Barnes & Noble Free Classic eBooks Program Starts

[kjk]

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks....asp?PID=34519

Each week from July 16, 2010 - September 14, 2010, Barnes & Noble will make a limited selection of Barnes & Noble Classics eBooks available at no charge. The titles will change weekly and will be determined in Barnes & Noble's sole discretion.

[susan_cassidy]

Are they kidding? All those books have been available, for free, in multiple places, for years.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Are they kidding? All those books have been available, for free, in multiple places, for years.

Sometimes the introductions of B&N Classics can be interesting.

Also while a lot of folks know about Gutenberg, Feedbooks, etc. there are a fair number of new ebook users that don't know about places like that and have no interest in sites like MobileRead. For those types of nook users (who likely don't venture away from the B&N site much for ebooks) these are great.

[luqmaninbmore]

Again, for those of you who don't seem to get it: these are not just the Public Domain texts. They include scholarly materials such as introductions and notes which are a.) valuable in the attempt to more comprehensively understand the material and b.) still under copyright protection. They are giving away something more than you will find here or on Project Gutenberg. And if you don't like it, don't add it to your library. Quit kvetching.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Are they kidding? All those books have been available, for free, in multiple places, for years.

Could you point out, please, where they have been free with the introductions, footnotes, etc, that the B&N editions have?

[MaggieScratch]

These will be good for education applications. These texts are entirely appropriate for a high school class, or an introduction/survey type of university literature course.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

These will be good for education applications. These texts are entirely appropriate for a high school class, or an introduction/survey type of university literature course.

Not always the case with Gutenburg releases

[MaggieScratch]

Gutenberg files are usually proofread by Distributed Proofreaders. However, they are not edited. There are tiny editorial changes made to public domain books to make them more readable by, shall we say, a less sophisticated audience. For example, in Jane Austen's books, the more standard modern spelling "choose" is substituted for "chuse," "show" for "shew" and that sort of thing. I personally like the archaic spellings and usages, but your average high school student might get hung up on them.

The supplemental material is, of course, also helpful, and quite good in these editions from what I have seen.

Since B&N has so many platforms, iPad and PC and handhelds, I can really see these getting some traction in educational settings. A summer reading list can be made up for free, assuming the students have at least a PC to access them.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MaggieScratch

Gutenberg files are usually proofread by Distributed Proofreaders. However, they are not edited. There are tiny editorial changes made to public domain books to make them more readable by, shall we say, a less sophisticated audience. For example, in Jane Austen's books, the more standard modern spelling "choose" is substituted for "chuse," "show" for "shew" and that sort of thing. I personally like the archaic spellings and usages, but your average high school student might get hung up on them.

So do I, which is why I hand-edited the PG version of "Pride and Prejudice" back to the 1st edition spellings (and punctuation) for the version I uploaded here.

[Sylver]

Thanks a lot for the thread, I have downloaded some of the B&N Classics and am very impressed by the quality of these books.

[susan_cassidy]

The first book that I looked at did not have any obvious indication that it was anything but just the book (Alice in Wonderland). I did find, after reading your comment, HarryT, that the "B & N Classics" have additional material. But, I doubt that the average reader is usually interested in editorial commentary, and just wants to read the story, therefore added comments are not really all that useful to them. For most books, I probably wouldn't care, myself.

Now, if you are a student, taking a literature class, I'm sure the notes are useful. I do like the versions of Shakespeare, for instance, with all the added footnotes and explanations.

[HarryT]

For me personally, the editorial material is what makes the book worth buying - that's why I have a bookshelf full of "Penguin Classic" and "Oxford World Classic" editions of books whose text is indeed in the public domain. A good introduction allows me to get a lot more out of a book.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Again, for those of you who don't seem to get it: these are not just the Public Domain texts. They include scholarly materials such as introductions and notes which are a.) valuable in the attempt to more comprehensively understand the material and b.) still under copyright protection. They are giving away something more than you will find here or on Project Gutenberg. And if you don't like it, don't add it to your library. Quit kvetching.

This is still a FAIL on the part of B&N. They don't make it clear that the ebooks have extras.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A good introduction allows me to get a lot more out of a book.

[Jonimeesermann]

A good introduction allows me to get a lot more out of a book.

While good introduction is certainly helpful, i find that footnotes bring more values because it explain some event & cultural reference at that time. That's what I like when I get freebie ebooks from B&N app (Pride & Prejudice, Dracula, and Little Women)

Barnes & Noble will make a limited selection of Barnes & Noble Classics eBooks available at no charge

Unfortunately I don't have credit card at all (For someone at my age, it is actually still uncommon to have credit card here in Indonesia). I don't know why B&N "force" us to enter credit card number even for free ebook.

On a related note, does someone know how to avoid entering credit card number to get free ebook from B&N? I fooled Amazon just fine with hotspot shield