I'm New And Confused!

[Seariz]

Hello,
My Name is David Ellis and I’m a Read-a-holic…

I used to hate reading, I know I know, how sad right? But it was all the time spent trying to find a GOOD book, and then spending two hours in the book store trying to read enough into the book to make sure I wasn’t going to throw it out of a window in a fit of rage at the utter stupidity of said writer or any of hundreds of other reasons.

I heard about E-books a long time ago but it never really ‘spoke’ to me till I started finding them on torrent sites. Yes I know, illegal downloading or whatever else, I use the same logic as…I never would have bought it, I would have taken my friends/family members etc book because I refuse to spend $10-20+ on a book that most likely will just annoy me. If I find a good enough book, I buy it for the bookshelf so others can read it too and support the author for writing something I enjoyed.

That being said, I download e-books in PDF format using different programs depending if I’m booting into Ubuntu or Vista or XP or OSX – but I have a reading list right now of roughly 500ish books…not all of them will I even go past 5 chapters on because it’ll end up being useless, but I at least need to browse through and give the books a chance since it seems to be my only saving grace while away from my computer.

Being that everything I use now, as well as in the foreseeable future is either PDF, Word type Documents or text files – I want a good battery life to be able to read for a couple hours without charging – 4hours would be pretty awesome but above that it’ll be a bonus but most likely not needed for my travel purposes. I do not plan on buying any books from an online store; I like my downloading and for owning it id rather have something I can give out to friends that don’t like using the computer to read etc. I want a good screen size that my eyes don’t have to strain to see, bigger the better usually but obviously when its not a choice its out of the picture and no reason to fuss over it. Are there any suggestions or points people can bring up to help me make a decision to put my reading on the road?

Thank you to everyone who is going to, or has, read this lengthy/wordy post and also thank you to whoever is making this forum possible as it is and has been already incredibly helpful!

D.

[HarryT]

Sorry David, but I for one am not going to give one shred of assistance to someone whose entire reading matter consists of illegal downloads. I would encourage others to do likewise.

MobileRead is a strictly "legit" site. We encourage the use of legal eBooks. We do not either encourage or condone criminal practices.

[Seariz]

Well, I appreciate you voicing your opinions and respect you're statement and if you would wish I'm happy to edit that part out of my post.

[Nate the great]

While I do not usually agree with HarryT when he is on his moral high horse, he does have a point here. You will be better accepted here if you delete the ebooks you don't like, obtain legal ebook or paper copies of the ones you do, and not mention the illicit nature of your library again.

My DSL is iffy right now, so I cannot currently help you on the device question.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Seariz

Well, I appreciate you voicing your opinions and respect you're statement and if you would wish I'm happy to edit that part out of my post.

I'm sorry, but you're missing the point . Deleting it from your post wouldn't stop you from doing it, would it? It's the action that I find personally reprehensible, not whether or not you specify it in your post. I'm still going to know that this is what you do, even if you delete it, aren't I?

We're all fans of eBooks here, and we want them to be a success. That means that we support legitimate uses of eBooks, and we don't support those who obtain them illegally.

[andyafro]

I Think that what you download is up to you really but it is wrong to share with other people really (odd one or two ok but 500) and to be so blatent as to come on here and say that on a legal site is just silly a book collection is private and it should stay that way

[Seariz]

I understand it's a legal site and i explained my morals behind said actions. If i like them, same as CD's etc, ill buy them. But being as picky as I am there is no way im going to spend 2 hours a day in barns and nobles and 2 hours a day at some music store just to get my entertainment that usually has a 2-3 hour window each day...i'm loosing more time FINDING entertainment than actually enjoying it - if there weren't so many terrible writers and singers out there trying to make money instead of make quality work, i wouldn't have to download- but seeing as its all about money i might as well work on my quest for quality. Id also like to note i have roughly 700ish books on my shelves ive enjoyed over the past few years from people who did quality and fascinating work, not to mention...who are you to judge me for being picky and refusing to support the uprising of stupid and worthless people in my innocent desire to fill a void that only the opposite can fill? Nevertheless I kept doing research and i found the info i wanted actually and this site was quite helpful!
Sony Reader here i come!

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by Seariz

I..i'm loosing more time FINDING entertainment than actually enjoying it - if there weren't so many terrible writers and singers out there trying to make money instead of make quality work, i wouldn't have to download-

So what; before the internet and ebooks/emusic there were many terrible authors/bands out there and how did you find the ones you liked?

I remember combing bookstores that had newsletters about new books, going to the library to check review books and magazines...

Today there is so much easier to do research and there are lots of legal ways to find samples and see if you like the book or not;

As people here know I have nothing against downloading books in some circumstances (no legal ebooks are available at affordable prices and you own the book, you cannot afford to buy, you buy lots of books but you would like to try more), but the above sounds as a pretty lame rationalization...

[mogui]

It is a matter of discretion really. If a major site like Mobileread were to openly advocate piracy, how could we expect investors and business people to take the risk of developing an eBook market?

[HarryT]

who are you to judge me for being picky and refusing to support the uprising of stupid and worthless people in my innocent desire to fill a void that only the opposite can fill?

David, I don't mean to offend you. What you do in the privacy of your own home is between you and your own conscience, but it's really not a good idea to come onto a site like this and tell the whole world about it. Sorry, but we all enjoy reading good books; we don't all illegally download them to satisfy that enjoyment. Yes, in buying books you get the occasional "stinker", but that's the way it goes.

A lot of us here care passionately about eBooks and we all want them to be successful. The only way they are going to be successful is if we send a message to the publishers by buying them. Attitudes like yours just strengthen the message to publishers that the only way they can publish books is with DRM, or else people will steal them. If you want publishers to produce open-format books without DRM then PLEASE start buying them. Yes, you'll probably get the occasional book you don't enjoy that way, but you'll be sending a message to the publishers that if they publish their books electronically, you (and us) will buy them.

I don't often speak with my MobileRead Editor's "hat" on, but on this occasion I am doing. That's the message that we're trying to get across on MobileRead - that eBooks have a real future, and that people who read them are not all obtaining them illegally. When people come onto our site and start saying that they download all their books illegally and that they have no intention of ever buying an eBook legitimately it does us all a disservice and gives the entire community a bad name.

PLEASE reconsider your actions.

I download e-books in PDF format

Sony Reader here i come!

I see.