I'm addicted to Seattle Library online. You can download audiobooks for free and put them on your MP3 player. Classics, romantic fluff, mysteries and Al Franken all in one place, how cool is that? They keep me out walking the dog longer and help me forget about the evils of the world for just awhile.

i love the upenn site; i've used it for years! is the seattle library online only for members (i'm not from seattle)?

I and a number of my Mac-oriented colleagues have written piles of ebooks in the Take Control series, and I have to say that it's great all around. As a tech writer, it's often hard to get feedback from readers of print books, or even my online writing that reaches a broad audience. The ebooks have apparently really passionate, intense readers - even when it's just non-fiction. I get more and better feedback than from any other writing I do, and the feedback gets worked into the books (which are then updated for free to current "owners").

It's a neat model. It's so much less hassle than writing print books because you get to bypass the time sink of production to get a book ready for print, and you avoid having your publisher print books that are never read, and are remaindered or just recycled.

I know it's been interesting for fiction writers, but it's also been great for we folks specializing in niche subjects.

You're just trying to push Kindles on us, aren't you?

yes, E-book. 1998 technology just called! whats next? using the internets to send electronic mail on next weeks blog!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ric+Romero

eBook is to the 21st Century what books on tape were to the late 20th Century.

Much talk, but most people won't bother.

We're encouraged to buy, use and dispose with the environment in mind. While it's easy to recognize the negative impact of excess packaging and chemical content in many of the products we purchase, it's not so easy when it comes to books, magazines and newspapers.

We do have alternatives other than paper for our reading material. They're called e-books. No trees are cut to produce them. No ink is used to put the words on the page. No fossil fuel is used to run presses or trucks to move the books around the country. Heated storage facilities are not required to warehouse e-books as they remain within your computer.



Before purchasing your next paper book, magazine or newspaper, consider your carbon footprint commitment. Read electronically.

Computers run on DREAMZ!

@8: No, computers run on the rainbow shit of unicorns and leprechauns.

you fail at the internets, greg

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Internet

"The Internets (formally known as the Al Gore eXperience), a magical cloud of information that floats over your head in the stratosphere, was invented at least 100 years ago by Al Gore and pluralized by George W. Bush. At first it was used only by the army, ensuring that in the event of nuclear war, officers could still view porn. Some time around 1981 or 2007 (if you're a FAG!!!1!), some guy in his basement found that he could use his Atari 2600 with his 300 baud modem to steal the internet for himself. 5 years later, AOL streamlined this process and the Internets as we know them now were born. Only these days, there is way moar free pr0n and moar warez. It is rumoard there may be small pockets of useful information hidden deep in the bowels of the Internets. This has been proven to be false. Presently, scientists believe the Internets to be the greatest proof that most of our species is totally fucking batshit insane, outdoing even the holocaust and white people."

@7 Rather than ask/answer "What's an Ebook?" how about explaining why, with virtually no production/distribution expenses, they cost more than a paperback book? Considering that they cannot be easily lent, exchanged, sold or donated; it seems like they should be cheaper than a paperback.

I enjoy reading free ebooks but I will not pay for them until the pricing is more reasonable.

I liked Jon Stewarts comments on using his iPhone to look at movies - same as my objection to eBooks and spindles.

@10: Take yer meds. Computers and the internet are separate things. Also, everybody knows that "the internet is a place where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography."

I have a copy of Lady Audley's Secret, it's wonderful. I hadn't realized it was out of print.