Released on = May 9, 2007, 11:53 am

Press Release Author = VitalSource

Industry = Internet & Online

Press Release Summary = Collaborative Digital Note Sharing Enables New Generation of
Online Learning Networks for Teachers and Students


Press Release Body = Raleigh, NC - May 9, 2007 - VitalSource Technologies, Inc., a
leading developer of digital book solutions, today released the most advanced
digital book software in the industry with new, interactive features including the
ability for users to collaborate by sharing notes and highlights.

"Bookshelf was created to not only deliver e-books, but also activate content with
cutting-edge digital technology," said Frank Daniels III, CEO of VitalSource and a
pioneer in digital publishing. "Bookshelf 4.5 is the first learning tool to take
advantage of the interactive and collaborative potential of e-books. The technology
is somewhat analogous to social networks, like MySpace, only the communities and
interaction take place around books. Readers can form ad hoc book clubs with anyone
else who owns the same e-book. This is a whole new generation of digital book
technology joining the best of internet with e-books."

VitalSource's comprehensive upgrade to its flagship product, Bookshelf 4.5, is free
and available for download from vitalsource.com. Books may be purchased from
VitalSource's online store, from select college bookstores and through the
e-commerce websites of VitalSource's publishing partners. E-books are downloaded to
Bookshelf where they are automatically indexed and stored locally. Like music
purchased from an online store, once they have been downloaded, VitalSource e-books
do not require an online connection for readers to access them.

Previous editions of Bookshelf already allowed readers to highlight and annotate
e-books, features that set the technology apart from competing platforms as they
allowed readers to interact with e-books in the same manner as they would with
printed textbooks, reference materials and other publications. Advanced search
capabilities were also part of earlier editions of Bookshelf, allowing users to
conduct queries on individual titles or their entire e-library.

Bookshelf 4.5 takes a leap into the Web 2.0 era by letting readers create social
networks around e-books. Users can highlight digital titles using virtual markers,
then elect to share highlights and notes with other individuals who can subscribe to
that content, similar to a blog's RSS feed. Shared notes and highlights are
automatically updated when Bookshelf detects an Internet connection.

Bookshelf users may employ shared notes to help one other study, to ask other
readers questions, or to divide work among members of a study group. Teachers may
use this powerful feature to focus attention on the most salient portions of the
text or to insert self-test or discussion questions.

Bookshelf was designed to support VitalSource's proprietary digital format,
VitalBook (*.vbk), an xml-based platform that provides extensive data-tagging, and
robust digital rights management (DRM) as well as efficient storage and delivery of
large data files. In addition, Bookshelf 4.5 is a cutting-edge MathML reader, making
it the ideal technology for reading advanced math and science titles. By allowing
mathematical equations to be published as text and not as an image, Bookshelf 4.5
makes mathematical content fully searchable.

"Often the industry will focus on e-book reading devices as the key obstacle to
wider adoption of digital publications," commented Daniels. "VitalSource pursues a
different approach, developing software technologies that make for a richer, more
intuitive user experience on a variety of existing platforms."

Daniels is once again taking a leadership role in the transition of conventional
print media into the digital age. In the early 1990s, while acting as publisher of
the News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, Daniels spearheaded the creation of NandO,
one of the first Internet newspaper sites. NandO is widely recognized as a model for
later news websites.

For more information on Bookshelf 4.5, please visit:
http://www.vitalsource.com/index/bookshelf

About VitalSource Technologies, Inc.

Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, VitalSource is a leading provider of technology
solutions for e-book publishing and distribution. The company enables publishers,
distributors and other partners to create and deliver textbooks and other content
directly to users\' computers in its proprietary VitalBook (*.vbk) file format under
a variety of scenarios, ranging from custom curriculum solutions to private-label
bundled products, as well as single textbook and promotional content delivery to
students and faculty in both secondary and post-secondary educational settings. In
2007, VitalSource commemorated the billionth book distributed in the VitalBook
format. VitalSource is an Ingram Digital Group company. For more information visit
www.vitalsource.com

About Ingram Digital Group

Ingram Digital Group is an operating division of Ingram Industries Inc. and provides
publishers and other content owners with a comprehensive offering of digital content
accession, storage, management and distribution services. Ingram Digital Group along
with its group companies MyiLibrary and VitalSource Technologies provides a
full-service array of digital solutions and support. The Ingram companies -
including Ingram Digital, Ingram Book Group and Lightning Source Inc. - provide a
broad range of physical and digital services to the industry. For more information,
visit www.ingramdigital.com


Web Site = http://www.vitalsource.com/index/bookshelf

Contact Details = Mariana McCulley
+1 919.341.0655