eBooks Galore with manybooks.net

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.manybooks.net/' target='_blank'>http://www.manybooks.net/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"This site contains more than 10,000 eBooks formatted for reading on your Palm, Pocket PC, Zaurus, Rocketbook, eBookWise-1150, or Symbian cellphone."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20041222-manybooks.gif" /><br /><br />Here's another addition to the eBook world. manybooks.net is a library filled with free eBooks for your PDA. You'll find the eBooks in a host of formats (namely, PDF, DOC, Plucker, iSilo, zTXT, Rocketbook, among others) and there are plans to extend support for Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket Reader in the future. The website is well-structured making it easy for the first-time user to navigate through. So if you're insane about eBooks, you owe it to yourself to check out this free service <a href="http://www.manybooks.net/">here</a>.

[Guttrhead]

Wow, this site is amazing. Does anyone know anything about the different format types? Like what ones are easiest to read and have decent free readers.

[Felix Torres]

"This site contains more than 10,000 eBooks formatted for reading on your Palm, Pocket PC, Zaurus, Rocketbook, eBookWise-1150, or Symbian cellphone."

Here's another addition to the eBook world. manybooks.net is a library filled with free eBooks for your PDA. You'll find the eBooks in a host of formats (namely, PDF, DOC, Plucker, iSilo, zTXT, Rocketbook, among others) and there are plans to extend support for Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket Reader in the future. The website is well-structured making it easy for the first-time user to navigate through. So if you're insane about eBooks, you owe it to yourself to check out this free service .

Uh, you may have insider info, but to date, the web site itself makes it clear they will suport MS reader and Mobipocket when (if) they get their hands on LINUX based tools only.

I will not be holding my breath.

Two other points; they currently suport Rocket ebook format (.RB) for the rb1100, not eBookwise 1150, which directly only reads .IMP files; a converter must be used before feeding them to the 1150. The hardware may be he same but the firmware is completely and incompatibly different. (doesn't mean the 1150 is bad; just different in gui and format.)

Second, the books they offer are just the Guttenberg collections. No more, no less.

A better choice for free ebooks would be www.blackmask.com; they support MS Reader and Mobipocket *now*, and both .rb and .imp files, plus their collection features tons of stuff *above* what the Guttenberg sites offer.
And, they will sell you a DVD with the full contents of their web site (16000 books, I think).

And, in case anybody is interested in spanish literature, www.librodot.com offers similar features; d/ls or on CD.

Both sites seem a bit more interested in distributing ebooks than making anti-Windows statements.

[emuelle1]

Interesting. I'll bookmark it for later. I found some classics that I'd love to have the time to read, like Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Blackmask keeps generating fatal errors. I thought it was a problem with Firefox, but I opened the page in Internet Exploder and though the home page loaded, I didn't get far before the fatal errors returned.

[Felix Torres]

Interesting. I'll bookmark it for later. I found some classics that I'd love to have the time to read, like Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Blackmask keeps generating fatal errors. I thought it was a problem with Firefox, but I opened the page in Internet Exploder and though the home page loaded, I didn't get far before the fatal errors returned.

Firefox?
Exploder?

You might try Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or earlier; I've been going to Black Mask for four years and have never had a single problem.

You might want to check for spyware on your box...

[emuelle1]

Sorry. Exploder is just a euphemism I use for Microsoft Internet Explorer. I've been calling it Internet Exploder for years.

[Felix Torres]

Sorry. Exploder is just a euphemism I use for Microsoft Internet Explorer. I've been calling it Internet Exploder for years.

Ah, that might explain your problems; it took offense and is retaliating...

[Darius Wey]

Uh, you may have insider info, but to date, the web site itself makes it clear they will suport MS reader and Mobipocket when (if) they get their hands on LINUX based tools only.

You never know... ;)

Both sites seem a bit more interested in distributing ebooks than making anti-Windows statements.

That's a pretty ludicrous statement to make. Where on the site do they suggest they are anti-Microsoft? I don't think it's right to assume they are anti-Microsoft when they haven't stipulated it. Besides, there may be reasonings behind their need for command-line tools for Linux that you aren't aware of.

Sure, the other two sites you mentioned may offer a greater variation of eBooks, but the point of the post was to make the readers aware of *another* eBook internet service, not *a* eBook internet service designed to replace all.

[Felix Torres]

Uh, you may have insider info, but to date, the web site itself makes it clear they will suport MS reader and Mobipocket when (if) they get their hands on LINUX based tools only.

You never know... ;)


Both sites seem a bit more interested in distributing ebooks than making anti-Windows statements.

That's a pretty ludicrous statement to make. Where on the site do they suggest they are anti-Microsoft? I don't think it's right to assume they are anti-Microsoft when they haven't stipulated it. Besides, there may be reasonings behind their need for command-line tools for Linux that you aren't aware of.


1- as I said, you may be better informed; I'm just taking them at their word.

2- Again, I'm taking them at *their* word; batch-generation ebook software exists and is in use by other ebook distributors supporting Mobipocket and MS Reader and has existed for four years. By insisting on Linux-only tools they are making a statement that they will only support Mobipocket and/or MSReader when those products support Linux. You may find my read of their phrasing ludicrous and that's your right; I'll not argue your interpretation.

3- On the technical side, other sites have no problem supporting MS Reader or Mobipocket, even the ones that aren't funded by MS (Like the University of Virginia was). And the fact that pdf (associated with Adobe and Macs) pdb (associated with Palms) and a host of obscure html variants are supported but not Mobipocket and Reader, both strongly associated with PocketPC, Windows, and WinCE make it clear to me that support is not platform neutral. (Remember the old tests: "What do these things have in common?) If they have technical problems that their competitors don't, why brag about it? They're delivering a message is why.

So my read remains; to *me* its a pretty clear case of tit-for-tat; you don't support us, we won't support you. Which is, again, fine by me, since I know of sites that make no such pronouncements or hint at vaporous, conditioned, support; they just do it.

Semantics is in the eye of the beholder, I guess...

[Darius Wey]

1- as I said, you may be better informed; I'm just taking them at their word.

Okay. ;)

2- Again, I'm taking them at *their* word; batch-generation ebook software exists and is in use by other ebook distributors supporting Mobipocket and MS Reader and has existed for four years. By insisting on Linux-only tools they are making a statement that they will only support Mobipocket and/or MSReader when those products support Linux. You may find my read of their phrasing ludicrous and that's your right; I'll not argue your interpretation.

Each to their own interpretation. I respect that. Linux or not, there may be a reasoning behind their motive, and unless they specifically stipulate in black and white that they are anti-Microsoft, I don't think it's completely fair to hold them up to that assumption. They are a new site, and for what it's worth, perhaps they're not completely well-informed about batch conversion tools and what not, and they may only have a Linux operating environment and access to nothing else. We don't know that. So you may think that they're anti-Microsoft, and if you want to look at it in that light, that's your decision too, but I don't think it's entirely fair to impose that judgement on others, when you're not entirely well-informed of their motives.

[nategesner]

Back to the subject...

I personally use iSilo to read books. The free version is pretty nice, and it's only around $15-20 to upgrade to the full version that adds a bunch more features. I especially enjoy going full screen and then using auto-scroll so I don't have to push a button for every page.

iSilo also has a free converter to make your own iSilo books.