# Anyone have an opinion on eBooks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2001, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270 "2001-10-03T21:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/1 "2001-10-03T21:52:20Z")
I am considering getting a plam pilot for Christmas and one of the features I may look for is eBook capability. Anyone explored this technology? Is it easy to read a book on the tiny screen? Can you fall into the book as easily, or is the interface distracting? Also, where is the best place to buy a book (download, I suppose)? I went to [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and the prices were high. Some eBooks were as high as $20.00. Isn’t that a rip off? You could buy a hard back for near that price. Selcetion wasn’t good. I couldn’t find Clancy or Grisham. If two of the best sellers won’t use the format, is it even worth buying? (I believe S. King uses it). ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/2 "2001-10-03T21:55:17Z")
The only experience I have with eBooks is the Microsoft Reader. In a word, it sucks. A lot. The interface is clunky, it’s hard to move back and forth with the table of contents, and the screen is ridiculously small. Not fun to use, at all. If there are other eBook interface programs out there, I’d love to hear about them. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/3 "2001-10-03T22:09:10Z")
We have some e-books available at my library. The response to them has been underwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2001, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/4 "2001-10-03T23:30:39Z")
I read books on my Palm Pilot all the time. I love them. I quickly got used to the different feel of it, and it’s wonderful having a book with you at all times. I’m much more productive on the can now. However, eBooks in particular I couldn’t really tell you about. I find books on the internet using various popular peer-to-peer file sharing programs that we’re really not supposed to mention on these boards. They’re typically in .doc or .txt format. Then I have a freeware program called WavePDB that converts them to .pdb format, which are readable by SmartDoc on my Palm Pilot. Got all that? You know what I really like about it? Reading in bed at night. I can have my light off, with the screen glowing, so that the instant I get tired, I just push the “off” button, put down the Palm, and go to sleep without having to turn off the light. Yes, I am that lazy. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/5 "2001-10-04T01:46:10Z")
The only etexts I have experience with are the ones I have downloaded from Project Gutenberg. I then email them to myself at work to have something to read while still looking busy. I read _War and Peace_ over three months last year. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/6 "2001-10-04T02:12:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*The only etexts I have experience with are the ones I have downloaded from Project Gutenberg. I then email them to myself at work to have something to read while still looking busy. > \*\* It is an excellent site. Thank you. You wouldn’t happen to know if it is possible to convert these files to a format that is useable on Palm Pilot? This would be a great way to catch up on the classics. (The site only allows works in the public domain, thus all books are, for the most part, from before the 1920’s. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/7 "2001-10-04T03:03:07Z")
**watsonwil** - what format are they in? If it’s html, .doc, .txt, or any of several others, try the program I mentioned above - WavePDB. I think you can find it at [palmgear.com](http://palmgear.com). ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/8 "2001-10-04T05:19:41Z")
I have a Palm Pilot IIIc which I love, but I do not like reading e-books on it. The resolution of the letters is too poor for enjoyable reading. I have tried messing around with larger, clearer fonts, but this leaves artifacts and tends to mess up the scrolling. There is not enough printing on one screen and I am forever scrolling. I like the idea of e-books, but the interface it not good enough yet to be enjoyable for me. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/9 "2001-10-04T15:23:29Z")
I have used Microsoft Reader on a Pocket PC. I think it’s great–the resolution really isn’t too bad. MS Reader has features that allow you to highlight words in the text, or add pictures and notes in the margin. I found this extremely helpful in my English classes, where most of the material we had to read was available only online and would have printed out to 20 or more pages. I would simply create the ebook from the web page using [ReaderWorks](http://www.readerworks.com), a free ebook-making software. I haven’t actually purchased an ebook yet; most of the books I’ve read are works that are in the public domain–mostly the “classics.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/10 "2001-10-06T07:49:09Z")
Hya Watsonwill. Sorry for the lateness of this reply. Hope my information answers some of your questions. MsWhatsit, this should be of interest to you as well. I do not own a PDA, so I can’t inform you on the best ones to buy for the reading of ebooks. I would recommend the USENET newsgroup alt.binaries.ebook.d , the discussion group for ebooks, which usually has a couple-three threads relating to the pluses and minuses of the various devices. Be warned, much of the traffic on the other groups in the alt.binaries.ebook hierarchy is most-probably-illegal etext copies of copyrighted material. I have read a number of ebooks on my personal computer using a great piece of free software called [yBook](http://www.spacejock.com) , available at the Spacejock software website. This thing is a book emulator and is great for reading Project Gutenberg and other etexts. I can’t recommend it enough. I had been using Super Note Tab for etexts, but an 80 character line is too long for me too read with ease. There is not a verson for the Palm Pilot, as far as I can tell. If reading Gutenberg etexts on yBook (or with a personal electronic device, for that matter), I’d recommend first sending them through a program called Textify (try [google.com](http://google.com) again) which removes the paragraph break at the end of every line and cleans up some of the Gutenberg etexts’ formatting peculiarities. The program even creates a new file, rather than editing the original. Hope this helps. I’m looking to get myself a Palm Pilot one of these days too, just as soon as I hit that big Powerball jackpot. 🙂 -Myron ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/11 "2001-10-06T21:21:18Z")
My library also has and is aquiring e-books, and so far I do not think much of it. One person is pushing extemely hard for e-books but in my opinion, she is doing it because she feels anything electronic is good, and paper is obsolete. She is one of those who thinks that a paperless society is coming soon, and is for the best. Currently, I feel the group who can benefit the most from it are students, business people, etc. doing research or refering to how to type books rather than for leisurely reading. Someday they probably will be “useable” for general reading, but I do not feel the technology or the demand is there yet. ---
**Author:** ![Schadenfreude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Schadenfreude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schadenfreude)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/12 "2001-10-06T21:42:07Z")
There is a bit of internet magic which will convert any text or webpage to Palm Doc format. I have used it extensively to convert a wide range of documents to read on my Visor. Unfortunately, it’s down right now. See, the site on which it is hosted is hosed right now due to their ISP being located a little too close to the WTC wreckage. But when they get themselves untangled, it will be here: [http://www.poormojo.org/dod.html](http://www.poormojo.org/dod.html) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-have-an-opinion-on-ebooks/85270/13 "2001-10-06T22:39:33Z")
I’m not interested in e-books, because I find it difficult to read lengthy things on a screen. If it’s longer than 10,000 or so words, I need to have a hard copy, or I never get through it. Maybe it’s just me…