today. What would you say to people who are waiting for the price to drop, as they did for Apple products such as the iPhone?

A price cut depends on a number of factors (e.g., price of components, volume of sales, etc.). That being said, you might not see any immediate price cuts but what you might see is more interesting deals when the iLiad is combined together with content. A good example here is the offer from Les Echos, which combines a newspaper subscription with the iLiad.

How is the iLiad going to change the publishing industry as we know it?

The iLiad and the electronic paper display technology offers both readers and publishers a number of benefits, but we will have to wait to be seen how this will impact the publishing industry. For now we aim to be an appealing alternative for both the reader and the publisher.

We would like to thank Ms. Byloos for taking the time to answer questions about the iLiad. For more information you can visit the company website.