The Art of Google Books
I ran across something really interesting today: The Art of Google Books
It gathers images of scans from Google Books that could be considered art. A lot of them are scans of used books with interesting drawing, writing, or ink in them. Others are mistakes caught by the scanner or odd color corrections. The digitization of old books is a very interesting cross between history and technology. Just to see these images of old books with technological skewing feels like some kind of commentary on the state of humanity.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
In this image, the scanner caught the page being turned.
This appears to be a children’s coloring in an old book.
You won’t find this type of stuff in an ebook, that’s for sure. As much as I enjoy the positive aspects of ebooks (like instant delivery and being able to search the text) they will always lack the feel of print-on-paper, and folded page corners, and pages gone brown over time.
Like this:
How To Put Bluefire Reader on Kindle Fire
Today the folks at Bluefire posted a nice set of instructions for installing Bluefire Reader on your Kindle Fire. The instructions go like this:
The instructions below guide you through the steps for installing Bluefire Reader for Android on your Kindle Fire. Note that you should open this page in the browser on your Kindle Fire before you begin.
- Tap “Settings” on your Kindle Fire (it’s the icon that looks like a gear)
- Tap “More”
- Scroll down until you see “Device”
- In the Device tab, set “Allow installation of Applications” to ON, and tap OK when you see the Warning prompt
- Tap here to download the Bluefire Reader APK (the Android app)
- Once the app has finished downloading, tap the Menu icon at the bottom of the screen and tap Downloads
- Tap on the file named “BluefireReader.apk”
- The Fire will ask if you are sure you want to install the app…
- Tap “Yes”
- The installation process will start…
- After the installation is complete, look for Bluefire Reader in your Apps collection
2) The latest version of Bluefire Reader (Version 1.2.3) will be installed on your Kindle Fire. However, the app is not automatically updated. You will need to check back here from time to time to see if there’s an updated version of Bluefire Reader for Android available.
3) This shortcut is offered as is–without any warranties or support.
This is fantastic for users because it means you can read your Adobe DRM ebooks (PDF and ePub) on your Kindle Fire tablet. But while this is an excellent set of instructions for side-loading Bluefire Reader onto your Kindle Fire, I wonder if it’s too complicated for the average user. They even include a note saying that they’re not going to offer support for this. If you have tried this, what did you think of it? Was it easy or difficult for you to do?
It’s really unfortunate that Amazon (and Barnes & Noble as well) aren’t allowing all apps from the Android Market to be installed on their tablets the normal way. In wanting to force people to use their own apps they’re just crippling their own devices.
10 Places To Get Free eBooks
Project Gutenberg has free downloads of public domain works in .txt .html and .epub formats. They were all created by volunteers over the past 15+ years. These aren’t high quality digital books, but they are free and without DRM, so you can read them on just about any device.
Scribd is a service where users can upload their own documents to share with others. You can download those documents or embed them into your website. Not all of the documents are books, but there are lots of books included.
This site has all legal free downloadable ebooks. I couldn’t find anything on the website saying which formats the ebooks are in, but my guess is that most are PDF.
This is a small but growing collection of free ebooks. Downloads are either PDF or ePub. Some are samples but most are full books by modern authors.
MemoWare has a ton of documents and files that are formatted for different devices. They used to advertize devices like Palm and Pocket PC, but now their website says their files also work on Kindle and Nook.
Amazon has an entire section of their website with free Kindle ebooks.
Adobe has a collection of free sample ebooks that you can download for Adobe Digital Editions. They are PDF and ePub formats.
Free ebooks organized into categories. Some are online and some are links to other websites for a download.
This is a big index of free books that you can find online or for download in PDF format. You could kind of consider it a Wikipedia for free ebooks.
With the free account option you can get access to HTML ebooks and up to 5 downloads in PDF or TXT.
Like this:
Mobipocket eBook Format Is Gone
Early this month Amazon pulled the plug on Mobipocket. If you go to mobipocket.com now, you’ll find a selection of 12 free ebooks on the home page, but all of the other ebooks have been removed. The Mobipocket company was acquired by Amazon in 2005, and they used the technology of the ebook format in the development of their Kindle software.
Before being bought by Amazon, Mobipocket was an odd company. They were based in France and always had a very relaxed way of doing business, sometimes not responding to questions for months at a time, and even not collecting fees from publishers or retailers for months after they were due. On the other hand, I always felt that their software was ahead of its time. Unlike Adobe and Microsoft, they had a pretty good method in place for DRM. It was based on a PID (personal identification) number that was unique to each copy of Mobipocket Reader. All you would have to do was find that number and then enter it before you downloaded your ebook. Later, they switched to a username/password system, which was still much easier than Adobe and Microsoft’s complicated registration systems. The Reader was also very versatile, supporting most of the mobile devices of the time, like Palm, Pocket PC, Nokia, and Blackberry.
In 2008 there was supposed to be a version of Mobipocket Reader released for iPhone, but that never happened. I’m sure at that point Amazon had decided to stop working on the Mobipocket brand separately and just focus on Kindle. Around the same time, or perhaps a little later, people started complaining that the Mobipocket support forum had become useless because staff never responded to posts. Before that, the Mobipocket staff was quite active and provided most of their customer support through the forums.
So, what does this mean for people who used the Mobipocket format in the past? A few things:
- Amazon is claiming that they will keep past downloads available to customers. I would recommend downloading your Mobipocket ebooks as soon as possible just in case those downloads become unavailable later. They probably won’t last forever.
- Mobipocket ebooks with DRM can only be read in Mobipocket Reader, so if you need a copy of that, you should probably download it soon. Who knows how long Amazon will continue to provide downloads for it. (Mobipocket ebooks without DRM can be read in the Kindle software.)
- If you were reading Mobipocket ebooks on a Blackberry device, you’ll probably have to switch to Kobo. They provide an app for Blackberry. Your old Mobipocket ebooks won’t work in the Kobo app, but you can get Kobo ebooks from now on.
- If you were using another device that Mobipocket supported, like a Windows Mobile phone, you have less options right now. The majority of ebooks being sold now are PDF or ePub, and DRM for those formats is usually handled by Adobe’s Content Server. They do not support Windows Mobile (or other devices Mobipocket supported like Symbian and Palm). You will probably have to stick with non-DRM ebooks until an app becomes available for those devices that supports Adobe’s DRM.
Meanwhile, Lexcycle.com is still unavailable, so it looks like Amazon has definitely killed off that software as well.
With all of these ebook formats changing or falling by the wayside (not to mention devices as well), what should a person do? Amazon is doing so well with Kindle ebooks that I bet that format will be pretty safe to use for a long time. Even as they keep introducing upgraded versions of the hardware and software, you should still be able to keep using your older purchases. Other than that, I know that PDF and ePub have persevered over many years. PDF is such a ubiquitous file format that it’s likely to keep being used for many years to come, and ePub is by far the best format for smaller screens like smartphones and it’s still being developed. So if you’re not using a Kindle, it might be a good idea to read ebooks on a device that you use for other purposes, like a phone or tablet. Buying a device that’s only for ebook reading, or using an ebook format that is specific to one type of hardware, will probably be a poor investment in the long run. Instead, try and get PDF or ePubs and read them on a device that you’ve already bought for something else.
“I can’t install Adobe Digital Editions on my device!”
I have recently noticed a new frequently asked question. This is something that’s been asked on this blog and I’ve also gotten this question from people who buy ebooks. Like the title of this post, the question goes something like: “I can’t install Adobe Digital Editions on my device!” You can replace “device” for whatever device the particular person is using, such as their iPad / iPhone / Android phone / Android tablet / eReader / Nook / Sony Reader / Kobo etc. The saddest thing about this is that these people tend to throw up their hands and give up once they discover this seemingly insurmountable problem.
So here’s the good news: You do not have to install Adobe Digital Editions on your device. It’s not made for that. You’re only supposed to use Adobe Digital Editions to download your ebooks to your computer. There is no version of Adobe Digital Editions that is intended to be installed on a device.
After you download the ebook, you can transfer it to your device. For some devices, like e-Ink eReaders, you can use Adobe Digital Editions for the transfer. When you plug the device into your computer, ADE will recognize it and you’ll get an icon in the lower-left area of the screen. Then you can drag an eBook from the ADE library to that device icon. For other devices, you don’t even need to use ADE for the transfer. For example, if you want to use the ebook on your iOS device, you should follow my Bluefire Reader instructions. And if you want to use the ebook on an Android device, you should follow my Aldiko instructions.
Help for New eReader Owners
There are lots of people who unwrapped shiny new eReaders over this past Christmas weekend. This blog is largely written for those who are new to the world of ebooks and e-reading devices, so I try to help folks out with learning the basics.
Perhaps the best place to start might be with my post of eBook Terms for Newbies. That will help you get familiar with some commonly used terms that you might not have been aware of before. Making yourself comfortable with those terms will help you when you start trying to follow instructions for downloading ebooks and using your eReader.
Last year I wrote a post titled “You got an eBook Reader as a gift. Now what?” It gives you a solid set of guidelines to use when learning how your new eReader functions. I really recommend reading that if you’re using your first eReader. The information will help you avoid many of the common problems that people run into, and it should also generally help you learn how to work with your eReader.
My “Top 5 Reasons Why Your eBook Isn’t Opening” is a good place to look when you’re having trouble. It covers hardware issues, software issues, and DRM issues.
If you need help with Adobe Digital Editions, or would just like to learn more about it before you use it, check out these posts:
Adobe Digital Editions — An overview of authorizing and using the program.
How To Authorize Your eReader for Adobe Digital Editions — Step by step instructions.
ACSM Files — What they are and how to work with them. Hint: they are not ebooks!
How To Change the Authorized Adobe ID — Learn how to switch the Adobe ID that your computer is authorized with.
If you’re using a new iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, and you want to read ebooks with Adobe DRM (that were not purchased through Apple’s iBooks) I recommend Bluefire Reader. My Bluefire Reader post has really detailed step-by-step instructions for how to authorize it and how to transfer your ebooks to your device through iTunes.
Likewise, if you’ve got a new Android toy (smartphone or tablet) you can take a look at my post about Aldiko, the recommended app for ebook reading on Android.
If you’ve got pretty much anything other than a new Kindle, you can download some free ebooks here. That’s a great way to test out your eReader since if you make a mistake it won’t cost you anything.
Overall, here are my most basic recommendations for using a new eReader:
1. Learn which ebook formats your device is able to read.
2. Before buying any ebooks, make sure the website you’re using can support your eReader.
3. Take a moment to read your manual and learn the basic functionality of your eReader.
4. Always follow posted instructions! Don’t skip anything.
Happy reading!
The End of Stanza?
I don’t know anything official, but it seems to me that the Stanza ebook app is near its end.
Today I was doing some research on ebook apps and wanted to look something up on the Lexcycle website. It’s down. I don’t know if it’s just temporarily down or if it’s gone for good. However, signs point to Stanza going away for good.
A while back I heard some reports from Stanza users saying that Lexcycle had stopped responding to all support questions about the app. Since I couldn’t get to Lexcycle’s website today I Googled “stanza” and found the iTunes Stanza page. Interestingly, they point to getsatisfaction.com/stanza for support, which is a community forum that doesn’t seem to be affiliated with Lexcycle.
And then I remembered that last month I’d read something about how people got all excited about a new Stanza update, followed by a disappointing announcement that Stanza would no longer be getting any updates at all. A blogger reported on that here. Amazon bought Lexcycle in 2009, so apparently, like they did with Mobipocket, they are slurping up ebook apps and spitting them out into the Kindle.
Now, personally, I am not bothered by Stanza going away. I never liked it that much. But it does make me wonder how many small companies Amazon is going to kill in the name of the Kindle. They have so much of the market share already that they really don’t need to snuff everyone else out. I don’t like that kind of Wal-Mart style business operation.
Using Aldiko on Kobo Vox, Nook Tablet, and Kindle Fire
The big ebook companies have now released tablet versions of their eReaders. Amazon has the Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble has the Nook Tablet, and Kobo has the Kobo Vox. They are all Android tablets and come with a lot of apps pre-installed. However, unlike normal Android tablets, they don’t have full access to the Android Market. Instead it seems that each company has come up with their own smaller app market, where you can choose from a specific selection of apps.
This is significant because it means that if you bought eBooks from other ebook stores that use Adobes DRM, you wouldn’t be able to open them in the correct app on your tablet (which is usually Aldiko). Aldiko and other ebook apps are, not surprisingly, left out of the pre-approved list of apps. However, it seems that people are already finding easy ways around this.
For one thing, I noticed that on the Aldiko website they will now email you a link to download their app if you sign up. You can see that at http://aldiko.com/download.html. I don’t know for sure, but I think you could use your tablet’s browser to go to the link they send you and download it directly to the tablet. If anyone has tried this, I’d be interested if you could leave a comment and let me know how this worked.
I also saw on the blog Good Reader that they posted a way to get Aldiko on your Kobo Vox. Check that post out at How To Copy eBooks With DRM To The Kobo Vox. Their method involves downloading the app from a link that they have on their website where they host the file. I’m not sure if this is condoned by Aldiko, but they probably don’t care.
On Google+ I found a post from Aldiko saying that you could download the app and sideload it onto your Kindle Fire. There is also this post from a user who says he did it successfully and it was easy.
And to round it out, The Digital Reader has a post saying that the Nook Tablet can run Aldiko in much the same way: by installing it through the browser.
The nice thing about this is that it doesn’t require anything like hacking, and should be easy enough to do even for someone who isn’t a big techno geek. If you are reading this and have installed Aldiko on any of these three devices, please leave a comment with your experience. I think that would be a great help to others who are interested in doing this.
eReader Gift Buying Guide
For the past few years, eReaders have become more and more popular in the holiday buying season, so I wanted to put together a small guide for people who are interested in buying an eReader but don’t know where to start. So this is structured in FAQ format and written with the newbie in mind. (I suppose I should have put this post together before Black Friday, but hey, there are still 25 more shopping days before Christmas … )
What is the difference between “ebook” and “e-reader”?
“ebook” refers to the digital content that goes on the e-reader. “e-reader” is the physical device itself.
What is the most important thing to look for when buying an eReader?
In my opinion, the hardware and software of each eReader is similar enough that it’s not anything to base your decision on. The more important question to ask yourself is: Where do I want to buy my ebooks?
If you want to buy all of your ebooks at Amazon, you should get a Kindle.
If you want to buy all of your ebooks at Barnes & Noble, you should get a Nook.
If you want to buy all of your ebooks at Kobo, you should buy a Kobo eReader.
If you want more flexibility, you can get an eReader that isn’t so tied to a specific store, like a Sony Reader, BeBook, Cybook, or others.
You can also consider the ebook apps that each company provides. For example, companies like Amazon, B&N, and Kobo provide apps for other devices like iPad, smartphones, and Android tablets, so that even if you buy an ebook for your eReader, you can also read it on your other devices via their app. Also keep in mind that ebooks that you get from independent ebook stores can be read in third-party apps on your other devices, too.
What’s the difference between the eReaders that display in black & white vs color?
The eReaders with black & white screens display something called “e-ink”. This is a type of technology that was created to display text just like printed ink on paper. These screens are matte (instead of glossy) which means they don’t reflect light, so you can easily read them while sitting next to a lamp or even outside in the sun. These devices are basically only for reading — because of the screen type (and other hardware factors) they don’t run apps or games. Some can play MP3s.
How will I know how to use an eReader?
Most eReaders come with a manual, either printed or onboard the device. They’re very easy devices to use and you should be able to just pick up one and start using it. The eReaders that run on the Android operating system operate very similarly to a smartphone.
Once you buy some ebooks, the store where you bought them should give you specific instructions on how to load them onto the eReader. Some use “cloud” storage and let you download the ebook directly to the device. In other cases, you’ll have to download the ebook to your computer and then transfer to the eReader. It’s not much different than working with any other files and electronic devices.
Are eReaders good gifts for kids?
First of all, kids are born knowing how to use this stuff, so don’t worry that your kids won’t know how to use it. I think they’re great gifts for kids since they can make reading more fun. Something to consider is whether you want the child to have access to other apps. The tablet-style eReaders have the ability to run games and a variety of other apps, many of which access the internet. The E-Ink eReaders are not so connected and focus more on books.
Where can I get some ebooks for free?
Project Gutenberg has many public domain titles available for free. Most ebook stores have a selection of free ebooks along with the ones that you have to buy. Probably the best thing to do is just Google “free ebooks” (or any variation on that) and see what you can find for yourself. There are a lot of websites that have free ebook downloads once you start looking around.
What if I upgrade my eReader or change computers?
This is usually fine. If your ebooks are in “cloud” storage, like with Amazon, you can just re-download them to your new device. If your ebooks had to be downloaded to your computer and then transferred to your device, you can usually re-download them from the website where you bought them. Prepare for this eventuality by properly “authorizing” your comptuer and devices if the ebooks are protected by DRM.
Confused about any of the terms used in this post? Take a look at my previous post eBook Terms for Newbies for some definitions.
Do you have more questions? Leave them in the comments!
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eBook Reader Software Blog by Jared Scott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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