Do you Download books?

[cool500]

I am asking you do you download books from the internet. Like ebooks. I think that downloading books is a new thing. If you do how many do you have on your hardrive. I might download some later. If you do what Program is best for that sort of thing. Best regards cool500:sw

[isus]

i agree with notbob's letter "b".

i cant speak for letter a, bc i haven't been to the local library in years... i doubt i even know where my library card is.

even if you wanted unpublsihed stuff that a library couldn't get, p2p networks are less than ideal for spreading your writing.

[Psilaxs]

Actually i would download books if i could find the ones i wanted, but as it is now, it is faster to request them from the library.


Book Sharing hasn't hit the critical mass that games, movies, and songs, have.

[Wolfie]

Call me old fashion, but i like the feel of reading a real book compare to e-books.

[Theinfamousone]

I got 1984 in PDF format. I read it whenever I have nothing better to do or I'm burning a DVD or something. I am too lazy to go downtown to get it at the library, traffic is a nightmare and I have to park in a parking garage and I can never seem to get books back on time.

[Kevin06906]

Well, i get too impatient if i read from the computer screen. So i would rather get a book from a library.

But i haven't been to a library in years. I don't want to go back either, i got a Goosebumps book from there when i was like 8 years old and still didn't bring it back.

[FutureIverson]

I don't know what if they start some book association against piracy, books are getting cheap, people want the movie or dvd now so i don't mind going to the library. IF i was out somwhere and i had my laptop maybe i'd read from that. But at home, hell no i'd just a read a book

[tMoD]

Yes.

I collect role-playing game books, something I wouldn't do if I had to pay for paper copies. The Los Angeles city library system has little in the way of this type of material and if it did I wouldn't be able to collect them unless I had a scanner. I do agree though that reading PDFs sucks but I download to collect them, not read them necessarily. I guess I'm the only one here who knows where their library card is lol

As someone with a terminal case of Newbie Syndrome (NS), I can't really speak to the effectiveness of various programs. I've only tried BearShare and KMD. I saw more of the stuff I wanted on the Fast Track network but this is hardly surprising given its greater popularity.

Thank god you can edit posts, I sounded like a fucking idiot

[MoonMan]

I download them but I never end up reading them for the same reason Isus and notbob said, it's just plain irritating to try and stare at the computer screen for that long.

[Ken17625]

No.

I do not download books.

[Kyle06]

nope...

[PowerMan57two]

Originally posted by notbob
no point in it

a)books are freely available at libraries (they can request odd titles from interlibrary programs)

b)who wants to stare at a crappy .txt or .pdf on a screen for 500 pages?

eBooks are not in .txt or .pdf format. Okay some are .pdf but most are not. I should know because I sell eBooks on my site. Of course I download them if I sell them! I currently sell 15 eBooks all in .EXE format.

[tamarisk]

I posted my computer A-level notes and some other notes on edonkey network and got quite a good response.

i didn't get a bad response. over 200 people uploaded the files from me.

the site is http://p19m.bravepages.com

Thanks to p2p i don't need to pay for those hosting services.

ed2k: links and similar on other p2p networks are one of the best inventions

[cgfiend]

As you read this I'm downloading all kinds of books on Shareaza. I own quite a few Palm books myself, but I wanted to expand my digital library. There are also a lot of audio books available for download, which I'm stocking up on. I don't mind staring at e-books because I stare at the computer hours upon hours anyway.

[Azathoth]

I do get some but usually only of a tech nature I do have some others but it is hard to read anything I have to get INTO to enjoy while its in PDF I did print one book once but that was such an effing hassle that I gave up on it. speaking of tech I'm going to check out those papers u mentioned. I don't have shareaza now but I'll get it.

[ddandelion]

i download some ebooks but mostly audio books. i love them. i cam listen to them while driving on long trips or when i'm too tired to read

[johnsmatrix]

I have about 30 Ebooks in PDF. There are some out there like myself who would like to learn more about computing without spending $40 per book. While I cannot read off the screen without pulling my hair out, I usually print out all pages and read them the good old fashion way.The books I read on avg. are usually anywhere between 300-500 pages and I bind them into sections with indexes. So to answer the question, yes I do download them and find them hella useful.

[fernandez]

I download e-books from time to time. Project Gutenberg has a nice selection
http://promo.net/pg/

[Azathoth]

Project guttenburg! I forgot about that site thanx for the link. I remember trying to read dantes inferno on this. Even though its frustrating to read on screen its always good to have resources just in case I need it in the future.Also, I agree with notbob that's not right. and .EXE format how the hell does that work? I've never got an ebook in .exe format.

[fernandez]

For quick references I like Bartleby, take a look if you are interested.
http://www.bartleby.com/

[Cunning Linguist]

As an avid D&D DM'er, I have all the core books, but sometimes I want to know more about small things, that there are also books on. So I often download those books, just to have a peek at classes, races or whatnot, so it can spice up the game.

[HyperspaceSamurai]

I like downloading books. Mostly role playing. I used KaZaa Lite. Most of the books come as .pdf some . doc. I think most would agree that downloading books is not something to worry about.

It's nice to have a book in a word doc when your doing research because you can search out terms, change the fonts, make notes and the like.

Good luck

[Power Penguin]

Burn them.

I don't think PDFs are good at all. All that zooming and scrolling, and losing you place because you clicked the wrong part of the screen. God no.

As for printing, takes too long, and you come across as being a bit sad, sat there with your folder going through 300-400 pages.

[begoodbebad]

Download books? But they're made of paper for fucks sake, it's impossible!

[NDGAARONDI]

think he meant ebooks lol

I used to, such as material on degree stuff on astrophysics and stuff. But because of my eye condition and the way I am, I always prefer the printed format. Although I can read 6 point font with ease (no kidding).........

[RACKnRAIL]

As a music teacher, I have found many great books online. It costs SO much for any kind of book nowadays. I am pleased when I can find one to download for free. The ones in PDF files are usually quite small too. I only download educational type books. There are lots of other books available as well for computer users, including many types of code writing, programming, hacking books and the list goes on. But, if we're talking novels and such, it would simply take all the fun out of reading. I do still enjoy reading a good paperback sci-fi or fiction.

[TheIceMan]

have a few pdf manual i.e. windows bible etc but cannot read book on monitors, why bother book are free at librarys after all they are not extortionate unlike the cost of cds and dvd's so there is no reason to download em.

[NDGAARONDI]

Indeed

[method77]

books are meant to be read on the beach, on a place with great view, in the park, train, plane, bus, ship, toilet, before sleep, etc...etc.
I like technology and everything but hey... that's too much! Never have, never will!

BTW
Yesterday my girlfriend gave me "stupid white people" by Michael Moore! Can't wait to read it. He's pretty famous here after the academy awards thing.

[random]

nobody probably downloads books, novels,except for ppl with pdas, cuz who wants to read a book on ur comp?

[NDGAARONDI]

How about if you lost your manual to your mobile phone. And then printed off a pdf format of it then, but still saved it on ur comp?

[wookietookay]

I have downloaded books, by the few hundreds, but have and will continue to do so. By books I mean mainly Role Playing and sometimes computing accessories. Simply because either these books are too expensive to buy, and am unsure if I want them (particularly the roleplaying books), or quite simply not they're not available, out of print etc.

Programs like Kazaa have made it possible for people to stay in and read up without even having to visit a library. Because the library, no matter how massive, cannot for its part compare to the online information on the internet these days.

For my part I hardly even remember the last time I went there. I mean my uni has a library and I've never issued a book from there. All my info has been taken from the net, through my puter.

Why would I want to stare at text on a screen? Why do I hold it in my hands to stare at it? Why would I want to listen to music on my computer? Why would I want to play games on my computer? Why would I want to watch movies?

I think that if one could easily sit on a computer and play a game or watch a movie, then why not sit there and read a book on the screen? Sit back and relax and read up that novel you've always wanted to read while your game, mp3, or movie downloads.

I like reading books and in certain cases I need to read up on up coming games. You can format e-files easily too. So thats good for gaming or even writing up that ever important class assignment.

Theres nothing wrong in downloading books. Keep 'em coming.

[NDGAARONDI]

Why is this thread in the Audio and Video section?

[racer894]

AUDIO books thats why its here

[NDGAARONDI]

I thought that was coming..........

[racer894]

haha I was just saying not trying to start any stuff with anyone

[NDGAARONDI]

LOL :fire :fire :fire

[seraph]

Hell...I already hate reading normal books!!!!

After focusing for 10 pages and trying to remember what i just read, everything starts getting blurry. Only way I can imgaine ppl downloading books is if they then print them out. I think u'd first go cross-eyed and then blind after starring at the u'r computer screen for hours trying to read a book!!!!!

[Theinfamousone]

Well, I haven't sat reading for hours ever, but I don't have a problem spending hours in front of the computer reading posts here in the forums. Atleast not because of my eyes anwyay. I would however feel like a loser for wasting that much time.

[Julian]

I purchase books, too hard to read ebooks and scanned copies.

[NDGAARONDI]

Yeah I prefer the printed format if possible, mainly because of my eye condition.

[jonnymnemonic]

Sure, I love then. I probably have around 10 or 20 thousand e-books.

Contrary to what someone said above, many e-books ARE .txt files, and in fact these are the best for several reasons: 1) they are quite small in terms of file size; 2) they have no DRM; and 3) they are readable with uBook.

uBook is, in my opinion, THE best e-book reader. It's also free. It will read .txt format, .html ebooks and .rtf ebooks directly or from inside zip or rar archives, so you need not even decompress them to read them. Its interface isn't a thing of beauty so far as changing settings or browsing for books, but when it comes to actually READING the ebooks, it's simply great. There's a nice skin for it that makes it look just like an open book, with two pages viewable at a time. Of course you can change the font size to make it more readable from a distance. I read from the comfort of a reclining chair, from about 4 feet away, so I tend to use a large-ish font size.

.PDF, .DOC (MS Word), I don't like these formats much, since they are larger and uBook can't view them. The exception is for books with illustrations, in which case I consider .PDF the best choice - but unless the illustrations are really really necessary (mostly they aren't), then I'd rather have the ebook in .txt format so I can use uBook, and to keep filesize down.

.LIT, the format used by Microsoft Reader, is okay, since .LIT is a compressed format itself, but you have to use MS Reader to read them and that means it's an inferior reading experience. Not that MS Reader is BAD - it's okay, but it's definitely not as nice as uBook.

For comic books, I use a program called CDisplay, which does a good job of dealing with them. Most comic book people create files that are intended for use with CDisplay, so even if there are other options, you'll end up using CDisplay anyway.

The best place to get e-books, including audio e-books, that I have found, is on IRC, on Undernet. Obviously you can get them from P2P networks too, but IRC is better for ebooks.

And while you can get books from libraries, it's nice to actually have a vast library available to you a click or two away. Plus, an entire library system may only have 5 or 10 copies of a particular title you wish to read, if any at all, whereas you can almost always find it in ebook format quickly. If it doesn't matter to you WHEN you get to read it, then sure, make use of the library. But when you want to read something RIGHT NOW, there's simply no beating uBook and IRC.

Of course, you SHOULD buy them and support the authors - they need it as much as anyone. But if you read a lot, books are expensive. I remember back in the 70s, when I was around 10 years old, joining the Science Fiction Book Club under four different names, so I could get 4 free books with each name, two more free books for the name that got the other name to join the club, then making good on my obligation to buy 4 books in a year (per name) by buying $1.98 books, then quitting the club with that name and starting the whole process over again. Thus, I would get 40 books for a total cost of around $40 - and they were all HARDBACKS! I worked that scheme over and over and over and amassed a fairly large SF hardback library for around a buck a book. By the time I was 16 I had read around 5,000 books and owned more than 2,000. When I moved to and from Turkey in the 80s my books weighed, by far, more than everything else put together (furniture included). Which is another reason I like e-books - 10,000 books on a 3-pound 3.5" hard drive compared to rooms full of books weighing, literally, tons.

Anyway, don't scoff at e-books if you haven't tried uBook to read them. It's nice enough to make e-books at least a reasonable alternative to real books in some - or even most - situations.

[NightZombie]

Yes I download ebooks all the time for buisness. Cooking and what not. Ebooks are cheap to make and easy to sell for profit.

[que-em]

If it was a book for a college class that I wont need after a couple of months, I would. Anything to save me a hundred bucks.

[maartendc]

Nope, I prefer reading a real one... and they're free anyway...
Maybe sometimes a book about a certain program I want to know more about, but no storys.

[Serps]

This link has been posted before but it has now been updated.
Grimm's Fairy Tales (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~wbarker/fairies/grimm/)

[Foreverboard]

i download them then use a computer text reader to have the computer read it to me. Just lazy i guess.....

[Chrono_trigger_fan]

does anyone know a site where u can read scary stories or ghost stories anything about vampires voodoo witch craft whatever. my Library has no books like that. and when i go to a book store to find some there like $8.99 for a book il read in a day and a half and then be bored with its foolish to do that ya know?