36 free ePubs, lots more to come!

[ondabeach]

Hi All,

Go to www.Zuluexpress.com and download free ePUBs.

All these classic books have been cleaned up and reformatted to read beautifully on any platform. We will be adding lots more Free books soon!

If you have a Windows Mobile device then download the Freeware ePUB reader, ZuluReader and download and books anywhere.

Enjoy,

Steve.

[bgalbrecht]

Nothing personal, but that is one ugly website.

[ondabeach]

No offence taken, don't forget it is al FREE!

[ortho]

Actually I don't think the website is that ugly. The large fonts and neon blue of the fonts make it easier for me to read

[JSWolf]

I do want to thank you for the free eBooks and the ease of getting them.

Now for the website itself, I do find the contrast to be poor and it will be hard for some people to read.

[Elfwreck]

Some content is cut off at 1024x768, which is my monitor setting at home.

The pop-up boxes mostly work okay, but I have to wonder what'll happen when there's a dozen or more categories in each. I think that most of them will continue past the edge of my screen. However, the fact that clicking on the main listing words does *nothing* is bad web design. At the least, click should call up the same popup as mouseover does.

Having categories you can click on, but have no content, is a bad idea, especially since no overall browsing seems to be available. And it doesn't even let you know "no books are available in this category." I could not find any of these 36 free ePubs; apparently, they're not in the categories I looked at.

Database is one word, not two. I am very curious about which classic books about "Data Bases" are expected to eventually be offered.

I really, really wish promoters would stop advertising their not-ready-for-real-business websites. Or at least would mention that the site's in beta stage, and they're hoping visitors will overlook the huge gaps in usability.

[Leep]

I think we have been had.

I could not find any of these 36 free ePubs;

I also found no books.

cheers

[queentess]

I found some books - didn't count to see if there are 36. Mouse-over Fiction, then select General Fiction. It comes up with some stuff that, because they're in the public domain, are probably already available on MR. And probably formatted better on MR. Certainly easier to get to here.

Not much in the way of selection (of course, since he's only claiming 36). When I look at the sci-fi category the only thing listed is The Lost World by Doyle.

All these classic books have been cleaned up and reformatted to read beautifully on any platform

They don't read on "any platform", there are only ePub files available, so they only read on ePub-compatible devices.

[ondabeach]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm not much of a web designer unfortunately. All my experience is in application development. I am taking the constructive criticism on board and will do my best to make the site more appealing to the eye.

Leep, I'm not sure why you couldn't find any books, as you can see they are there as others have been downloading them.

Queentess, I did say that they are all epubs. When I said they can be read on any platform, that means any type of device, as in PC, Mac, iPhone, Windows Mobile/ Android, Linux etc have at least one reader program available that can read the ePUB format. Even most dedicated ebook devices have adopted or will be adopting the ePUB format. Even the Kindle will have to accept the format soon or they will be left in the dust.

Anyone who doesn't think that ePUBs are going to completely dominate electronic publishing industry is in for a surprise IMHO.

Cheers,

Steve.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by ondabeach

I'm not sure why you couldn't find any books, as you can see they are there as others have been downloading them.

I only searched in categories I was interested in reading. Apparently, there are no ebooks available in those categories yet. I'm not interested in yet another source for public-domain classics; between Mobileread's carefully-formatted collection, and Feedbooks and Manybooks, I never run out of classics.

You should consider a "recent additions" section to the front page, especially if finding any of the books themselves takes more than three clicks.

When I said they can be read on any platform, that means any type of device, as in PC, Mac, iPhone, Windows Mobile/ Android, Linux etc have at least one reader program available that can read the ePUB format. Even most dedicated ebook devices have adopted or will be adopting the ePUB format.

"EPub: Format of the future" is not the same as "EPub: Format you can read on whatever device you use for ebooks." I use a Sony Clié sometimes; it does not read ePubs. I have several friends who read on PDAs, most of which don't support ePub. They read eReader's .PDB format, PalmDOCs, and .LIT ebooks. AFAIK, there is no ePub reader for PalmOS devices. (Especially not PalmOS 4.0.)

Your enthusiasm is laudable; your willingness to ignore the interests of people who don't share your tastes, is not.

[susan_cassidy]

ePub without DRM is not going to attract publishers at the moment, and once you add DRM, it becomes locked into one device.

Not all dedicated ebook readers support ePub yet, including Kindle. So, not "all platforms" support it. You cannot possibly know whether any given reader is going to support ePub in future.

As for your ePub books, why not upload them to Mobileread, if they are not already here? There are lots of books already available here in ePub format.

[ondabeach]

I don't know if you guys are old enough to remember what the electronic music industry was like before MP3's, and yes there was one. It was a complete sh1t fight just like the electronic publishing industry is now.

Thanks to the ePUB format, which IS going to completely dominate our industry in the VERY near future ,the news is all good for the avid reader.... and the Author.... which are the only two groups that matter at all.

Frankly I think the publishing companies can all go and take flying you know what at the moon. They are the middle men, the profit takers, the leaches and parasites that have kept prices at ridiculous levels 'till date. The future is DRM free ePUBS, so if your device, software or personal library isn't geared toward DRM free ePUBS then you are barking up the wrong tree. Get with the program, smell the roses etc.

Amazon with their kindle is a calssic example of narrow minded protectionist thinking. If Amazon don't pull their fingers out and embrace ePUBs (non DRM at that) then they will be left with enough egg on their face to make an a pavlova the size of Mt Everest, and I for one would laugh my ass off. The resaon they don't want to do that is because they want to keep making millions of doallars out of what should, and soon will be a transaction directly between the author and the reader, as it should be.

Steve Jordan is a perfect example of a forward thinking Author, he sells his books direct to the public for $2.50, no publisher, no DRM no being locked in to a particular piece of hardware or software. If we all get with the program, get behind guys like Steve and let the Amazons and other middle men out there that they have to play the game our way or not at all, then we will be better off much sooner.

I think this site absolutely rocks and everyone is entitled to their own opinion... and let's face it, how boring would life be if we all thought the same way. But if you don't see a clear and definitive parallel between MP3's and ePUBS then you're essentially walking around with your eyes closed because you're more in love your kindle or whatever than you are with reading.... and reading is supposed to be point after all, isn't it.

Have you stopped for just a minute and looked at the plethera of 'conversion software' out there. Doesn't that tell you anything? Wouldn't it be nice if you could download a book in a universal format for a couple of bucks or less, directly from the author and read it on the device of your choosing? Well guess what, you can! You just have to stop being a sheep, stop supporting companies that aren't supporting you. Use your kindle or other proprietry device you may have as a frisbee, get over buying the wrong device, go and buy one of the MANY ePUB friendly devices out there and get back to enjoying your books.

We are lucky enough to be at the cusp of an explosion in popularity of electronic reading and it is in our own interest to do all we can to spread the word through the medium of MobileRead and any other available to us that DRM is dead, that we want ALL electronic reading matter to be in ONE REFLOWABLE format.... whic means.... yes, you guessed it, DRM free ePUBS.

So, to be perfectly clear and succinct, if you don't have a device that can read DRM free ePUBs.... then go and get one! Coz dat's da future baby, make no mistake.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by ondabeach

Thanks to the ePUB format, which IS going to completely dominate our industry in the VERY near future ,the news is all good for the avid reader.... and the Author.... which are the only two groups that matter at all.

The ePub format will not dominate until there are good, simple, free, end-user programs that can create customized epubs. MP3 became dominant because "rip your own MP3s from disc, with your choice of compressions, and tweak the sound levels as much as you care to" was easy to arrange.

There aren't a wide selection of epub creation programs. The ones that do exist either do very basic conversions, or require extensive technical knowledge to manage. There's no option for "make the 14pt bold text into chapter headers;" it's either got to be done manually (BookDesigner) or through CSS (Calibre).

Until I can convert my own files to ePub as easily as I can to PDF, I'm not much interested in ePub books.

The future is DRM free ePUBS, so if your device, software or personal library isn't geared toward DRM free ePUBS then you are barking up the wrong tree. Get with the program, smell the roses etc.

Fascinating. Do you intend to ride this wave of the future by insulting the people who are happy with their previous choices?

You are, of course, welcome to think that anyone who reads ebooks on a 4-year-old PDA, or an Ebookwise, is an anachronistic throwback to the digital stone age. But that doesn't make it less insulting or hostile, and saying so is a nice way to convince your potential audience that you're too close-minded to bother with... if you think anyone who prefers a different filetype is Doing It Wrong, you're not going to get a lot of support here.

Steve Jordan is a perfect example of a forward thinking Author, he sells his books direct to the public for $2.50, no publisher, no DRM no being locked in to a particular piece of hardware or software.

Steve Jordan doesn't try to claim that anyone not using ePub is going to be left in the dust.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by ondabeach

Thanks to the ePUB format, which IS going to completely dominate our industry in the VERY near future ,the news is all good for the avid reader.... and the Author.... which are the only two groups that matter at all.

1) The only groups that matter are the majority of customers. Neither authors, nor the avid readers are more important than that lowest common denominator category from the average publisher's perspective.

2) ePUB is a suitable eBook format the way Microsoft Word is a suitable book preparation tool. Once the professionals actually start giving a damn about the eBook market, both will find themselves crowded out by professional formats (like PDF [perhaps even reflowable PDF due to the popular but wrong-headed approach to the problem) and professional tools (like LaTeX, InDesign, and the like).

I have explained why I hold these views elsewhere at considerable length--so I will not do so again. Everybody is free to disagree--in fact, if you do disagree, consider the fact that if I am wrong, my personal views don't matter a damn.

- Ahi

[queentess]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

You are, of course, welcome to think that anyone who reads ebooks on a 4-year-old PDA, or an Ebookwise, is an anachronistic throwback to the digital stone age. But that doesn't make it less insulting or hostile, and saying so is a nice way to convince your potential audience that you're too close-minded to bother with... if you think anyone who prefers a different filetype is Doing It Wrong, you're not going to get a lot of support here.

This sums up how I feel about the whole thing.

I really don't need another website that offers public domain books; feedbooks, manybooks and mobilereads fill that need quite nicely. And those websites are easier to navigate and offer many ebook formats without insulting me. I like visiting mobilereads because it's a place I can visit and everyone has a different device and it's all ok. I like the acceptance of this community. It's not loyal to any one device, but to mobile reading in general.