Ebooks before Amazon - Page 2

HarryT · 05-13-2014, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I was unaware of just how many books there were in my basement and how hard it was getting to store them all. When some of the early readers were made available they were so expensive that they were not really a viable option to help stem the tide of those printed books.

Devices such as PDAs, on which one could happily read ebooks, were around long, long before dedicated readers. I started reading eBooks on a Psion III PDA in about 1991. Mostly public domain classics from PG.

WillAdams · 05-13-2014, 08:31 AM

Things to look up in addition to the Project Gutenberg stuff:

- Living Books (animated kid's story books on CD-ROMs)
- Voyager ebooks (books provided on floppy disks for reading on Macs, especially early Powerbooks)
- Corbis's Leonardo da Vinci CD-ROM which featured a nifty Codescope viewer to make the text of the Codex Leicester intelligible --- I really wish someone would update this w/ high resolution scans
- there were other multimedia efforts, usually done w/ either HyperCard or Toolbook on subjects ranging from Monks to the Beatles.

The only place which seems to have similar development energies these days is the customized app market as exemplified by The Periodic Table of the Elements app/book for the iPad.

ISTR buying a couple of .lit versions of books for Microsoft's Reader program.

AnemicOak · 05-13-2014, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Your basic choices were PD, Baen and pirate. Most of the major SF books were and probably still are available via the dark net.

There were plenty of places to get books back then (before Sony, Amazon, etc) besides Baen, PD or Pirating.

Fictionwise
Books on Board
Diesel
CyberRead
PaperbackDigital
etc.

Most publishers had ebook stores back then too.

pdurrant · 05-13-2014, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by owly

Seeing as hand-held devices existed way before todays eink readers, how did you get books for your Palm pilots and the like? What where the big ebook sources before Amazon, was mobi the main file format?

You might also be interested in searching the MobileRead forums, since MobileRead started back in 2002, well before the Kindle arrived.

The Wiki is also a good source of info.

HarryT · 05-13-2014, 10:03 AM

The first Palm device I used as a reader was the Palm III. I found personally that the Palmpilot devices had too little storage to be useful as readers. It was only later, after the "Pilot" name had been dropped due to a legal dispute with Pilot pens, that (for me) they became practical reading devices.

gweeks · 05-13-2014, 10:39 AM

Baen, embiid, peanut press, fictionwise, project gutenberg, powell's.

Peanut press and fictionwise ended up at Barnes and Noble. I actually have most of them in my Barnes and Noble account. All of the rocket books from powell's are gone. I still have the files, but the batteries in the reader are dead. Most of the embiid books I care about I have from Baen also.

Greg

Rich_D · 05-13-2014, 11:13 AM

I read on a Palm M130 and then a Palm Tungsten E2 and then a T/X. I either got the books from the Palm bookstore in .pdb format or from Gutenberg.

pwalker8 · 05-13-2014, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

There were plenty of places to get books back then (before Sony, Amazon, etc) besides Baen, PD or Pirating.

Fictionwise
Books on Board
Diesel
CyberRead
PaperbackDigital
etc.

Most publishers had ebook stores back then too.

It depends on how you define as back then. I define back then as back then, when Baen was starting up and I was reading on a palm pilot.

Fictionwise - June 2000
Diesel - 2004
Not sure about the others, but I'm pretty sure that none predated Baen and most had a slim selection. I'm not sure about most publishers. I can't think of any SF&F publishers who had their own ebook store, other than Baen. Tor used Baen for a bit,

susan_cassidy · 05-13-2014, 01:13 PM

I used to have a Sony Clie that I loved. I still miss some of the features on it, now that I use an iPod Touch instead. I got books from mobileread, PG, Fictionwise, and one from Peanut Press. I didn't read on it that much, since the screen was so small, but in a pinch, it worked fine.

speakingtohe · 05-13-2014, 01:15 PM

I was unaware of convenient ereading devices until about 2005 when I read an article in the Yukon news. I did not care for PDAs

In the 90's I had some ebooks, mostly scanned in by myself, and PD but was not happy reading them on my desktop. When I got a laptop I had already dismissed ebooks as cumbersome.

Quite different these days.

Helen

AnemicOak · 05-13-2014, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

It depends on how you define as back then. I define back then as back then, when Baen was starting up and I was reading on a palm pilot.

Fictionwise - June 2000
Diesel - 2004
Not sure about the others, but I'm pretty sure that none predated Baen and most had a slim selection. I'm not sure about most publishers. I can't think of any SF&F publishers who had their own ebook store, other than Baen. Tor used Baen for a bit,

Fair enough. Webscriptions started 8-10 months before Fictionwise. Peanut Press started in 1998 & Mobipocket in 2000. Of course selection wasn't great back then for digital books & more often then not a title wasn't available for sale when one went looking.

delph · 05-13-2014, 01:54 PM

I also had a Sony Clie "back in the day", which was a color device based on Palm's OS. I only used it for reading when out and about (doctor waiting rooms and the like), so I had just a few public domain books on it. I got them from Mobipocket.

WillAdams · 05-13-2014, 01:58 PM

There was also a book format for the Newton MessagePad --- I'm stumped trying to remember if there was much of a market though.

Difflugia · 05-13-2014, 02:30 PM

I went through several Windows CE PDAs and read LIT books on them, mostly from Baen. I don't remember exactly when, but Eric Flint was still updating his "Prime Palaver" newsletter pretty regularly. I also used Microsoft's LIT plugin for MS Word to create readable versions of Gutenberg books.

pagansoul · 05-13-2014, 03:02 PM

About 20 years ago I read a lot on my PC. At that time Project Gutenberg sold CDs of their current collection of Public Domain ebooks. I still have my 2 CDs in .TXT. I also had many CDroms/DVDroms of my favorite comic books, Star Trek had the complete comic book collection in 2000 (WIN MAC DVD-ROM) and soon I had an extensive collection. I also used Fictionwise but also Mobilereference and a very old PDF site that I don't recall. In the early days of ebooks I had many PDF files and a few LIT. My Amazon account says I have 548 ebooks (I delete most of my free books after I read them or loose interest) and the first was from June 2008 which is when the first Kindle came out.

Side note: You can get FREE travel guides (APPS) from Mobilereference on Amazon for android (FIRE owners).
http://www.amazon.com/Paris-France-F...0007667&sr=1-8

05-13-2014, 03:02 PM	#30
pagansoul Fanatic Posts: 509 Karma: 1098204 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Earth Device: iPhone5, iPad Gen3, Kobo, Kindle Fire, Kobo Vox. Samsung Galaxy Tab 7	About 20 years ago I read a lot on my PC. At that time Project Gutenberg sold CDs of their current collection of Public Domain ebooks. I still have my 2 CDs in .TXT. I also had many CDroms/DVDroms of my favorite comic books, Star Trek had the complete comic book collection in 2000 (WIN MAC DVD-ROM) and soon I had an extensive collection. I also used Fictionwise but also Mobilereference and a very old PDF site that I don't recall. In the early days of ebooks I had many PDF files and a few LIT. My Amazon account says I have 548 ebooks (I delete most of my free books after I read them or loose interest) and the first was from June 2008 which is when the first Kindle came out. Side note: You can get FREE travel guides (APPS) from Mobilereference on Amazon for android (FIRE owners). http://www.amazon.com/Paris-France-F...0007667&sr=1-8 Last edited by pagansoul; 05-13-2014 at 03:06 PM.

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05-13-2014, 08:31 AM	#17
WillAdams Wizard Posts: 1,260 Karma: 3439432 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (300ppi), Samsung Galaxy Book 12	Things to look up in addition to the Project Gutenberg stuff: - Living Books (animated kid's story books on CD-ROMs) - Voyager ebooks (books provided on floppy disks for reading on Macs, especially early Powerbooks) - Corbis's Leonardo da Vinci CD-ROM which featured a nifty Codescope viewer to make the text of the Codex Leicester intelligible --- I really wish someone would update this w/ high resolution scans - there were other multimedia efforts, usually done w/ either HyperCard or Toolbook on subjects ranging from Monks to the Beatles. The only place which seems to have similar development energies these days is the customized app market as exemplified by The Periodic Table of the Elements app/book for the iPad. ISTR buying a couple of .lit versions of books for Microsoft's Reader program.

05-13-2014, 10:03 AM	#20
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The first Palm device I used as a reader was the Palm III. I found personally that the Palmpilot devices had too little storage to be useful as readers. It was only later, after the "Pilot" name had been dropped due to a legal dispute with Pilot pens, that (for me) they became practical reading devices.

05-13-2014, 10:39 AM	#21
gweeks Fanatic Posts: 509 Karma: 3455210 Join Date: Apr 2007 Device: Rocket, Nook ST, Kobo WiFi, Kindle PW	Baen, embiid, peanut press, fictionwise, project gutenberg, powell's. Peanut press and fictionwise ended up at Barnes and Noble. I actually have most of them in my Barnes and Noble account. All of the rocket books from powell's are gone. I still have the files, but the batteries in the reader are dead. Most of the embiid books I care about I have from Baen also. Greg

05-13-2014, 11:13 AM	#22
Rich_D Fanatic Posts: 581 Karma: 1314896 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA USA Device: Android phone, Kobo Glo HD, nook ST with Glo (backup)	I read on a Palm M130 and then a Palm Tungsten E2 and then a T/X. I either got the books from the Palm bookstore in .pdb format or from Gutenberg.

05-13-2014, 01:13 PM	#24
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	I used to have a Sony Clie that I loved. I still miss some of the features on it, now that I use an iPod Touch instead. I got books from mobileread, PG, Fictionwise, and one from Peanut Press. I didn't read on it that much, since the screen was so small, but in a pinch, it worked fine.

05-13-2014, 01:15 PM	#25
speakingtohe Wizard Posts: 4,812 Karma: 26912940 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: sony PRS-T1 and T3, Kobo Mini and Aura HD, Tablet	I was unaware of convenient ereading devices until about 2005 when I read an article in the Yukon news. I did not care for PDAs In the 90's I had some ebooks, mostly scanned in by myself, and PD but was not happy reading them on my desktop. When I got a laptop I had already dismissed ebooks as cumbersome. Quite different these days. Helen

05-13-2014, 01:54 PM	#27
delph Tabby Posts: 154 Karma: 225372 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Portland, OR, US Device: Kobo Glo HD, Kobo Mini, Lenovo Yoga 2 10"	I also had a Sony Clie "back in the day", which was a color device based on Palm's OS. I only used it for reading when out and about (doctor waiting rooms and the like), so I had just a few public domain books on it. I got them from Mobipocket.

05-13-2014, 01:58 PM	#28
WillAdams Wizard Posts: 1,260 Karma: 3439432 Join Date: Feb 2008 Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (300ppi), Samsung Galaxy Book 12	There was also a book format for the Newton MessagePad --- I'm stumped trying to remember if there was much of a market though.

05-13-2014, 02:30 PM	#29
Difflugia Testate Amoeba Posts: 3,049 Karma: 27300000 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Many Android devices, Kindle 2, Toshiba e755 PocketPC	I went through several Windows CE PDAs and read LIT books on them, mostly from Baen. I don't remember exactly when, but Eric Flint was still updating his "Prime Palaver" newsletter pretty regularly. I also used Microsoft's LIT plugin for MS Word to create readable versions of Gutenberg books.