Slightly off topic - Ebooks

[lconrad-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org (Laura Conrad)]

>>>>> "Chris" == Chris O'Connell <omegahalo-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> writes:

    Chris> I've done some googling on this topic, but there does not
    Chris> seem to be tons of information about this formatting
    Chris> question.

There seems to be tons of information to me; finding exactly the
information you're looking for at the moment might be a problem.

In general, every site that sells or gives away ebooks has an
information page about what devices work and how to use them.

The sites that sell the devices, especially the ones that use their own
format, are sometimes less forthcoming, so looking for reviews of the
device is probably a good idea.

In terms of general information about the state of ebook publishing, the
blog I follow is teleread <http://www.teleread.org>.

If what you want is to read out of copyright books on Linux, go to the
fbreader site -- they have a fairly comprehensive page about where you
can get books that work with their reader.  

If you want a portable device, you should get one that works with
FBReader.  I have a Nokia N810, which seems to me to be the right
tradeoff between screen size and portability, YMMV.

I personally decided I didn't want to wait for the industry to shake out
a standard for in-copyright books, so I buy them from fictionwise.com
and break the ereader drm with a script I can send you off line.  It
breaks the encryption and puts the book into html.  There is a similar
script that would break Kindle format, but I'm not willing to give
Amazon money for what they're doing with the Kindle.

I've also been borrowing ebooks from my public library (part of the
Minuteman Library Network).  I haven't been able to figure out how to
read these on my portable device -- the Adobe Digital Editions Reader
works under Wine, but the Linux on the Nokia doesn't have Wine ported to
it.

-- 
Laura   (mailto:lconrad-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org)
(617) 661-8097	233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139   
http://www.laymusic.org/ http://www.serpentpublications.org

I missed "The West Wing" every day and the people I worked with.  And
I missed putting on a show every week.  What I didn't miss was the
feeling of constantly having a term paper due.

Aaron Sorkin