Archive for August 27th, 2007

Blish:  This site is for selling and buying digital content. They sell e-books, but from what I can tell they are downloadable for a limited time.  That I don’t like.  They also offer photos, how-to guides, clipart, music, sound loops, video, design templates.  I have never bought from this site. If anyone has any info (good or bad) let me know.  Prices seem reasonable on the few e-books I looked at.

Ebook Mall:  This retailer has been around for quite a while.  They have a info page describing the various e-book formats and devices and another page that compares formats and devices. Ebook Mall used to be rather expensive back in the Gemstar days, but now their prices are more in sync with other sites.

eScholarship Editions:   Site has close to 2000 books from academic presses and covers a range of topics, including art, science, history, music, religion, and fiction.  Select books are available to the public.

Bartleby:  Site offers contemporary and classic reference works. Good for students and researchers. Also they have 20 volumes of the Harvard Classics in Adobe, Microsoft, and Aportis formats.  

Last Spring my daughter took a Shakespeare course.  She wanted to buy the books, I said no, they are public domain, use your REB 1100.  She gave in, only because she didn’t have the money to pay for the material she needed.  I got the feeling she felt singled out as everyone, to include her professor, was intrigued by her device.  It was the first time any of them had heard of or seen an e-book.  She complained that it was hard to follow along during class with her reader.  I told her that was operator ignorance.  It should have been easier to search, make notes, and highlight important passages.  She sighed and rolled her eyes.  So now she only uses her N770 for leisure purposes (She gave me back the REB1100).  Did she have some valid complaints?  Is it harder to use an e-book device in an academic setting?  I am about to find out.  Starting tomorrow morning I will be back at school.  I enrolled in a sophomore English literature course.  My sources for books will be Project Gutenberg and the Harvard Classics, I downloaded from Mobileread.  My plan is to be totally paperless with the exception of exams.  Hopefully I will be able to find all the needed text on the Internet or within my own collection of e-books.  Also I will use a different e-book device each week. I’ll keep everyone posted regularly and end with lessons learned.

P.S.  I haven’t forgotten about my iLiad.  Things are going a lot better and before the end of the week I’ll post my first impressions.