How Many Ebooks Do You Have?

[Janak Parekh]

I've noticed considerable activity in the new ebooks forum, but I'm not sure how much of the general PPCT population is into ebooks, so I'm going to do a few polls over the next couple days to gauge ebook interest. (Based on what we hear, we might have some feedback of how to make PPCT a better place for sharing information about ebooks).<br /><br />Let's start off with a simple question, one that PPCT reader Jereboam already started discussion on: how many ebooks do you have? (You're welcome to vote in this poll even if you've voted in the smaller one Jereboam started...)

[easylife]

I have about... 8 books? The LOTR series and a couple of other classics... which I have yet to read. 8O

[Wuss912]

I've noticed considerable activity in the new ebooks forum, but I'm not sure how much of the general PPCT population is into ebooks, so I'm going to do a few polls over the next couple days to gauge ebook interest. (Based on what we hear, we might have some feedback of how to make PPCT a better place for sharing information about ebooks).

Let's start off with a simple question, one that PPCT reader Jereboam already started discussion on: how many ebooks do you have? (You're welcome to vote in this poll even if you've voted in the smaller one Jereboam started...)
well if we count all of the project gutenberg books....

[Kevin Jackson]

I have so many ebooks . . .

How many do you have?

I have so many ebooks that it adds 7 lbs. to the weight of my Pocket PC.

:lol:
:roll:
:wink:

Seriously, though, I have well over 1000 ebooks of various sorts.

[beq]

Hi no offense or anything, but couldn't the existing poll thread just be re-mentioned for the front-page post instead of starting a new one just 1-2 days later?? It seems this would be the normal way to do it in the past, I'm just curious...

[Myrddin]

No idea. I have about 400 megabytes of eBooks though.

EDIT ADDITIONAL: I forgot, I also have several burnt DVDs full. The 400mb is just what I carry with my PPC at all times. The rest I swap out...

I'll count them later and vote then!

[Mr. Pink]

Yep,
I have several CD-ROMs' worth of ebooks. More ebooks than I will EVER read in my lifetime. Gotta love those usenet groups.

Mr. Pink

[dartman]

Is the question: "how many purchased ebooks do we have?"

I have lots of free ebooks. Only 2 purchased.

dart

[tbesek]

I have about 30 or so purchased ebooks. Peanut Press is where I get the majority of them. It's the only site that I have been able to get some mainstream best seller authors. I have only a few MS Reader format ebooks. I prefer the Palm Reader Pro platform with the ability to invert the screen (better on the eyes) 8O .

[dh]

I have a good selection of eBooks and I want to make it even better.

I'm trying to reproduce my collection of print books in eBook format and add new ones as well.

Since I love to re-read the clasics I have a lot of free eBooks, mainly in .lit format.

I also have the start of my eBook history collection. These are books I buy in .lit format and convert to Mobipocket format. I have some print histories of the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire that I have yet to find eBooks for. (For anyone that is interested, Steven Runciman's History of the Crusades and Lord Norwich's of Byzantium are both superb).

I'm really pleased to see the enthusiasm for eBooks among the readers here. When I got my PPC I had no idea it was so great for reading. That I can read what I want whenever I want is fantastic. My Axim must be one of the most useful purchases I ever made.

[dlangton]

I have about 30 or so purchased ebooks

I'm something along that line. I have hundreds of e-books, but only a couple which I've purchased. I learned my lesson in the early days of MS Reader. I had purchased a couple of books, but formatted my hard drive one too many times, so that I could no longer activate my Reader software with the same passport. At that time I think Microsoft only allowed two activations. That was a real waste of money, and I've vowed never to buy another ebook. There are so many free books, I've never seen much need to purchase anything since.

[dean_shan]

I voted 11-25. That is my purchased eBooks. Of the free PD books my count goes to a couple hundred. I have also made a few PD eBooks. I want to make a book section on my website and post them there for people.

[beq]

I've about 250. Half are purchased (mostly Fictionwise)...

[Newsboy]

I've got a better question: how many EBooks have you READ? I have more free and purchased Ebooks than I can count, but I haven't read a single one. I still love the intangible qualities of paper.

[dean_shan]

I've got a better question: how many EBooks have you READ? I have more free and purchased Ebooks than I can count, but I haven't read a single one. I still love the intangible qualities of paper.

I have read a couple dozen. I like to collect them too so that is why I have so many. I love free books.

[bradolson]

I have around 25-30 ebooks, of which 3 were purchased.

Brad

[Felix Torres]

Total number of purchased ebooks?
- about 100 from BAEN (18 months of webscriptions plus a few solos)
- 10,000 from BLACK MASK (the 2002 CD set)
Total number of free ebooks?
- about 60 from the BAEN free library and the WAR OF HONOR CD
- about 200 from the University of Virginia collection
- about 40 from the MS-supplied freebies during the MS Reader launch
- about 20 from AMAZON, from the same time
- about 300 compiled from various spanish-language sites like LIBRODOT

Total number of read ebooks?
- average 1 per week for two years on Jornada 56x: 100
- average 2 per week for two months on Tablet PC: 20

Total number of treeware books read since adapting to ebooks, about 50; mostly science fact.

I really need to win a LOTTO jackpot so I can get back to my old college reading rates of 1 book per day; darn job only gets in the way of my reading addiction...

[Janak Parekh]

Hi no offense or anything, but couldn't the existing poll thread just be re-mentioned for the front-page post instead of starting a new one just 1-2 days later?? It seems this would be the normal way to do it in the past, I'm just curious...
Jereboam's poll had a few bugs (e.g., no 25-100 option, just 10-25 and 100+). That was the primary factor for duplicating it, although there were some other small reasons.

--janak

[QYV]

I wouldn't have any except for the "free eBook" promotion this summer. From that, I think I've downloaded eight or ten that looked interesting...and of course THHGTTG! :mrgreen:

If major publishers released eBook versions of novels at the same time they released the hardback versions, it seems like they'd make a ton of money even charging $10-$12 a book. Since production and distribution costs would be so low, they could make a good profit without charging $28, and at a lower price I think people would jump at buying books that they'd normally wait for paperback versions of. IMHO, that's what's needed for "widespread" adoption of eBooks - by which I mean, the majority of people with PDAs would buy them.

[guinness]

11-25 for me, mostly because of the MS free Reader books program, if they didn't give them away, I'd never buy them, because I like the feel of paper and they cost about the same as a paperback.

[dean_shan]

Wow Felix that's a lot of books. How much have you spent on that?

[Tim Jump]

I've got about 200 ebooks, I believe...I've never actually counted them, I generally grab them as I go. As for PURCHASED ebooks...I've got one, just bought my first today from Palm Digital Media.

Before any cries of piracy are thrown about, I want to make it clear: every ebook that I have that I didn't get free from Project Gutenberg and the like has a corresponding paperback copy sitting in my closet. Yes, EVERY ONE. As an aspiring author myself, I truly believe in the author's right to payment for their work - so whenever I find an ebook version of something I want to read, I'll put it on my ever-present list of "books to buy" and next time I'm at the bookstore, I'll purchase when I find a paperback version (which is all I'd really buy anyway - hardcovers are too bulky). Currently, I'm up to date with my list...so my conscience is clean. :D

[Felix Torres]

Wow Felix that's a lot of books. How much have you spent on that?

A lot less than I spend on treeware in one year. :-)
(I wish the major book clubs would get with the ebook program; I'm running out of room for bookcases...)

The Black Mask set of CDs cost $15 for three CDs worth of ebooks. Some of them are actually *hard* to find in treeware and expensive, to boot, so if you find even one book you want in the collection (which is basically a clean, formatted, superset of Gutenberg) you're ahead of the game.

The current version of the Black Mask collection is available on DVD for $30 and its up to 12,000 books.

PS Of course, the hardware to read them on is a whole 'nother story.
I'm just tickled to death I found a deal on a Tablet PC for under $1000; the sucker had better last me four years so I can get my money's worth out of it. :-)

I plan to wait another two months before picking up the 03 edition.

The BAEN webscriptions currently go for $15 for something like six or seven ebooks in a monthly set, which can be as many as twelve separate books worth of reading (some are Omnibus editions of on-going series so you can get a whole trilogy in a single ebook); some of the earlier sets were around $10.
What I've been doing is buying them about six months at a time so I get 40 or so books from established quality writers for something under $2 a book.

A couple of classics (WITCHES OF KARRES, THRICE UPON A TIME, etc) I've bought as single copies for their retail ebook price of $4.

So you can see that my total out of pocket costs over the last two years are around $250, or about the cost of two movies a month.

Needless to say, I recommend any and all the sites I listed as a good way to get quality entertainment at reasonable prices.

Of course, it helps that I prefer SF and Fantasy and I generally despise "BESTSELLER FICTION" so I don't need to go looking for NYT bestsellers at ridiculous prices, whether it be print or ebook form. :-)

[beq]

Don't forget Fictionwise's free give-away of 2003 Nebula nominees has started (the Hugo prelims have ended)...

Does someone know what ALL these sf/fantasy awards are about? :)

Anyways I'd made a significant purchase of stories recently so I'm set to consume them for the next months (I'm now starting Mothership since the synopsis sounded interesting)...

[rlobrecht]

PS Of course, the hardware to read them on is a whole 'nother story.
I'm just tickled to death I found a deal on a Tablet PC for under $1000; the sucker had better last me four years so I can get my money's worth out of it. :-)

Was this retail, and if so can you share from where? If it was ebay (or the like) congrats. I'd love a Tablet PC, but for today they are priced way out of my league.

[ux4484]

pay books, about a dozen....maybe

open source free books: hundreds

[Felix Torres]

PS Of course, the hardware to read them on is a whole 'nother story.
I'm just tickled to death I found a deal on a Tablet PC for under $1000; the sucker had better last me four years so I can get my money's worth out of it. :-)

Was this retail, and if so can you share from where? If it was ebay (or the like) congrats. I'd love a Tablet PC, but for today they are priced way out of my league.

Retail.
Full manufacturer warranty.
Tiger Direct had them for about a week in late July.

Its a TC1000; they had the version with 802.11b for $1099 and the none WiFI version for $999.
Right now PC MALL has the higher end version for $1450 with 40GB HD, wifi, 512Mb RAM, etc

I went cheap and used the extra $100 to beef up the RAM to the maximum 768MB so I can turn off the swap file and get even longer battery life. At ebook-reading brightness levels, I'm getting a solid 8-plus hours of battery life and 6-plus hours on dial-up.

I love the jog dial and programmable buttons.

Even found out how to make the dedicated email button launch READER instead. (Hint: MS TWEAKUI powertoy.)

Oh, yeah; it has 30GB HD using a run of the mill, easily upgradable, 2.5in Hard Drive, which means I'll be hunting for a nice 100GB drive next summer. :-)

(Right now I have it loaded with all my ebooks, ENCARTA, Britannicca, and a couple of dictionaries, but not enough room for the National Geographic CDs, ergo the desire for a bigger HD.)

Keep an eye out; HP will likely be updating the line soon, which should bring another batch out on discount...

Update: a quick google search for TC1000 refurbished led me two at least two vendors that have it for $1150 or so. Betters deals may be possible.

Happy hunting!

[yawanag]

14 ebooks and 3 Bibles.

[dean_shan]

Nice setup Felix. I want to get a tablet for collage.

[ctmagnus]

Nice setup Felix. I want to get a tablet for collage.

For college? That would be the perfect setup :rock on dude!: , if the profs allow computers in class.

[Felix Torres]

Nice setup Felix. I want to get a tablet for collage.

For college? That would be the perfect setup :rock on dude!: , if the profs allow computers in class.

Well, a lot of schools *encourage* laptop use so a Tablet should be no issue.

More importantly,
MS is cooking up deals with several universities to standardize on Tablets.
They are also making OneNote available for no extra cost on existing volume agreements and dirt-cheap otherwise to all universities. And while OneNote doesn't require a tablet, an Academic-use tablet really does require OneNote to shine.

If I were in school now I would make sure I had a tablet with me.
Btw, OneNote is an excellent tool for making collages, too. :wink: