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Old 05-11-2010, 11:05 AM   #1
jchroni1
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NOOB looking for books.

Hello, I'm a noob to the E-book business. I just purchased a PRS-600. Like the reader so far, no complaints. Hate the Software that wont run on my computer. After many hours of looking for how to get the software running, i gave up, found calibre love it for the books i already have from google. But I would also like to read other books. Where do you all get your books? How do you get them on to your device?

Thanks!
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Old 05-11-2010, 11:17 AM   #2
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Good to have your company, Jchron. Using Calibre, you can pick up books pretty well anywhere. A good place to start, of course, is here: Some generous members spend a lot of time producing perfectly formatted classics for free download.

Book source depends much on which genres you prefer. There are so many ebook retailers and publishers specialising these days that it's pretty simple to refine your search for books you're likely to enjoy.

Good luck and best wishes. Neil
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Old 05-11-2010, 11:17 AM   #3
icollectglass
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These are some sites that I use.

(Sorry, I don't have URLs, but they are easy to find :-)

Google Books
The Grandfather of free ebook search.

Feedbooks
Click on the “public domain” link to browse thousands of free and original books.

FictionWise
Click on the “free ebooks” link to browse their collection.

Kobo
Click on the “Free ebooks” link to download books for the web, mobile and EPUB format.

Project Gutenburg
Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 30,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPhone, Kindle, Sony Reader or other portable device.

Project Gutenburg Canada
The ebooks on this website are in the Canadian public domain.

Smashwords
Click on the “filter by: free ebooks” to browse for ebooks by indie authors and publishers.


As well, don’t forgot to check out your local library. Sony also hosts a library finder page, where you can browse for local libraries that offer ebooks for loan. The link appears somewhere on the website for the Sony eReader.

Hope this helps.
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Old 05-11-2010, 06:30 PM   #4
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Google Books is absolutely not the "Grandfather" of free ebooks. That honor would go to Project Gutenberg. PG is not only older than Google and older than the Web, but it is older than Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

I don't consider a DRM-restricted book to be genuinely free no matter what the price -- it's like a physical book you're only allowed to read in your living room, and the covers seal shut if you try to read it in bed. That cuts out a fair percentage of "free" ebooks for me. I buy a fair number of non-DRM-restricted ebooks (thanks, Baen; how about I just hand over my wallet and get it over with?) but I will not accept a DRM-restricted book even at no charge.

My choices of gratis and libre ebook sources, in order of quality and preference, are as follows:

MobileRead (right here; best formatting)

ManyBooks (good formatting, and I like their site)

Feedbooks (marginally better formatting than PG)

Project Gutenberg (the real granddaddy of free ebooks)

Munseys (bad, but they have some hard-to-find books)

The Internet Archive (useful for some primary sources for research)

Google Books doesn't even make it on there because most of their public domain books are nonetheless "preview only", and tend to be either PDFs of scans of the books or un-proofread OCRs of those scans. They're not too bad to read online, but as far as being usable on an ebook reading device, they're barely above worthless. The Internet Archive is also afflicted with bad scans and worse OCRs, but they have a lot of weird stuff like WWII-era government publications which, if you need 'em, you can't easily get anywhere else.

Incidentally, signing up with Distributed Proofreading and proofreading a page or two a day is a good way to give back to the free ebook community. Plus it's fun.

Courtesy of Baen Books, a top SF publisher, I also get books from:

the Baen Free Library

Fifth Imperium (downloadable images of Baen's free CDs)

Beware of Baen, by the way. They'll give you the first book or two in a series free, and the next thing you know, you'll have your shopping cart full of ebooks and be canceling your plans for the weekend. Insidious, that. A fair percentage of my high-priority TBR list came from Baen.
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Old 05-11-2010, 06:56 PM   #5
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"Google Books is absolutely not the "Grandfather" of free ebooks. That honor would go to Project Gutenberg. PG is not only older than Google and older than the Web, but it is older than Sergey Brin and Larry Page."

I totally agree and apologize. That was cribbed from an old blog post from my website before I started exploring ebooks.

As a librarian, I'm also mindful of copyright. What may be "free" in one country, isn't free in another.

Thanks for the additional sources.
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Old 05-11-2010, 09:28 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jchroni1 View Post
found calibre love it for the books i already have from google. But I would also like to read other books. Where do you all get your books? How do you get them on to your device?
First I would second Worldwalker's list.

The wiki here has a free books section and a ebooks store section.

Also many local libraries will lend ebooks, since your Sony reader software isn't working you will have to install Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) software to handle the DRM'd epubs available from libraries. The ADE software will also come in handy if you buy DRM'd epubs from other vendors.

Note: Barnes & Noble uses a DRM scheme on their epubs not compatible with the Sony.

On another note DRM can be circumvented you might want to check out Apprentice Alf's Blog or Darkreverser's New Blog for more info on the subject.

Welcome Aboard!
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Old 05-11-2010, 11:21 PM   #7
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Welcome to MR - and lots of fun exploring all the sites / links you have been given above
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Old 05-12-2010, 12:32 PM   #8
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I agree with the ones posted already. I like Manybooks.net and Smashwords very much. For bestsellers I use the Sony store since it's easier, but I don't use the Sony software to manage my library.
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Old 05-12-2010, 12:52 PM   #9
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We even have a sticky thread here of places you can buy books. Please feel free to contribute any you find.
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Old 05-14-2010, 10:14 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by jchroni1 View Post
...Hate the Software that wont run on my computer....
jchroni -

What OS are you using on your computer? While I think the Reader Library software is terrible I have been able to get it to run on both Windows and Mac OS X.
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Old 05-14-2010, 10:55 AM   #11
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And don't forget http://www.bewrite.net. Our ebooks are $5.99 everywhere and we're still in the throes of offering an ePub alternative to our old PDFs. But the price tag is only for 'civilians'.

Fellow MobileRead members know that they only need send me the title of any book/s that catch their eye on site and I'm always happy to send them along with our compliments.

Reviews (good or bad) are more than welcome, but by no means an obligation. Just email me at ntmarrATbewrite.net (use the @ sign, of course).

Cheers. Neil
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Old 05-27-2010, 02:24 PM   #12
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I just bought the 600 second-hand but in MINT and just wondering if originally it came with a FREE set of books like the Kobo.

This is probably wrong place for this question but is there a way of checking the firmware date to see if it needs updating.

Thanks
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Old 05-27-2010, 04:21 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JCSullivan View Post
I just bought the 600 second-hand but in MINT and just wondering if originally it came with a FREE set of books like the Kobo.

This is probably wrong place for this question but is there a way of checking the firmware date to see if it needs updating.

Thanks
From my experience, all the "free" books have usually been classics / PD books, that are free everywhere.

I know it's been mentioned, but the library (right here on MR) probably has all those same books much better formatted for your Reader (lrf and epub).

Just click your preferred format and go searching for what you want.
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Old 05-27-2010, 04:44 PM   #14
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I have a PRS-600; I also use Calibre as my interface software. I do have the Sony reader software running, but the Sync function is useless. I only use the Sony software for books purchased from the Sony store. I get other books from Kobo and Smashwords; I've acquired a few others from authors' webpages. You can find other free e-books using Inkmesh ( http://inkmesh.com/free-ebooks/ ). That one even allows you to sort by which stores you shop.

Enjoy your 600!
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Old 05-28-2010, 08:44 AM   #15
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Thanks for taking the time to answer Caroline and Dreams.
I actually found the answers after reading the d'loaded manual and found time to read it.
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