Free Books

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by SherryNPaul

I read the intro and instructions, and tried out the new "Christmas" Kindle. Have to say, I love it.
It's very light, very easy to read. I downloaded 12 books in about 20 minutes, at no charge. (Only read one so far, and parts of others. When I click on the book in the home page, I'm immediately taken to where I left off on the others. I tend to read several books at once.... on different topics.

I haven't tried it on the local library interface yet, but I'm sure it will be fine. Our library is great, and very technologically advanced. Should work well.

I searched "free books" in the search line, and came up with over 42,000 download possibilities, just from Amazon... that alone will keep me busy while camping.

The 3g works for email and google, but is really, really clunky (not so awfully slow, but clunky) on the 3g keyboard. OK for an absolute emergency, but I'll stay with my laptop and wireless card, thank you.

Overall, I'm totally excited to be able to carry many, many books in the trailer, with less than the weight of one. Awesome.

Sherry

If you really want to go nuts on free books check this out Project Gutenberg - free ebooks

Have fun.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Originally Posted by CindyL

Bobby,

If you PM me, I can give you some resources I collected at a couple of conferences this month. One is an app that is for writing just that kind of textbook; another is how to use some free software and iBook to create multimedia books.

CindyL

At the moment I can't get PM to work but I am interested. I don't plan to write a textbook, though.

[Mike Magee]

I think there's a great deal of overlap between the Gutenberg titles and Amazon's free titles. In other words, one can download most freebies from either source. Amazon's delivery system is super easy (click one button, you're done). Has anyone downloaded from Gutenberg.org who can say if their downloads work that easily?

[CindyL]

Gutenberg uses copyright-free books. That is likely why both sites look alike. I use the Gutenberg site a lot when I teach. If we measure the difficulty of a text selection, I use Gutenberg. Heck, it gives some districts that my teachers work for a place to get books when their districts can't afford books.

CindyL

[Bobbie Mayer]

I have been enjoying library books on my Kindle, well, okay, mostly on my iPad but using the kindle app. Very easy to do if your library carries them. Selection isn't great but if you are willing to put holds on books you like they eventually show up.

[Joy A]

I'm intrigued with the e-book readers and will purchase one in the future. What I don't get is why quite a few of the books are so pricey.

Most books I looked up were $8.99, I can purchase a paperback for that. Seems to me they need to work on getting the price of e-books down after all there is no printing, paper and shipping costs. Just type it in and send it off through cyber space.

[SherryNPaul]

Joy,
I've seen books from free to 26.00 or more on kindle.
A huge number were 99 cents to 2.99.
I'm loving the site.
I also love my free library site. It's great.
Sherry

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Joy A

I'm intrigued with the e-book readers and will purchase one in the future. What I don't get is why quite a few of the books are so pricey.

Most books I looked up were $8.99, I can purchase a paperback for that. Seems to me they need to work on getting the price of e-books down after all there is no printing, paper and shipping costs. Just type it in and send it off through cyber space.

Hi Joy. Best sellers and new editions are going to be higher than older books. There thousands of free books available. As was pointed out there's also many many books that are $.99. From what I've seen on Amazon a book in Kindle format is usually about $1.00 cheaper for the same book printed on paper.
To get an idea go to the Kindle store on Amazon. Then compare book for book on Amazon for price differences.

[honda03842]

Joys,

New e-books are always less expensive than new printed books.

Ginny has downloaded about 20 books since she received her Nook. Two books were from the NH ebook library, available to her everywhere she travels. Eighteen books were from B&N free book library. The following web site will take you to their free books.

Free NOOK Books - Barnes & Noble

As well every Friday, there's 'free book Friday' from B&N.

Now that were into our travel schedule(?) our son can lend us books from his Nook for us to read.

As well our young neice has bought a couple of books on our reader. I believe they were $2-3 a piece.

When I compare the flexibility of the ereader to our ton's of bookshelves at home, it's almost a miracle. From now on every book we purchase can be on an organized book shelf that fits in your hand.

Another neat aspect of the ebook is that all kinds of would be writers have an inexpensive way to get published.

One important aspect of ereaders is that the black and white readers can be read in bright sunlight, a significant benefit for 'outside most of the time' Rvers.

I reference the Nook because we have one, I think there's little difference between the Nook and Kindle.

[Night Sailor]

I bought an iPad original and found it too heavy for reading, fantastic for movies, and it does anything you could want. For reading I use my iPhone and before that an iPod touch. These are pocket sized things you have with you anyway. I watch movies on my iphone too. On one yacht delivery, my first time trying movies, on my iPod Touch, I watched Captain Ron four times--because I forgot to load more movies. Yes I was kicking myself, although it was not a priority compared to my sailing gear. Still, yacht deliveries feature long spans when you need to relax below deck--which works for me.

Today, I keep plenty of entertainment in my pocket. The convenience of having books, audio books, movies with you cannot be measured when you are waiting for transportation (WFT) as we called it in the Air Force, or stuck somewhere.

For example I was WFT unable to find a (Space A)vailable spot at a base in England. I found a flight to Germany--a base with five flights manifested for Delaware. I would have been better off staying in England. Each of these C5 flights had issues. It goes by sign up date so I was tail end charlie. The number of people in front of me was over 100 and swelled when flights were due to launch to twice that. I figured at 70 seats on a C5 the place would be swept clean as five flights could carry 350 people--but they were not flying.

I waited five days in Ramstein for a C5 flight and ultimately caught a hop on a C-17--my new favorite aircraft. I did read a lot of books in that span. And learned to avoid inbound C5's because of age and maintenance issues.

I think you will love your Kindle, if you keep it with you.

[honda03842]

Like Night Sailor we have ebook readers on multiple types of devices.

To read ebooks, it is not necessary to buy a Nook or a Kindle.

For example, one can get a free download of the Nook ebook reader for your computer, Pad or smart phone. I have a reader on both my computer and smartphone.

As well most public libraries with ebooks have a free down loadable reader.

[Mike Magee]

I learned how to get e-books from Gutenberg.org onto my Kindle, simple as pie. I download the book to my computer, then email it to the Kindle email address that Amazon set up automatically for me when I registered my Kindle. The book loads onto my Kindle a minute later.

[CindyL]

I have Kindle on both my Droid and iPod Touch. They are convenient for reading on the El train where you are layered underneath other riders for most of the train ride and space for opening books becomes difficult. I just don't like the size of the text though and how you have to keep turning pages so quickly. Convenient but not fun.
However, this thread has given me an idea. I have one of the early One Laptop Per Child computers that are designed as tablet computers with a color screen that can be read in the sunlight. I am going to see if it can handle Kindle software and then try it as my reader. Kinda heavy but virtually indestructible and an actual computer that sits doing nothing until I drag it out for show and tell in my classes. It would be good for reading while camping too, given the screen's ability to be read in sunlight and its ability to withstand being beaten up. It is also a computer running a version of Linux.

Well, here I go, a place to get started:http://en.flossmanuals.net/e-book-enlightenment/


CindyL

[CindyL]

I found an interesting link for free ebooks:http://en.flossmanuals.net/e-book-en...-free-e-books/

Most are gutenberg links but it gives the links for Canada and Australia too. The latter has a less restrictive copyright law.


CindyL

[Greybeard]

Just wanted to let you know that PDF format can be loaded to many (if not all) e readers and I have put our Casita manuals and documents we think it would be important to carry with us on our Nook.

Richard

[CallDon]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I'm sure many of you know this but I thought it might lead to a thread that lists places to get free books.

Ginny received a Nook for her birthday, one of the best gifts ever. It makes it possible for an RVer to be a reader without the burden of books and resolves the inability to get library services as one travels.

Two weeks ago I bought a Nook Color refurbished from buy.com then rooted it. Now it is the perfect size Android tablet. I synced it to my Google account and it loaded all the apps I have on my EVO.

What's funny is you can use the Nook app or Kindle app plus the Google books app to read just about anything. I got a 32gb SD card for it so I have more memory that I can use.

And I can buy real estate with the money I saved instead of buying the popular tablet!

[Ann B]

works with my Kobo!!
thanks!!

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by CallDon

Two weeks ago I bought a Nook Color refurbished from buy.com then rooted it. Now it is the perfect size Android tablet. I synced it to my Google account and it loaded all the apps I have on my EVO.

What's funny is you can use the Nook app or Kindle app plus the Google books app to read just about anything. I got a 32gb SD card for it so I have more memory that I can use.

And I can buy real estate with the money I saved instead of buying the popular tablet!

Sounds pretty slick. I would have no idea what I was doing. Rooting it... ?!

[CallDon]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

Sounds pretty slick. I would have no idea what I was doing. Rooting it... ?!

This is the first time i have done it. There's really nothing to it. It makes it the Android version if the iPad. I got my Nook Color refurb from buy.com for $150. Here is the process I used. They also have a Facebook page.
How To Root Your Nook Color (cm7) | Customizing Your Nook Color

I am not a huge reader. But the Nook Color can hold thousands of books because of the expandable SD card. I added a 32gb card to mine for music and other stuff. Rooted, it makes a great little tablet.

D*

[Joy A]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

Hi Joy. Best sellers and new editions are going to be higher than older books. There thousands of free books available. As was pointed out there's also many many books that are $.99. From what I've seen on Amazon a book in Kindle format is usually about $1.00 cheaper for the same book printed on paper.
To get an idea go to the Kindle store on Amazon. Then compare book for book on Amazon for price differences.

Hi Byron and Anne,

Guess what I got for Christmas. A Kindle. It's not the one I would have purchased as it only has WIFI. I would have gotten the 3G. But hey, it's surely a nice present.

I did go on the Amazon Kindle site and my goodness the amount of books available cheap and especially free. I've downloaded hundreds of free books and divided them into categories. So far I've only read 3 since Christmas.

I spent $8.99 as I did purchased the latest novel by an author I like. I really should have waited, because I've got so many books to read now, and that by the time I get around to it the purchased book will probably be on the "Free" list.

You know I never read War & Peace. It's on my Kindle for when I decide to get around to it.

I like holding books however I'm now enjoying not having to hold the pages open on a large book. This is surely a neat item.