Some Words About eBooks

WHAT ARE eBOOKS?

ebooks are an experiment, the cutting edge in literary media. One of the most expensive processes of producing a book is printing it on paper and distributing it through bookstores. The up-side of ebooks is that they can be distributed electronically. You don't waste paper and ink printing them, and you don't have to store them in warehouses or on bookshelves. This cuts the cost remarkably, and makes it economically feasible for books that aren't best sellers to remain "in print" for readers to find.

The down-side is that you have to read ebooks on a video screen (or print them out on printer paper), which many people aren't comfortable with. Some formats work only on personal computers, which you can't take with you to read on a bus or at the beach. Other formats can be read on smaller portable devices, but then you have to deal with smaller screens as well.

HOW DO I READ AN eBOOK?

There are several dedicated devices on the market designed specifically for ebooks. You have to buy these devices separately, and then you can read books specially formatted for them. Some of these devices are the hiebook Reader, and the Franklin eBookMan.

For those who don't want to pay money for yet another electronic device, here are some (free) ways to read ebooks on the computer you already own:

	The Acrobat eBook Reader is free software available from Adobe that lets you read documents specially formatted for it. There are versions for both Windows and Macintosh computers, and even some PDAs.
	The Microsoft Reader is free software that lets you read documents specially formatted for it. There are versions for Windows computers and PocketPCs, but not for Macintosh OS or Palm or other PDAs.
	If you have a Windows PC, you can download this free software that will let you transfer and read MobiPocket-formatted ebooks on Palm, Windows CE, PocketPC, Psion or Nokia OS or the Franklin eBookMan device. If your computer uses Macintosh or Linux OS, you can only download MobiPocket software that will run on Palm OS.

Whichever one you choose, I wish you the greatest happiness with it.