ebooks...

[zen]

so who's reading ebooks?

i love my books, all of them, from the old ones with their somewhat tatty covers, and that wonderful old bookshop smell, to the new paperbacks i haven't even read yet... i have a room full of them, and i buy more regularly, i especially like sales and cheap bins! the room is not magically expanding to hold them all, so i have gone over to ebooks as well. :D

there are quite a few sites that have older books, classics and those that are now in the public domain, but of these some want personal info, and i don't like that.. some want money for them!!! being a rank newbie here as i am, i don't remember seeing anything about posting URLs, but can google for these sites... i like Munseys, and Manybooks for the older ones, totally free downloads, no personal info collected.. Munseys especially has lots of old pulp fiction amongst the rest..

if you are into scifi/fantasy, Baen have a good free library they add to every so often..

of course, let's not forget the big daddy of them all - Project Gutenberg!

and if you are into reading, and have free time up your sleeve.. have a look at Distributed Proofreaders, i have proofread lots of pages there over the years.. it's not hard.

i used to think i could never give up on the pleasure of sitting in my favourite chair, with my feet up, reading a good book, but i have found i really do like sitting here, feet up on my desk, one hand on the mouse... with the onscreen font size adjusted to suit.. altho i have not yet been able to pay the same price for an ebook as a paper book! :uhno: if they want that much, i'd prefer to have the thing in my hands!

[Stormy]

I think the thing with ebooks for me is that I spend that much time on the computer as it is....updating my blog, working on blog posts for AFW and doing research for my own interest. When I want to read, I prefer to be able to have the book in my hands and be in a comfy little nook a long way from the computer. :hehe:

[zen]

can surely understand that Stormy Weather!

to me, my pc is part of my entertainment.. so...

plus, the air con is in this room! maybe when winter comes around again, i'll be happy in the 'library' once more...

[Naomi]

Reading books and reading the computer is quite a different experience for me. Reading as an activity is relaxing and passive for me so I don't feel like I can properly on the computer.

[redrobyn]

Would prefer to read the old fashioned way, I lose myself in book's I can't see myself doing that online, I enjoy the computer but it's two separate thing's for me.

[zen]

hmm.. maybe why ebooks are not so big here in Australia all round.. i know Dymocks only recently started selling ebooks, and their list is not a good one! well.. unless you like Star Trek books.. :)

[susiq]

I have to agree with red. A bit hard to get lost with the computer screen. Also, uncomfortable - even with a laptop!

[zen]

uncomfortable? look at your chair perhaps? i like my chair, it goes to exactly the right height to get my feet up on the desk! lol...

honestly - all the responses here sound like me a few years back.. :) but i'm a convert now... especially as my hands are becoming more arthritic, and my eyes are failing!

[Leigh]

I would read ebooks if I had a Kindle or similar.

[Di Nana]

Don't think I could be convinced either, some how I can't see lying in bed cuddled up on a cold winters night with the computer, the same as a good book, and I so love the smell of a book

[zen]

oh yes... i have to say, can't beat that! :) i would never go all the way over to ebooks, without a good reader at least.. and i will never lose all of my paper books! but all the same... ebooks have definite benefits for me..

[Stormy]

I would read ebooks if I had a Kindle or similar.

A what??? :blink: Is that like a PDA? :dk:

[zen]

talking of such things... i would love one of these devices, the iLiad, can see it here:

http://www.dymocks.com.au/

but just look at the price?

i just googled for the Kindle, it has only has a smallish screen from what i just read.. i have one of these:

http://en.meizu.com/

and can read text files on it, with my super reading glasses! :)

one day there will be better devices for reading ebooks, and for more reasonable prices too.. at least i hope so!