E-readers

Shizelbs

I think the Nook is compelling.

John30_30

Lieberry would be a good name for an ebook reader. I was looking at my daughter's Acer netbook and thinking if the screen was modular enough to flip 90 degrees, you'd have it all. Plus non-proprietary ebooks. Of course, that single extra feature would probably nearly double the price.:rolleyes:
Battery life on that thing is crazy.

For me, a laptop is enough. I don't need a lamp to read it, and yeah, adjustable font and display are nice.

cfrizz

bobman1235 wrote: »

What about if your e-reader breaks? Can you get a new one and transfer purchases?

Yes Bob, that you can do. And from what I understand, with the Sony, since all books are downloaded to your pc, you can then make back up copies on a cd or store them on memory discs.

I'll let you know once I get my own.:)

cfrizz

Well, I got the Sony PRS-600 touchscreen reader with an audio jack for mp3's I discovered when I went to load some music that is would not copy any of my music that I copied to my pc from cd's! But I can read & listen to music at the same time. I'm up to 16 books & counting.

Kex

Sales of these readers are said to have doubled last year, and they're expected to double again this year (of course, the true significance of that assumption would depend on the numbers of units involved). I've read reports that we can expect this technology to start evolving very rapidly in the next year, and the options are only going to get better. Next Christmas may turn out to be a huge season for these ...

Jstas

I don't know how many people know about this but this is one of my favorite sites:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."[2] Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library.[3] Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer. As of December 2009[update], Project Gutenberg claimed over 30,000 items in its collection. Project Gutenberg is affiliated with many projects that are independent organizations which share the same ideals, and have been given permission to use the Project Gutenberg trademark.

Wherever possible, the releases are available in plain text, but other formats are included, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Plucker. Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that are providing additional content, including regional and language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is also closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an internet-based community for proofreading scanned texts.

I've downloaded a few books to take with me on my laptop while traveling. Of course, it's not ideal but with the baggage restrictions now, carrying 3 or 4 books digitally on your laptop is easier than stuffing paperbacks into a napsack.

There are so many titles there it's hard to list them all. But everything from classics to modern self-help books is there. It's not everything but if you have a reader, you might find some stuff you'd be interested in. They are 100% free too. I think it requires registration but that is free also. At least it was last I checked.

As of December 2009[update], Project Gutenberg claimed over 30,000 items in its collection, with an average of over fifty new e-books being added each week.[10] These are primarily works of literature from the Western cultural tradition. In addition to literature such as novels, poetry, short stories and drama, Project Gutenberg also has cookbooks, reference works and issues of periodicals.[11] The Project Gutenberg collection also has a few non-text items such as audio files and music notation files.

There is info on the project's website as well as an extensive Wikipedia article on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_gutenberg

cfrizz

Kex wrote: »

Sales of these readers are said to have doubled last year, and they're expected to double again this year (of course, the true significance of that assumption would depend on the numbers of units involved). I've read reports that we can expect this technology to start evolving very rapidly in the next year, and the options are only going to get better. Next Christmas may turn out to be a huge season for these ...

I wouldn't be surprised, it's a great gadget. I would LOVE to sit on the train without someones arm coming into my space due to holding a newspaper!:rolleyes:

But to be able to do all the reading I want without the clutter of books everywhere is priceless.:)

I have downloaded a couple of Jack London novels & Bram Stokers Dracula's for free.

bobman1235

I was in a SonyStyle store a couple days ago (waiting for a very long wait at a restaurant so we were wandering around the mall) looking at the E-Readers they had available, and I will definitely say they are neat.

mrbigbluelight

The Project Gutenberg is pretty awesome.


Another source for free public domain text is:

http://www.archive.org/

They have links for 60,000 books from the Library of Congress.
They also have links for 70,000 books from Cornell Libraries.

The direct page link is:

http://www.archive.org/details/texts

A boatload and a half of free text.

janmike

Anyone ever used the Kobo eReader?

cfrizz

Mike, go to www.mobileread.com You will find info on the Kobo ereader as well as every other ereader currently being used.

I am now thinking of getting a backlit color ereader for easier night time reading.

I'm thinking of getting this one for $150.

janmike

Thanks Cathy. I see the Kobo reader at Chapters Book store for $149 with additional accessories as well. I like the small nightlights.
The Kobo comes with 100 classic books to start.