alternatives to books

[j d worthington]

That's why I expect that print books will always be around, for those who insist on that "print" experience... in the same way that paperbacks didn't end the hardback industry. Rather, I expect e-books to take some (eventually most?) of the paperback market, and sit among all other book forms. After all, there's nothing wrong with variety.

Agreed. One thing that hasn't been addressed here, that I've heard some talk about, is that (I'm not sure whether this is in any way connected to Project Gutenberg or not) a lot of very old books are now being transferred to such media ... books from the early days of printing through the 17th century, things that one would have the dickens of a time finding in their original form, and would likely cost a bundle if they did; thus making huge amounts of long-unobtainable material available for students (either of the academic stripe or simply because of interest), curious readers, etc. Now, this I cannot help but see as a good thing; this, indeed, is something I would tend to use them for, if economically feasible.

So, while my love of books will always have me preferring the bound paper product to the electronic versions, nonetheless there are many advantages to this emerging field, and I agree: variety is important. The more freedom of choice on such things, the better.....

"I never drink... wine."

What? Not even a nice Merlot? Gee, even Bela couldn't say not to that.....

 

[steve12553]

MemoWare Browse Catagories
Also: manybooks.net - Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader
And: Baen Free Library

These links have free ebooks, many of which are brought into being by Project Gutenburg. The ones I have seen from Project Gutenburg are Science Fiction/Fantasy from the early 1900s to the the late 1950s. There are some that date to much earlier. Many of these I have never or seldom seen in print although many copies once existed.

 

[j d worthington]

These links have free ebooks, many of which are brought into being by Project Gutenburg. The ones I have seen from Project Gutenburg are Science Fiction/Fantasy from the early 1900s to the the late 1950s. There are some that date to much earlier. Many of these I have never or seldom seen in print although many copies once existed.

Thanks for the links, Steve!

A lot of what I was referring to in my earlier post are books of a different sort, of course (though it's interesting how much some of them have had an influence of one sort or another on sf and fantasy writers), but -- as with the varieties of media -- the fact that they're making these obscure, hard-to-find books available once again is always a bonus for the eclectic reader....

 

[Steve Jordan]

Yes, the Gutenburg-type services are a great thing, making older or out-of-print books available. That will be one of the main strengths of e-books, helping them obtain a larger commercial market share.

Of course, they come with a catch: There are sites digitizing works that are still under copyright, and even though those works are not being published (and are therefore not available through legitimate channels), the e-book distributors are taking a lot of legal flack. One site, Blackmask.com, was recently shut down by Conde Nast over e-book reprints of copywritten pulps like Doc Savage and The Shadow that are unavailable in print form today.

There is a lot of debate on whether a copyright holder has the right to withold formerly available works on the basis that they do not see enough of a value in selling them (in any format). No one wants to deny Conde Nast rights to its works, for instance, but if there is even a small demand for their works, is it right to keep them from the public because their perceived profit will not be large enough?