I’m going to tell it to you straight and you might not want to hear it, but here it is… you need an ebook reader. ‘Nah,’ you say. ‘I like real books. I like the way they smell and feel.’ You still need an ereader. “Nah,’ you say. ‘I don’t like looking at computer screens for long periods of time.’ Neither do I, but good ereaders don’t have back-lit computer screens; they have something called ‘e-ink’ that approximates normal print on paper. No backlit pixels to make your eyes sore. So, you still need an ereader. ‘Why?’ you say. ‘I’m perfectly happy with my print books’ Here’s why you need an ereader. The books are cheaper, and there’s masses that you can get free. Ones that are out of copyright & their authors dead ,and ones that authors are giving away to get a greater readership. Don’t even think about the pirated ones – that’s morally and legally wrong. An ereader gives you, via the internet, access to books that you would never have found before. You can support … [Read more...]
Choosing an ebook reader.
This is the second post in a series on ebooks and ereaders. The first of this series was on the pros and cons of ebooks. Now let’s assume that you’ve decided to buy an ebook reader. The first thing you notice is that there’s a lot of different ones, they do different things, take different files and are different sizes. So how do you choose? First you need to know some basics. E-ink is the format you want for the screen, because anything backlit is the same as reading on a computer, ie hard on your eyes. Most of them are e-ink, but some cheaper ones aren’t. Not all ebook files are useable on all ereaders. The main ones are mobi files (can only be read on a Kindle unless you know a secret -see more below) and epub (can’t be read on a kindle). PDF’s are accepted by most readers but they do strange things format wise in many of them, so epub is becoming the industry standard for non Kindle readers. But if PDFs aren’t security protected, they can be changed into epub using a free … [Read more...]
The Pros and cons of ebooks
When I first heard about ebooks, I thought, ‘no, I’ll stick with paper and ink’. Like many readers, I couldn’t imagine snuggling up on the couch or in bed with a piece of electronic equipment. But now, I have an ebook reader and I do snuggle up with it. I also carry it in my handbag where the print sized copy just wouldn’t fit. Not only that, but I also buy a lot more books than I did before. What are the things we love about printed books? Books feel good to hold. Each one is a unique and tangible entity with a different weight, size, smell and texture. You can have them signed by the authors and look at their lovely covers. You can easily write notes on them ( in pencil of course) They show how much you love them by their dog ears and tatty covers. What’s the down side of print books? They cost quite a lot, fall apart, take up space ( do you ever have enough shelf space for your ever growing collection?), are heavy, ( have you tried traveling with a book or shifting house with … [Read more...]
