Free Books

[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.

There are numerous sources of free books. We have not gone beyond our state library and Nook free ebooks yet, probably because we're just overwhelmed.

Where ever we travel we are able to download e books and audio books from the NH Library system. We also have a Florida library card and will be able to downlad books from Florida's system as well. Since we are Escapees and have a TX address we should be able to get a TX library card and down load books from their system as well.

If you google free nook e books you will see that also B&N has a free book section as well.

Reading our way across the country...

[honda03842]

I was just browsing my town's web site and noticed the On Line Newstand, amazingly 50 magazines and not just this month's issue but in the case of Consumer Reports going back to 2009.

We had made the choice to stop all magazine subscriptions. Now most of them are available on line.

By the way Ginny reads on the Nook and I read on my small Netbook. Any computer can be used to read Nook books and other free online books.

[Sharon G]

Thanks, Norm. I didn't know about the magazines!

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Sharon G

Thanks, Norm. I didn't know about the magazines!

It amazed me that Consumer Reports went back to 2009. It did require a library card to access it. Part of the reason I want to accumulate a few library cards.

[Mike Magee]

My wife asked me if I would like an e-reader for Christmas. I'm thinking about it a lot. Planning to go to the store this weekend and look at them.

[Red-Dwarf]

Another great source for free ebooks:

Project Gutenberg - free ebooks

Noel

[Byron Kinnaman]

Try Project Gutenberg for free books.

We chose Kindle for an eReader. The biggest reason is we head for the sunny south in the winter and do most our reading sitting outside in the sun. Kindle's screen improves with bright light. Nook on the other hand washes out in bright light. If you do most of your reading in bed and/or really want color Nook might be the one for you. I don't mind the black and white, like book are printed, and read in the bright light the Kindle might be good choice for you. I can over come the lack of back light with small book light for evening and night time reading. I think there's work around for Nook's washing out in bright light.

It's really nice to be able to carry around a couple hundred books in less space and weight than a single paper book.

[Ron F]

It's also probably common knowledge that you can get free kindle and nook reader applications to run on your Mac, PC, Iphone, etc..

Kindle: Amazon.com: Kindle for Mac - Read Kindle eBooks on your Mac
Nook: Free NOOK Reading App &trade, Download eReader app - BARNES & NOBLE - Barnes*&*Noble

[honda03842]

Nook makes a number of models. The black and white Nook is virtually identical in bright light to the Kindle. We use ours on the beach here without issue. Simply the more light the higher the contrast.

Any of the color units, from both Nook and Kindle, will wash out in bright light since they use a totally different technology, similar to the typical computer. If you want to read outside get a black and white unit.

One advantage of the Nook when we bought it was that they allow you to lend books between users. Something that Kindle recently copied.

I think both the Nook and Kindle are great little readers. One nice aspect of the Nook is that local Barnes and Nobles offer free courses in their use, particularly helpful to my wife who is sometimes technology hesitant. As well you can take a B&N reader into a local store and read any book for free.

[Will M.]

"technology hesitant" - great description - I occassionally refer to myself as a "Luddite" but I think I will start to use this phrase instead . Thanks to all for the great info in this thread! (some of it is not "common knowledge", to me at least).

[honda03842]

Lud·dite (ldt)
n. 1. Any of a group of British workers who between 1811 and 1816 rioted and destroyed laborsaving textile machinery in the belief that such machinery would diminish employment.
2. One who opposes technical or technological change.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Nook makes a number of models. The black and white Nook is virtually identical in bright light to the Kindle. We use ours on the beach here without issue. Simply the more light the higher the contrast.

Any of the color units, from both Nook and Kindle, will wash out in bright light since they use a totally different technology, similar to the typical computer. If you want to read outside get a black and white unit.

One advantage of the Nook when we bought it was that they allow you to lend books between users. Something that Kindle recently copied.

I think both the Nook and Kindle are great little readers. One nice aspect of the Nook is that local Barnes and Nobles offer free courses in their use, particularly helpful to my wife who is sometimes technology hesitant. As well you can take a B&N reader into a local store and read any book for free.

When we purchased ours Nook was pushing the color version. I didn't bother looking for a b/w Nook. I knew that all color screens have to be back lit to make them work. Back lighting is washes out in bright sun. The technology isn't that much different between the two, they all use LCD (liquid crystal display) screens.

[David Swinnard]

I bought my wife a Kindle last year for Christmas. After a bit of a learning curve, it has become a go-to device for her. Granted she still likes to hold a real book - especially new releases from the local library, but on a recent vacation (Europe, no Trillium) the Kindle saved us a suitcase as we didn't have to carry any paper books along. (We both tend to read rather than party after a full day of sightseeing.)

Our friend accompanying us both had Kobos from Chapters/Indigo. Having worked with both of them we (wife and I) decided we prefer the way the Kindle turns pages (little buttons on the side of the device) over the way the Kobo does (finger swipes on the screen, like an iDevice or other smartphone) We also didn't like the long boot time for the Kobo.

Since we've only got one of the readers, we take turns with it sometimes. Other time, I read on my iPhone (and my eyes are no longer young)

Either way, the software "Calibre" (win and mac) is a great way to organize e-libraries for downloading to the e-reader. (and convert between the various different formats required by different devices!).

And free books...what a great thing to use the internet for.

[honda03842]

"Since we've only got one of the readers, we take turns with it sometimes. Other time, I read on my iPhone (and my eyes are no longer young)"

David,

Before we received the Nook I read Nook books on my Blackberry. Certainly not great for 'beach reading' but handy for 'bed reading', truly a one hand reading device and push the ball to turn the page is really easy.

Like you we have only one Nook/Kindle so I read books on my Toshiba Netbook. In any case the ability to choose fonts and change font sizes helps old eyes.

One thing we learned is to have only one account between us. As a result, all books either one buys are continuously available to both of us.

Now with Kindles down to $79 practically anyone can afford one.

Trully a great use for the Internet. It seems school backpacks and school books should go the way of the buggy whip.

The Internet is wonderful....

[Trill136]

I was just given, for my birthday, an e-reader.

Mine is a Kobo Touch. Uses "e ink" type of screen. B/W only. Wireless, lots of storage.

These things are great!!!!

[Dave Fish]

I just ordered the Samsung Galaxy 7.0 plus tablet for travel. It is Android but more flexible than the Kindle or Fire. My wife has a Kindle but I prefer color and flexibility in one device (I admit to being whatever the opposite of Luddite would be - GEEK). This a newly released device so we will see how it works in varius conditions.

I also noticed that our library has online magazines as well as online books. I will be looking into that further although I am not much of a recreational reader - more technical and how to.

Dave

[honda03842]

Dave,
Good luck with your tablet, Samsung makes a good one.

Certainly the color devices have more flexibility than the black and white readers. They combine the capabilities of a computer, e-reader and movie viewer. The next leap in LCD technology will be a reflective color screen where environmental brightness enhances the screen instead of washing it out.

Everything is a compromise. I like my little Netbook because it's small and the battery lasts for nine hours. It's definitely not as fast as my wife's bigger laptop.

The only thing that keeps me from a color tablet is the lack of a traditional keyboard since I do a lot of typing.

Safe travels..

[Mike Magee]

A tablet seems great, more versatile than an e-reader and a bigger color screen.... but for me, a backlit screen seems to lead to dry eyes much, much faster than a book page. So the e-ink screen would, I think, work better for me. At the cost of color and versatility, of course.

I played with a couple of Kindles at the store today. The screen seemed easy on the eyes, and of course the font size is so easily adjusted. The keyboard one seems nice. Now if only I could use the 3G to check email online while camping... but I'm not sure it can... I've read somewhere that the 3G usage is limited to accessing the Amazon store (or is that just on the new Kindle Touch? Need to find out). Wifi is better than nothing, but 3G is much more widespread than wifi hotspots.
{edit}: I read up on it. It's just the new Touch 3G that limits web browsing to wifi. The keyboard version with 3G supports browsing via 3G. But it's on the Sprint network, so it won't work out in the boonies anyhow!

[honda03842]

Our Nook uses wireless. It works for us because we have a Verizon wireless hotspot. The nice thing about the Verizon 3G hotspot is that it's availbe just about anywhere we've been. (We're planning to upgrade to 4G as soon as the 4G phones settle out. 4G is really fast.)

Any Nook books or e books are typically downloaded to my computer and then any book can be shared to the all our Nook readers, one on the Nook, one on the smart phone and lastly on our computers. It simply happens automatically because we have a shared account.

I buy a book and Ginny sees it and similarly for me when she buys one.

Since we like to be outside most of the time, until reflective color screens are a reality, we'll be sticking with book like black and white readers.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

A tablet seems great, more versatile than an e-reader and a bigger color screen.... but for me, a backlit screen seems to lead to dry eyes much, much faster than a book page. So the e-ink screen would, I think, work better for me. At the cost of color and versatility, of course.

I played with a couple of Kindles at the store today. The screen seemed easy on the eyes, and of course the font size is so easily adjusted. The keyboard one seems nice. Now if only I could use the 3G to check email online while camping... but I'm not sure it can... I've read somewhere that the 3G usage is limited to accessing the Amazon store (or is that just on the new Kindle Touch? Need to find out). Wifi is better than nothing, but 3G is much more widespread than wifi hotspots.
{edit}: I read up on it. It's just the new Touch 3G that limits web browsing to wifi. The keyboard version with 3G supports browsing via 3G. But it's on the Sprint network, so it won't work out in the boonies anyhow!

The kindle browser is very slow and very limited but works okay...slowly..for email. I have the Kindle 2 and the truth is I mainly read n my iPad. I am using the kindle now as I have a free library book that doesn't work the iPad...prime users now get one free loan a month. I also have a waterproof case so can use the kindle to read in the bath. But if I could only have one it would be the iPad.