How to download and read e-books

The best way to read electronic books.

If you are thinking about starting to read digital books and you want to learn how to download and read e-books pay attention to the following text.

What is a an e-book?
The e-book (also known as electronic book, digital book, eBook or ebook) can be defined as the electronic or digital version of a book printed conventionally. Thus, the hardware used to show this reading material is a digital medium instead of a print out: a PC, a laptop, a PDA or an e-Reader (device specifically designed to read e-books).

Origins of digital books
Even though the word e-book is relatively new, the first attempts to create a digital library dates as far back as 1971. It was in that year that Michael Hart started Project Gutenberg, that received this name in honor of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. Mr Hart has been capable over these four decades to gather an archive that has nearly 33,000 free e-books to download.

At the end of the 20^th Century, it was already possible to find some electronic book reading devices on the market, together with a few Internet sites where it was possible to buy e-books or download them free. But it has been in the last decade in which e-readers have proliferated, the electronic book offer has increased over Internet and the availability of many applications has become clearer.

Advantages and inconveniences of e-books
It is a lot easier to distribute e-books, having the possibility to offer them worldwide, at the same time that it must be said that they are highly portable and that this format allows the possibility to have a vast collection of books in reduced space. Their durability is higher, because they can't get bent and they don't get dirty. What's more, they are normally cheaper and they don't require shipping, thus saving a lot of waiting time. Another interesting options that they offer, is the possibility to include links and multimedia elements, like animations and music, as well as the texts and images.

Nevertheless, it also has to be said that they have their own inconveniences, like the fact that they are more difficult to handle for inexperienced users, the necessity in some cases to have an Internet connection and the appearance of multiple readers and formats that aren't compatible with one another.

How to read and manage electronic books
Depending on the kind of e-book you are dealing with, it will be necessary for you to use certain hardware and applications, that will vary in each case.

Thus, in what regards to digital books that can be read and downloaded from Internet (Web Books), it will only be necessary for you to install one of the many applications that are available to read and manage e-books.

Among these applications, one of the most popular, is Calibre. It is a versatile program, compatible with a large variety of formats: CBZ, CBR, ePub, FB2, HTML, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, TCR,... What's more, it is capable of converting from one format to another. On the other hand, it is a powerful solution to organize and manage a digital library, because it has tagging options, category based organization, advanced search,... and the best thing is that: it is compatible with the majority of e-Readers! Thus it is possible to synchronize the contents of your PC with your favorite e-Reader.

Other more simple alternatives to read and manage your digital books on your PC are, for example, BookRoom and FBReader. Their advantages: they are easy-to-use and very practical, because they only include the necessary options to enjoy reading.

The program developed to read PDF and ePub documents on a computer by Adobe is Adobe Digital Editions, that offers the possibility to add notes and print parts of the text.

If what you want to have is a good ePub reader available from your Firefox browser, you might find EPUBReader interesting, a complete complement that offers the chance to change the fonts and the color, as well as the text margins.

There are other more complete alternative like those offered by programs like Kindle for PC, Kobo Desktop or KooBits, that as well as presenting an easy way to read and organize your electronic books, also offer the possibility to download free e-books or to buy them online from the same interface.

If, on the other hand, you want to enjoy all the advantages offered by reading digital books on a portable devices that has been designed for that purpose, you should first buy the specialized hardware. Among the gadgets that have had a greater acceptance by the users you will be able to find the Kindle by Amazon, miBuk GAMMA by Wolder, PAPYRE by Grammata or Reader^TM by Sony. Also the Apple tablet: iPad, even though it has been designed for more general usage.

Create your own e-books
And if you want to create your own contents in digital format, eBook Maestro is a complete tool that you should make sure to have installed. Audiobooks, e-books in self-extracting format, presentations, educational material,... any text can be edited, laid out and managed with this application.

Conclusion
Even though some readers, authors and editors are skeptic as to the use of e-books, mainly due to the fact that they consider them a “substitute” to traditional books, the coexistence of both formats, digital and print, is possible.

Nevertheless, if you a reading fanatic you shouldn't miss the possibility to learn all the possibilities that e-books have to offer.