Thing # 7

e-books

While I don’t think e-books will ever completely replace the experience one has with real hands-on paper books, I love this technology.

I can now read anywhere I can take my Lifedrive - on the bus, plane, train etc. It also means I am not lugging lots of books with me every time I go away. And if I am waiting in long queues - like at the airport last week - it shortens the apparent time wasted and turns it into 'fun' time.

While some e-books cost to download (buy) there are quite a few “free to download” websites out there.

Just do a search for "e-book" on your favourite search engine.

Luckily for me, I am a Sci-Fi/Fantasy freak so Baen suits my purposes perfectly.

I also love Project Gutenberg. This has transcriptions of out-of-copyright books from all over the world.

[NB: Project Gutenberg has also just recently set up a system so that their e-books can be downloaded to your handheld in a format set up specifically for handhelds, without having to download a large document file. Yay!]


A lot more websites are setting up their files so that they can be read as downloadable e-books…

In New Zealand, the NZETC has the Microsoft reader format available - so I can download and read early NZ books on my Lifedrive. Including an early edition of the Edmonds cookbook, The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945, The Life of Katherine Mansfield and numerous other titles.

There are several different readers available to read e-books and they can be used either on your PC or on a handheld.
Some of the different readers available are Microsoft Reader; Palm, Psion and Window CE; i-Silo; Plucker; Rocket EBook; etc… And formats also available include HTML; pdf; Rich Text Format…
Most readers are made to be compatible with different OS, and many are available for free download.

For more info check out these articles…

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051229_155542.htm

http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/column001204.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127635/Electronic-books-EBook-Fad-or-Future

http://www.psfk.com/2005/09/the_future_of_t.html

http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=122