eBooks & eLibraries

[timwhit]

I was wondering what all of your onions of eBooks are?

I find sitting in front of the monitor and reading an entire book or long article to be an eyestrain. However, for quick reference or reading shorter works it isn't too bad at all. The reason I bring this up is because I was looking for a book online earlier and found an eLibrary

Here is a public access eLibrary. This is the best one that I have found so far.

http://www.netlibrary.com/

One of my professors has us reading his book on a site called eBrary (no one wants to pay $75 for a 300pg book), but the problem with eBrary is that you have to pay to print a page and even pay to copy and paste from the page (30 cents a page). They use a proprietary plug-in to make this work. I don't bother reading it because I can't stand reading for hours on end on in front of a monitor on a white background, and I'm not going to pay them 30 cents a page to print it on my own damn paper.

So if you have time check out netlibrary and let me know what you think.

BTW, I have no idea how much it costs to have a website like that one...but somehow they seem to afford it. I know libraries are publicly funded, but most library budgets could never cover a site like that. My mom lets me know these things because she has been president of the library board for as long as I can remember.

 

[Tea]

I am fond of onions. On the other hand, I think ebookz zuck big-time. Ezpecially if you have to look at them on a flickery white zcreen.

 

[Dozer]

I've read several ebooks using my PocketPC and Microsoft Reader. It's good on the PocketPC, which has a scroll wheel to flip pages. But most of that reading has been done in short stints (at lunch, on a plane, etc.)

As far as sitting in my favorite chair at home with a hot cup of Earl Grey, and settling into a good book for several hours, you just can't beat the good old pulp!

 

[Cliptin]

Here is a public access eLibrary. This is the best one that I have found so far.

http://www.netlibrary.com/

There is always Project Gutenberg. I'll check out the other one a little later.

 

[blakerwry]

In english class it was great... I didn't have to buy some of the books because they were online.... and If i had some extra time I could just pop into the computer lab for 1/2 hour and read....


I've never heard of the pay to print thing you've ran into... but I imagine you could hit the "print screen" key to capture the desktop and could then go into paint or photoshop and paste and print.....


However, if I am reading for enjoyment, I do like to sprawl out on the couch and sit down with a good book for a few hours.... I can probably type faster than I can read, so it takes me awhile, but I eventually finish most the books I start.

 

[Groltz]

I don't enjoy reading book material from a monitor screen at all.

Real books, on the other hand, are something I cherish. Scarcely a day goes by that I don't read through at least an hour's worth of some novel.

 

[Buck]

I find reading from a monitor difficult. The printed page is much easier on my eyes. I even go through great lengths to adjust monitor resolution, contrast, brightness, refresh rates, and ambient light to make reading from a computer easier, but I still find it tiresome.

 

[blakerwry]

wow, am I the only one who can stare at a computer screen all day (16 hours) and not get eye strain or tired at all?


At school for 1 semester I was infront of a computer for three 2 hour blocks every day.... when I went to work, i was infront of a computer.... came home... I was on the computer till ~2:00am...

so 8:00am to 3:00pm im on computer.... 6 hours out of 7
work 5:00-11:00pm.... 6 hours stright
at home I can only guess i was infront of the computer about 2/3rds the time... 2 out of 3 hours

for a grand total of...... 14 hours out of a ~17 hour day....


I find it very hard to get eyestrain, I usually have to not sleep for a day or two before I notice problems.

 

[NRG = mc²]

I have no problems with noticeable eyestrain when just using the computer, but if I'm going to read any significant amount of material then I much prefer paper.

Nothing beats having a read on the toilet, or in bed last thing at night :wink:

 

[SteveC]

I spend almost all day in front of a monitor, and while it normally doesn't bother my eyes, it simply doesn't compare to paper. Reading short articles is fine on a monitor, but when reading something book-length, I would much rather prefer it on paper.

Steve

 

[Buck]

Notice the bags under my eyes from looking at a monitor all day? :eekers:

 

[timwhit]

Here is a public access eLibrary. This is the best one that I have found so far.

http://www.netlibrary.com/

There is always Project Gutenberg. I'll check out the other one a little later.

Thanks for the link Cliptin, that seems to be an even better source than the one I linked.

 

[Mercutio]

Nothing beats having a read on the toilet, or in bed last thing at night :wink:

You don't have a PC next to your bed?

(Granted, I have a special need - it's easier to kick off an extra video encoding session over VNC without crawling out from under the covers).

I can read for long periods on a high-quality monitor, and I don't mind doing so in the least. I like paper just fine, but I feel bad about printing things that don't need to be printed.

 

[blakerwry]

In my bedroom I currently have 4 PC's turned on, one that is unplugged and hasn't been used for a few months, and most of the parts to build another.

I would estimate the average distance from me to a PC while in bed to be just further away than my height of 5' 9".

 

[LiamC]

To drag this back on topic

http://www.baen.com/library/

Read the "why", on the linked page. Makes sense to me. I've just downloaded & printed the two "Honor Harrington", novels by David Weber, and it worked, I'm going to hunt down the rest of the series. I haven't read classic sci-fi in a while, but these are pretty griping novels. It seems though, that David Weber is a fan of Nelson (English Admiral). If you read the books, you'll understand

See, free downloads can work to boost sales--despite what the recording industry says. It is highly likely (> 98%) that I would never have bought the books unless introduced to them by this method.

 

[Mercutio]

If you're talking about the Baen library, I'd also highly recommend the stuff by John Ringo (Gust Front et al), East Chicago resident Eric Flint (1632 et al - which isn't up right now, but that changes periodically). A lot of Baen hardbacks, if you buy them, include very large samplings of other books in a half-dozen electronic formats, (pdf, chm, html.txt ...) and somerimes even cool stuff like audiobooks in mp3 format.

 

[LunarMist]

wow, am I the only one who can stare at a computer screen all day (16 hours) and not get eye strain or tired at all?

I find it very hard to get eyestrain, I usually have to not sleep for a day or two before I notice problems.

Have you been staring at monitors for 30+ years yet?

 

[blakerwry]

nope. give me another 20 years of life ;-)