Why Read E-books?

[Lindca]

As an avid reader of more than 300 books per year (covering nearly all genres) I have to admit to being very curious about e-books. Are folks who read e-books primarily those who do not have access to a good library? Do you read them on a desktop computer, notebook computer, or PDA? Is it convenient with current reading programs to save your place? Do you miss the feel of having a book in your hands and turning pages? How difficult is it to get the books you want?

[Darth Sushi]

Originally posted by Lindca@29 June 2003 - 18:17
As an avid reader of more than 300 books per year (covering nearly all genres) I have to admit to being very curious about e-books. Are folks who read e-books primarily those who do not have access to a good library? Do you read them on a desktop computer, notebook computer, or PDA? Is it convenient with current reading programs to save your place? Do you miss the feel of having a book in your hands and turning pages? How difficult is it to get the books you want?
I read eBooks because I'm a cheap bastard! Why pay $30.00 for the new Harry Potter novel when you can download it for free. Plus, I'm a PDA freak; when I travel with a PDA, I can bring thousands of books instead of one or two paperbacks. Don't get me wrong, I love turning a real page, but I can't afford to buy all the books I want to read.

[Illuminati]

Good to see another who still reads books - You don't see as many as they used to in previous years. But as one who regularly gets e-books nowadays, I can help you.
Not everyone has good access to a library, but that isn't always the case - The town which I live in actually has a network of libraries' stocks listed in one database, so it is easy to find a stored book. That IMO isn't the problem - While the town libraries store a lot of books, they don't have as wide a selection as I'd love to see and I rarely see books released recently. Using P2P networks to find e-books, I can find practically any popular and/or book I want to (especially guidance books about software, which in the UK kinda take a fancy to being around £15 on average :(
I personally read mine on a desktop, the same one which I use to download them in the first place. But I like the fact that practically any computer I go to can read them.
Most e-books use an e-book reader known as Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free piece of software designed to read PDF files (which most e-books are in the form of). Unfortunately, I've yet to see the ability to mark a place where I've left off :( I'd suggest it to Adobe myself, but considering that I'm using the commercial Writer version of Acrobat, I'm not going to consult them about it any time soon ;) Until then, Acrobat Reader conveniently tells you the page number at the bottom of the screen; if you had somewhere to put it, you could mark the page number on a piece of paper nearby and use that. For now, I see that as the best way to keep track of your e-reading :)
I personally miss the feel of reading paper books over e-books, but sometimes it's a matter of what you want and what isn't important to you. I want to be able to read literature which with my current income I cannot afford. While I'd want to be able to have the feel of a book when reading it, it isn't important to me compared to actually having the book in the first place. Hence why I read e-books.
In truth, the software has excelled the hardware concerning e-reading. However, as technology shapes to be more suitable for it (I think I remember seeing a digital reader in the shape of a multi-page book as a concept somewhere a few months back :unsure:), you'll see it'll be easier to read them when out & about in a few years.
Depends on what you mean - With the rise of Amazon.com and other companies, availability of specific books is easy - It's the price that limits me :( If you mean e-books, you can get them anywhere - The more popular ones can be found in the P2P networks. You're right now on the forums to one of the most popular P2P programs to date - Just go to doa2.host.sk and download Kazaa Lite, then search for any recent book you want and chances are that you'll find it. Of course, legal concerns are a problem but whether they're there or not, P2P remains the easiest way to get electronic versions of popular books.

Hope that answers a few questions :)

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by Darth Sushi+29 June 2003 - 22:01--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Darth Sushi @ 29 June 2003 - 22:01)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Lindca@29 June 2003 - 18:17
As an avid reader of more than 300 books per year (covering nearly all genres) I have to admit to being very curious about e-books.&nbsp; Are folks who read e-books primarily those who do not have access to a good library?&nbsp; Do you read them on a desktop computer, notebook computer, or PDA?&nbsp; Is it convenient with current reading programs to save your place?&nbsp; Do you miss the feel of having a book in your hands and turning pages?&nbsp; How difficult is it to get the books you want?
I read eBooks because I&#39;m a cheap bastard&#33; Why pay &#036;30.00 for the new Harry Potter novel when you can download it for free. Plus, I&#39;m a PDA freak; when I travel with a PDA, I can bring thousands of books instead of one or two paperbacks. Don&#39;t get me wrong, I love turning a real page, but I can&#39;t afford to buy all the books I want to read. [/b][/quote]
I totally agree with this post. I only read e-books on my PDA as I don&#39;t like doing it on a computer screen. I carry my PDA everywhere and it means I have a small book collection in my inside pocket.

The only thing I can add is that - yes it does keep your page. The software I use is CSpotRun (free) and it has loads of functions, including font sizes, autoscroll etc.

Frankly I love the e-books on my PDA and read them on a daily basis.

I also love real books, however I mostly get these as gifts now. I can&#39;t remember the last book I bought. However the last one I was given was a leather bound, autographed copy of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.

[Razz]

well i only recently discovered the joys of ebooks when i got my new mobile phone (Nokia 7650) which runs the symbian OS therefore making it possible to run my own apps on it, now i love to just sit there and read books on my phone in my spare time when im out and about like waiting for my bus or something instead of just playing snake all the time :lol:

edit: grammar

[PersianBulldog]

Whats a PDA?

[Will_518]

I read ebooks for 2 main reasons:

1) I can&#39;t find any good Chinese fighting novels in the north east (England). :huh:
2) Books are expensive and sometimes difficult to find in shops.

I don&#39;t own a laptop or PDA (whatever that is).

[Razz]

A PDA or Personal Data Assistant is a handheld computer eg the Sony Clie

[slammy_dunken]

The only things that I read that are close to an e-book is an e-comic. I read lots of comics on my PC, usually the hard ones that you can&#39;t find in stores (ex. Uncanny X-Men Vol1 Issue1). I don&#39;t have a PDA, so reading e-books on my PC is the only way I can read books. But mainly, I buy the books that are good. I have a copy of all the Harry Potter books so far, and I also have The LOTR series, including The Hobbit. I find no point in buying a book that I won&#39;t read at all, or that it&#39;s a really bad book.


I read eBooks because I&#39;m a cheap bastard&#33; Why pay &#036;30.00 for the new Harry Potter novel when you can download it for free. Plus, I&#39;m a PDA freak; when I travel with a PDA, I can bring thousands of books instead of one or two paperbacks. Don&#39;t get me wrong, I love turning a real page, but I can&#39;t afford to buy all the books I want to read.
If your a cheap bastard, then why do you have a PDA? :lol: And I agree with you. Books are getting more expensive (well, to me that is). The money I spend on a good book can buy two days of food for me.

[J'Pol]

Originally posted by slammy_dunken@30 June 2003 - 20:48

The money I spend on a good book can buy two days of food for me.
If that&#39;s a hardback book you must be a greedy fat bar steward.

[Lindca]

Thanks for your replies. (Illuminati, yours was especially helpful.) Because I have access to a terrific (and free) public library, I doubt that I will be reading many e-books, at least not until the technology makes it a bit more user-friendly. Reading and being able to store many books on my PDA may be good, though, for times when portability is a factor.

[iamtheoneandonlyone]

Why read it?

Well it beats buying books at the store.

[HeavyMetalParkingLot]

because when i&#39;m reading my pda, it looks like i&#39;m doing something important so no one bothers me

[jiro]

I read eBooks because I'm a cheap bastard! Why pay $30.00 for the new Harry Potter novel when you can download it for free. Plus, I'm a PDA freak; when I travel with a PDA, I can bring thousands of books instead of one or two paperbacks. Don't get me wrong, I love turning a real page, but I can't afford to buy all the books I want to read.


I would like to read e-books because i can't get most of them in the original language (of course the cost reduction is also relevant :)). But i don't really have time to search the net for links where i can download them for free. Would you mind to tell me where i can find some of the Harry Potter-type? Thanks

[Afronaut]

Well, Torrent sites has eBooks sometimes.
So does eMule, Soulseek and I guess a lot of
p2p apps has eBooks. Just fire up your favorite and
search with the Title or word eBook.
:D

I dont think you will find Pothead books on http thought. Atleast not easily.
and to link those sites in here could most likely get our Admins in trouble too.
;)

[Darth Sushi]

I would like to read e-books because i can't get most of them in the original language (of course the cost reduction is also relevant :)). But i don't really have time to search the net for links where i can download them for free. Would you mind to tell me where i can find some of the Harry Potter-type? Thanks
Well, I use a P2P software called eMule to get my reading fix. Kazaa has lots of sources but I haven't use kazaa-lite in a couple of years now. I only use Torrents sites when the book(s) are still new and hot off the press. You can easily find Harry Potter on eMule in many formats including: PDF, MS-Word, txt, MS-Reader (.lit), Palm Reader, and Mobipocket. Keep in mind there is no "official" Harry Potter ebooks. Some people are just nice enough to scan the book with a scanner so cheap bastards like me can read them without paying a buck. Most of the ebooks are small (usually less than a MB) so downloading books is very quick. Every now and then a torrent site will offer a full CD or DVD full of popular ebooks. One CD alone is enough to keep me reading for a couple of years. Good luck hunting.

[backlash]

great. I just wasted all this time installing adobe reader for palm OS and it's not supported. I have a Visor Deluxe and I can't update the OS to the version that will support adobe acrobat. :(:( now I'm upset.

any other ebook software I can DL for my palm?

[Samurai]

Is Adobe the only software you can view eBooks on?

Wouldn't mind checking out alternatives.

[backlash]

it's not...of the few they have listed on palmone's site (used to be handspring.com) almost all of them are dead.

http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/docreaders-review.html

this site I came across with a quick google search just gives a bunch of readers, but these don't say what OS they support or if they support pdf transfers easily...I don't want a doc reader only, I want a pdf reader or converter. :(

[Samurai]

I just found one on Google - Fox IT PDF Reader (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php)

Looks ancient though. Is making a decent GUI hard these days or something lol

[Samurai]

Just found this site...

Explains a lil bit about pdf's and their viewers...

PDF Reader Software (http://www.topicsites.com/ebooks/pdf-reader.htm) :)

[backlash]

those seem to be for windows not for a palm OS.

[Samurai]

those seem to be for windows not for a palm OS.

look again :dry:

[Cheese]

So can anyone recommend a Palm OS or the like for reading on?

I'm doing an English degree and at the moment have to print out anything I need to read as I can't read huge chunks of text on the screen without going blind.

I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on one (around 200) but any help would be appreciated.

[backlash]

tried mobireader - that's for enews or ebooks purchased from their site. and adobe reader for palm OS requires a later version of the palm OS that I am using (can't update it).

[callum]

So can anyone recommend a Palm OS or the like for reading on?

I'm doing an English degree and at the moment have to print out anything I need to read as I can't read huge chunks of text on the screen without going blind.

I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on one (around 200) but any help would be appreciated.


I have the palm tungsten e, it's great for reading and for everything else. Mine was £170 in argos, but i think it is available cheaper online.
tungsten e (http://www-5.palmone.com/uk/en/products/tungsten-e/index.html)

[Darth Sushi]

So can anyone recommend a Palm OS or the like for reading on?

I'm doing an English degree and at the moment have to print out anything I need to read as I can't read huge chunks of text on the screen without going blind.

I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on one (around 200) but any help would be appreciated.

You might want to check out: http://www.brighthand.com/
You'll find reviews and comments for most PDA models for both Palm and PocketPC.