Because I like to read so much and because I travel for a living, I used to find myself toting lots of books with me. This, of course, gets very heavy. My husband Brett and I found a pleasant alternative - electronic reading devices.
I get older books (gratis!) that have entered the public domain (typically books that were copywrited in 1923 and before, I think) from Project Gutenberg. All of their 17,000 books are available in plain ASCII text format. Some/many (?) are available as PDFs. Have at it!
Here are my favorite on-line places to buy electronic books.
eReader.com
FictionWise
Teens for Books
MobiPocket
Phoenix-Library
Powells
WebScriptions from
Baen
Vroman's Bookstore
O'Reilly
Barnes and Noble bought FictionWise which had purchased eReader.com. Fictionwise powers Teens for Books.
Amazon has purchased Mobipocket.
I'm afraid that this is out of date (and has broken links - the ones regarding the Rocket eBook and Gemstar). I hope to fix this soon (c. Aug 2008). Stay tuned.
We originally got a Nuvomedia Rocket eBook. Ours have the Franklin mark on them. The whole kit and kaboodle (the Rocket eBooks, at least) were sold to Gemstar who updated them a little and came out first with the REB 1100 (Rocket eBook) and then with the GEB 1150 (Gemstar eBook). These e-books are about the size of a paperback and display black and white (well, I think for images, they actually display greyscale).
Around the same time that Gemstar bought Nuvomedia (or at least the Rocket book), it also bought another electronic reading device. This has morphed into the GEB 2150 (Gemstar eBook). This line is larger (about the size of a magazine) and displays color.
The Gemstar website has pictures of the most recent versions of the electronic devices.
Alas, Gemstar is no longer in the electronic device business. Although they will continue (for several years) to support the online storage of any content that a customer has purchased, they are no longer developing new devices, nor selling the old ones. ::sigh:: They have put a news release on their website discussing this.
Now the remaining Gemstar technology can be found at EbookWise. You can purchase the reader and e-books from them. YEAH!
We recently ended up buying ourselves a smaller electronic reading device - Franklin's eBookMan. Because the eBookMan has a smaller footprint, books that are downloaded to it are harder to read than on the Rocket eBook. Unlike the Rocket eBook, however, the eBookMan can play audio books and MP3 files.
My husband bought me a Sony Reader PR500. It has a very readable screen. My only complaint (and it keeps me from really wanting to buy Amazon's Kindle) is that it is not backlit. Just as with a paper book, you must have lighting. For me, that is the deal breaker.
The following are additional links. I'll try to come back and document them later. Caveat emptor.
Multi-format books (Rocket eBook/eBookMan and others):
WebScriptions from Baen
FictionWise
Phoenix-Library
Blackmask Online
Awe Struck
Writers Exchange e-Publishing
You USED to be able to buy Rocket eBooks here:
Powells
They still sell ebooks, just not for my Rocket eBook.
You USED to be able to buy Rocket eBook content here (books and periodicals):
Gemstar eBook
Mobipocket readers only (including my eBookMan and my PC):
MobiPocket
eBook Publishers (or something!):
Electric Story
eBookMan software:
Finder Pty Ltd
Pankhurst Algorithmics
Beiks LLC
Audio files for the eBookMan:
Audible.com
Software to create ebooks:
Rocket Librarian - contains Rocket Writer
Reader/Creator software links
Mobipocket
eBooksFrance - rocket software and other things that I can't read. Sorry!
Related Rocket eBook sites:
The Officially Unofficial FAQ for Gemstar's Rocket eBook
Other related sites:
EBook News and Information at KnowBetter.com
EBook Lending Library - KnowBetter.com
Electronic Book Web
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Revised: 21 August 2012