Managing director Wittaya Mitrsatha said the company's website was part of the rapidly changing lifestyle of people who needed to consume a wide range of modern media via the Internet.

Emerging as an alternative for Internet surfers, the Dbook website "www.Dbookclub.com" provides a wide range of electronic media: newspapers, books, magazines, images, movies and songs.

Following research into domestic Internet consumption, Wittaya said 63 per cent of Bangkok's population (by households) used the Internet. Out of Thailand's total population, 10 million use the Internet, of which 42 per cent are aged between 25 and 50. According to an IDC market analysis, Thailand ranked sixth for the most Internet users in Asia.

"The aforementioned figures show that it's time for Thailand to change in sending and receiving all kinds of information in response to globalisation," said Wittaya.

He said the products sold via Dbook's website were priced lower than their hard copies. For example, the electronic books downloaded from the website are normally by 50- to 70-per-cent cheaper than their hard copies.

Dbook wants to become a resource this year for the printing media with 100,000 news topics, 20,000 books, 200 magazines, 20 newspapers, 1,000 song albums, 3,000 videos, 3,000 multimedia, and 5,000 pieces of free media.

Partners who join Dbook, he said, will receive 50-50 revenue-sharing, depending on content.

One of Dbook's partners, Kantana Group's Vasin Buranahete said that Dbook was a vital tool for his company's business development.

He said Kantana Group expected to provide 40-50 book titles as content for Dbook. In addition, his company has its own data base of locations around the nation and TV programme and movie footage to put on Dbook's website in the future.