Electronic books (eBooks) have been around for a long time, but it seems that now everywhere you turn you'll find either eBooks and/or eReaders. Traditional bookstores and publishers are finding that it is more profitable to sell an eBook then to by stock, pay for shipping, and keep a store operational. While traditional books will likely never go away entirely the eBook wave definitely makes sense. Wouldn't it have been great if every college book you ever needed to purchase was on one device and if you were a savvy lad or damsel you'd "share" your electronic texts with fellow classmates? Or when you decided to switch from Stephen King to Oliver Wilde all you had to do was click a button? Or instead of asking a big box bookstore to order a book you could just download it from the shiny do-hickie in your hands? If none of these apply then stop reading now.
First an foremost, where does one find eBooks? Pretty much everywhere. A quick search will bring of thousands of legitimate and illegitimate sites. Personally I like Google Books a lot. Google has millions of books available for free and many more books where you can read a chapter and decide if you want to purchase it or not. I've found a ton of interesting books through Google Books an highly recommend this to anyone that likes eBooks.
Of course there are the torrent sites out there as well, like what I mentioned in the audio book post, but remember, authors need to eat too! Look for creative common books and if you like the author buy their work.
As for reading eBooks you have a few options. If you feel comfortable sitting at your PC or with your laptop on your lap then there really isn't much more needed. Most eBooks are in PDF form so Adobe Reader will work fine. Personally I like a program called STDUtility. I haven't found a format that this program won't open. A big plus is if you like comics, STDUtility will open CBR and CBZ formats. And best of all it's free!
As for eReaders there are a ton on the market and you have to find what is best for you. I found this guide the other day which helped me narrow down my choices. While I haven't purchased anything yet I really like the idea of the Entourage Edge. I use a tablet already, my main PC is an Acer TravelMate C310, but I like the idea of a dual screened tablet the size of a netbook that has an eInk screen.
Another eReader I like is the Spring Design Alex. In my opinion the color screen on the bottom of the Alex for searching, linking, and referencing items in an eBook seems more practical then what is included with the Nook. Here is a video of Alex in use.
Both the Edge and the Nook use an Android OS. I already warned you I love Google! Also, for me it is important to have the ability to play audio books if I want, which both will let you do.
If you choose to go the main stream route and pick a Nook, Kindle, or Sony eReader you're still in good shape. The nicest thing about these 3 is that their connection is paid for by B&N, Amazon, and Sony respectfully.
And one more thing that I should have mentioned earlier and has nothing to do with eBooks; visit your local library. If you haven't been to your local library in a long time stop in and wander around, you'll feel like a kid again. Trust me.
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