View Single Post
Old 08-13-2008, 01:10 PM   #16
Ramen
Connoisseur
Ramen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-booksRamen has learned how to read e-books
 
Posts: 87
Karma: 800
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Switzerland
Device: Kindle 3, BeBook
I don't have a lot of reading time at the moment, so my digital bookshelves are rather small. My shops are:

There are basically two categories: I'm looking for a specific book or I am browsing.

For specific books, I typically use BooksOnBoard because they have a nice catalog, good prices and MS Lit. If they don't have the book, chances are it is Kindle-only or not available at all. If the pbook is unavailable, I'm kinda screwed.

For browsing, I typically use BAEN. Sadly, BAEN doesn't feature the typical specific book I am after (unless I found the series via BAEN of course) and the general direction of BAEN books isn't really my type. There are still pleasent books there, though.

Via your criterias:
  • www.BooksOnBoard.com
    • size of catalogue: Horrible (even the Kindle catalogue is horrible but comparitavley, I'd say medicore)
    • availablity of formats: Only DRM but crackable DRM (lit)
    • price: Okay-ish. Still a bit expensive considering crappy DRM and no housing costs, etc but at least they are cheaper than the pbooks (at least relative to Swiss pbook costs)
    • ease of use: Needs IE for downloading lit books which sucks. Other than that, the new version of the site is too much eye-candy and too little usability. The search function sucks.
  • www.BAEN.com
    • size of catalogue: BAEN is a speciality site and as such the catalogue size is optimal (i.e. practically 100% of the covered books available)
    • availablity of formats: Excellent (no DRM; multiple formats; pay for content, not specific format)
    • price: Excellent ($2-$10)
    • ease of use: The site has usability issues and the search function is less than perfect... All in all a bit worse than www.BooksOnBoard.com because of the scripting and cross-site stuff.
  • www.books.ch and the rest
    • size of catalogue: Horrible
    • availablity of formats: Horrible
    • price: Horrible
    • ease of use: Ok, actually
Ramen is offline   Reply With Quote