Best e-book sites

odeazy · 01-10-2011, 09:49 AM

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole e-book thing and I'm just wondering what are the best sites to download e-books or what would you's recommend? Cheers

jbcohen · 01-10-2011, 10:00 AM

Well my preferrence these days is to eliminate the middle man, the book store, and buy from the publisher and if possible from the author. That said, I think that you need to do what suits you best, are you comfortable buying from a publisher or would you rather deal with the middleman? As far as publishers go some electronic stores include baeen.com, us.penguingroup.com and Randomhouse.com. And yes they are all perfectly happy selling directly to the customer bypassing the book store altogether. As far as book stores go there is: amazon.com, borders.com, ebooks.com, bn.com, sonystyle.com (Don't know where the book store is specifically), deisel.com and kobobooks.com.

As far as best, I don't know that there is a single best. Its more or less what suits you, what sorts of books you read and who has the best prices? Personally I have tended more towards borders and Kobobooks then others, but that's becuase my reader comes from Borders.

I like Kobo Books becuase they tend to engage in a self distructive behavior that I am attempting to encourage, by sending out discount codes they tend to give away a better price and slit there own collective throats. I tend to like book stores that are willing to take a dive on a product. After all the book store is simply a middleman and therefore meaningless.

odeazy · 01-10-2011, 10:18 AM

I wasn't aware you could buy straight from the publisher but it's definitely something I'll look into. As regards what suits me best, the cheapest price of the book I want will be what suits me best.

I'll definitely check out them sites you mentioned as well.

What I did notice though is that e-books aren't as cheap as I thought they were going to be. On some sights I came across e-books that were actually more expensive than the paper copy, which doesn't make sense at all! But thanks again for the info..

screwballl · 01-10-2011, 10:33 AM

There are a few sites:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73096 - this site has a decent library of books.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page - Lots of classics, ALL free
http://ebook.com/ - decent selection

plenty of others.

Andrew H. · 01-10-2011, 10:34 AM

Have you tried Amazon.com?

odeazy · 01-10-2011, 10:46 AM

thanks for the links screwball.. Yea I tried amazon but isn't that exclusively for kindle? I have a samsung so I don't think it will be any good to me!

kindlekitten · 01-10-2011, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odeazy

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole e-book thing and I'm just wondering what are the best sites to download e-books or what would you's recommend? Cheers

I don't know anything about the Samsung devices, but you might try a quick search using "samsung devices" that will take you to threads with other Samsung readers and see what they use.

welcome to the forums!

screwballl · 01-10-2011, 10:55 AM

For now, Amazon sells mostly AZW filetype ebooks which can only be used on the Kindle. As time goes on it may help to watch the news on this as they may decide to open it to other formats which would help expand their sales.

For now, look for ebook sites and file types in epub format.

odeazy · 01-10-2011, 11:01 AM

I tried searching Samsung devices but there aren't many threads on them and the ones I did find were full of people arguing about how to charge them so I gave up! thanks for the welcome

Yea I wish amazon would expand to epub format because a lot of their azw formats are the cheapest e-books I came across. But from the links everyone posted I'm sure to be occupied for a good while!

mr ploppy · 01-10-2011, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by screwballl

For now, Amazon sells mostly AZW filetype ebooks which can only be used on the Kindle. As time goes on it may help to watch the news on this as they may decide to open it to other formats which would help expand their sales.

For now, look for ebook sites and file types in epub format.

The vast majority of azw files are actually mobi files that have been renamed. If they don't have DRM they can be read on lots of non-Kindle devices, or converted to epub for use on others. The only other type of file Amazon sells is Topaz, these can be recognised from the lack of a page count in the product details (it will just give a file size). They can be converted, but are a pain to do so and the results will have even more spelling mistakes than normal mobi files because the only readable text you can extract is a very rough OCR used for indexing purposes.

Andrew H. · 01-10-2011, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odeazy

thanks for the links screwball.. Yea I tried amazon but isn't that exclusively for kindle? I have a samsung so I don't think it will be any good to me!

Oh, I thought you had a tablet. Sorry.

susan_cassidy · 01-10-2011, 12:35 PM

If the Samsung is Android, the Kindle for Android app should work.

www.webscription.net (Baen Books) is a good site for science fiction and fantasy. No DRM and multiple formats.
www.smashwords.com. Mostly independent authors, no DRM, multiple formats.

odeazy · 01-10-2011, 01:34 PM

No I'm afraid its not Android! thanks for the links

elemenoP · 01-10-2011, 01:47 PM

I like kobobooks.com because they have coupons all the time. The only drawback: some publishers don't allow discounting of books, so you can't use the coupons on those. But they work on any other book (not just the "select titles" they publish in the promo). How can you tell if the coupon will work or not? Generally speaking, anything at $9.99 or under will work with a coupon.

eP

boxcorner · 01-10-2011, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by odeazy

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole e-book thing and I'm just wondering what are the best sites to download e-books or what would you's recommend? Cheers

What types of e-books - only free ones, or are you willing to pay, if so how much? Some sites specialise in particular genres. Do you have a preference? What is your preferred format?

Addendum
Have you seen this, for the Samsung E65?

http://eshelfbooks.com/shop/product/...msung-e65-epub

According to latest-price.com the Samsung E65 supports: ePub, pdf, txt and Word doc files.
In which case, you might also find BeWrite Books interesting.

01-10-2011, 09:49 AM	#1
odeazy Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Samsung E65	Best e-book sites Hey guys, I'm new to the whole e-book thing and I'm just wondering what are the best sites to download e-books or what would you's recommend? Cheers

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01-10-2011, 10:00 AM	#2
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Well my preferrence these days is to eliminate the middle man, the book store, and buy from the publisher and if possible from the author. That said, I think that you need to do what suits you best, are you comfortable buying from a publisher or would you rather deal with the middleman? As far as publishers go some electronic stores include baeen.com, us.penguingroup.com and Randomhouse.com. And yes they are all perfectly happy selling directly to the customer bypassing the book store altogether. As far as book stores go there is: amazon.com, borders.com, ebooks.com, bn.com, sonystyle.com (Don't know where the book store is specifically), deisel.com and kobobooks.com. As far as best, I don't know that there is a single best. Its more or less what suits you, what sorts of books you read and who has the best prices? Personally I have tended more towards borders and Kobobooks then others, but that's becuase my reader comes from Borders. I like Kobo Books becuase they tend to engage in a self distructive behavior that I am attempting to encourage, by sending out discount codes they tend to give away a better price and slit there own collective throats. I tend to like book stores that are willing to take a dive on a product. After all the book store is simply a middleman and therefore meaningless.

01-10-2011, 10:18 AM	#3
odeazy Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Samsung E65	I wasn't aware you could buy straight from the publisher but it's definitely something I'll look into. As regards what suits me best, the cheapest price of the book I want will be what suits me best. I'll definitely check out them sites you mentioned as well. What I did notice though is that e-books aren't as cheap as I thought they were going to be. On some sights I came across e-books that were actually more expensive than the paper copy, which doesn't make sense at all! But thanks again for the info..

01-10-2011, 10:33 AM	#4
screwballl NewKindler Posts: 504 Karma: 1865773 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: NWFL Device: Kindle3 Wifi	There are a few sites: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73096 - this site has a decent library of books. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page - Lots of classics, ALL free http://ebook.com/ - decent selection plenty of others.

01-10-2011, 10:34 AM	#5
Andrew H. Grand Master of Flowers Posts: 2,201 Karma: 8389072 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Naptown Device: Kindle PW, Kindle 3 (aka Keyboard), iPhone, iPad 3 (not for reading)	Have you tried Amazon.com?

01-10-2011, 10:46 AM	#6
odeazy Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Samsung E65	thanks for the links screwball.. Yea I tried amazon but isn't that exclusively for kindle? I have a samsung so I don't think it will be any good to me!

01-10-2011, 10:55 AM	#8
screwballl NewKindler Posts: 504 Karma: 1865773 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: NWFL Device: Kindle3 Wifi	For now, Amazon sells mostly AZW filetype ebooks which can only be used on the Kindle. As time goes on it may help to watch the news on this as they may decide to open it to other formats which would help expand their sales. For now, look for ebook sites and file types in epub format.

01-10-2011, 11:01 AM	#9
odeazy Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Samsung E65	I tried searching Samsung devices but there aren't many threads on them and the ones I did find were full of people arguing about how to charge them so I gave up! thanks for the welcome Yea I wish amazon would expand to epub format because a lot of their azw formats are the cheapest e-books I came across. But from the links everyone posted I'm sure to be occupied for a good while!

01-10-2011, 12:35 PM	#12
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	If the Samsung is Android, the Kindle for Android app should work. www.webscription.net (Baen Books) is a good site for science fiction and fantasy. No DRM and multiple formats. www.smashwords.com. Mostly independent authors, no DRM, multiple formats.

01-10-2011, 01:34 PM	#13
odeazy Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ireland Device: Samsung E65	No I'm afraid its not Android! thanks for the links

01-10-2011, 01:47 PM	#14
elemenoP Wizard Posts: 1,717 Karma: 3790058 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650	I like kobobooks.com because they have coupons all the time. The only drawback: some publishers don't allow discounting of books, so you can't use the coupons on those. But they work on any other book (not just the "select titles" they publish in the promo). How can you tell if the coupon will work or not? Generally speaking, anything at $9.99 or under will work with a coupon. eP

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