17 votes

Feeding an ebook addiction

Posted by ffmike
Tags: technology, hardware, ereaders, kindle, ebooks, free

I read a lot (my wife gets mad at me because I read so much faster than her), and these days I do most of my reading on Kindle. Fortunately there are ways to do this for little or no money. If you're interested here are some ways to get more ebooks without spending a lot of money:

  1. Project Gutenberg is the grandparent of free book sites, with 60K+ public domain works.
  2. MobileRead has an entire forum for fresh uploads of public domain works in Kindle format (they have other formats too).
  3. The Libby app (iOS/Android) makes it trivially easy to borrow ebooks from your local library.
  4. The Hoopla app (iOS/Android) is another way to borrow from your local library.
  5. The Library Extension browser add-on (Chrome/Firefox) will alert you when a book that you're looking at online (say, on an Amazon product page) is available at your local library. (This covers print as well as ebooks)
  6. BookBub will send you a daily email with books that are currently on sale at the major ebook stores.
  7. I'm not sure how I got into this one; I think it was when I registered a new Kindle for Christmas. But in any case, Amazon is currently in the mode of offering me a $1 ebook credit on every order I have shipped, as long as I'm willing to take non-prime shipping and wait a few days. As far as I can tell this option is available on every Prime order, so I shamelessly take advantage. Need a $4 USB-C cable to replace one that's fraying? Hey, I can get it a few days later and add $1 to my credits. Until they stop this, I'll keep breaking every order up into individual single-item orders. It's not even worse for the planet, because their warehouse software recombines everything into as few boxes as it can anyhow.

17 comments

  1. Sybil_Fleming
    Link
    I'm always adding books to my Pocketbook Inkpad3. Standard Ebooks - This site was posted on Tildes before and it's a great project that takes public domain books and cleans them up. Archive.org -...

    I'm always adding books to my Pocketbook Inkpad3.

    1. Standard Ebooks - This site was posted on Tildes before and it's a great project that takes public domain books and cleans them up.
    2. Archive.org - Has literally millions of books scanned and OCR'ed, in addition to whatever the community uploads. They also have a library borrowing mechanism through the Open Library for copyrighted works. Additionally, they're one of the canonical mirrors for the public domain Librivox audiobooks.
    3. Ebooks Directory - This site has tons of entries to freely available textbooks and fiction.
    4. Libreture's DRM-free bookshop list - This was also shared on Tildes before. Who wouldn't love a huge list of digital bookstores that have no DRM.
    6 votes
  2. kfwyre
    Link
    If you use the Kindle platform, eReaderIQ is a great tool that will email you when desired books have price drops or sales. It's very useful and customizable.

    If you use the Kindle platform, eReaderIQ is a great tool that will email you when desired books have price drops or sales. It's very useful and customizable.

    5 votes
  3. moocow1452
    (edited )
    Link
    Kindle Unlimited was on sale last year for $1 for 3 Months. Might be good to keep your eyes peeled for another promotion.

    Kindle Unlimited was on sale last year for $1 for 3 Months. Might be good to keep your eyes peeled for another promotion.

    3 votes
  4. cardigan
    Link
    Everything in The Anarchist Library is available in the major ebook formats, and there's also OPDS support.

    Everything in The Anarchist Library is available in the major ebook formats, and there's also OPDS support.

    1 vote
  5. [6]
    Staross
    Link
    If you don't mind piracy the Z-Library project has a lot of stuff.

    If you don't mind piracy the Z-Library project has a lot of stuff.

    5 votes
    1. tesseractcat
      Link Parent
      Along with this, The-Eye has been backing up Bibliotik as of late. Although that will all probably end up on Z-Library at some point.

      Along with this, The-Eye has been backing up Bibliotik as of late. Although that will all probably end up on Z-Library at some point.

      3 votes
    2. reifyresonance
      Link Parent
      Some things they're missing can be found on IRC ebook piracy channels. Only thing that I've found missing from both is mildly to very obscure occult books. For those I've seen discord servers.

      Some things they're missing can be found on IRC ebook piracy channels. Only thing that I've found missing from both is mildly to very obscure occult books. For those I've seen discord servers.

      2 votes
    3. [2]
      ffmike
      Link Parent
      Yeah, I know about Z-Library, and I thought about mentioning it. But I made my living as an author for years, and a lot of my stuff is out there for free now. So I'm sort of conflicted. I don't...

      Yeah, I know about Z-Library, and I thought about mentioning it. But I made my living as an author for years, and a lot of my stuff is out there for free now. So I'm sort of conflicted. I don't mind seeing my out of date technical books given away, but at the same time, I don't see how we're going to continue having new books in the future with the ease of copying information.

      2 votes
      1. Staross
        Link Parent
        I buy most of my books as physical copies but I still find these sources very useful when you quickly want to check something, do research, etc, it's just super convenient.

        I buy most of my books as physical copies but I still find these sources very useful when you quickly want to check something, do research, etc, it's just super convenient.

    4. clone1
      Link Parent
      myanonamouse has an incredible selection. You have to take an irc interview to get on it, though.

      myanonamouse has an incredible selection. You have to take an irc interview to get on it, though.

      1 vote
  6. mrbig
    (edited )
    Link
    As a member of the Pirate Party and a third world dweller, piracy presents no moral issues for me. Piracy was and still is an inescapable route for culture for many of us (the US dollar is not...

    As a member of the Pirate Party and a third world dweller, piracy presents no moral issues for me. Piracy was and still is an inescapable route for culture for many of us (the US dollar is not cheap and everything is priced in dollars...). Public libraries are either irrelevant or nonexistent. Library Genesis and The Pirate Bay fill all my ebook needs.

    2 votes
  7. [6]
    Moonchild
    Link
    Why not go the library and check out paper books?

    Why not go the library and check out paper books?

    1. [3]
      cptcobalt
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      There’s a time and a place for eBooks, just like there’s a time and a place for paper books. eBooks have a huge positive accessibility benefit: You can read a book in multiple locations with...

      There’s a time and a place for eBooks, just like there’s a time and a place for paper books.

      eBooks have a huge positive accessibility benefit:

      • You can read a book in multiple locations with nearly any device that’s on you. I use my Kindle, iPad, and (occasionally) iPhone to chunk away at a large collection. (Reading on a phone is particularly great if you want to nail 5 minutes of a book while you’re stuck in a line.) If you don’t have a paper book on your person, you can’t read it.
      • There is no physical transportation required in the process at all. Nothing to get the book to a library or a store, and nothing required for you to go to the library or store. Statistically speaking, this transportation all happens with fossil fuels. Further, there is no paper consumed for your book. Therefore, eBooks are inherently more green.
      • You can read the book in any nearly any typeface or size you wish. Not all books are printed in large-format typesetting.
      • You can carry an entire library with you on a device. I travelled a ton for work last year, and during the course of one of the trips, I read ten books. That would pretty much be an additional suitcase to take with me.
      • No late fees for late returns—the book is just plucked from your library. Sure, it’s forceful, but it works. (I know there’s an undercurrent of libraries that are killing fees, but this is not true of the library that’s within walking distance of my house.)

      If you do like going to libraries to check out paper books, or you just buy paper books, then it’s all fine. I have no bones to pick with you. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi with reading paper books—I still do it from time to time. If you’re reading books, that’s all that matters. Keep it up!

      4 votes
      1. [2]
        cfabbro
        Link Parent
        Principle of charity... perhaps @Moonchild was not trying to be dismissive but was just genuinely curious why OP preferred ebooks. Regardless, your comment would have been way nicer without the...

        Principle of charity... perhaps @Moonchild was not trying to be dismissive but was just genuinely curious why OP preferred ebooks. Regardless, your comment would have been way nicer without the first sentence IMO.

        1 vote
        1. cptcobalt
          Link Parent
          Thank you for the feedback. That’s fair—edited.
          • Exemplary

          Thank you for the feedback. That’s fair—edited.

          2 votes
    2. mrbig
      Link Parent
      I know Tildes is mainly US, but I must provide some context: in Brazil public libraries are either useless or nonexistent.

      I know Tildes is mainly US, but I must provide some context: in Brazil public libraries are either useless or nonexistent.

      2 votes
    3. ffmike
      Link Parent
      I do, and I have about 7000 paper books of my own. But in many cases, the Kindle is just more convenient for me.

      I do, and I have about 7000 paper books of my own. But in many cases, the Kindle is just more convenient for me.

      1 vote