eBook FAQ

Posted on 15 Dec 2008 at 10:35

Which format should I buy eBooks in?

eBooks are available in dozens of formats and no reader supports them all. AZW files bought from the Kindle Store, for example, can only be read on Kindles, while BBeB files bought from the Sony store are solely readable on the PRS-505. There's a ray of light, however. Back in July, themajor book publishers simplified things immensely by agreeing to distribute books in the EPUB format, supported by all readers except the Kindle. Fear not Kindle-worshippers - those books will be available through the Kindle Store in Amazon's proprietary AZW format, so you won't miss out. Another bright spot is that all thecurrent readers support TXT files, and the majority of the free books floating around the internet use this format.

Can I back up my eBooks?

Early eBook adopters were outraged to discover that titles bought online were tied specifically to the machine onto which they were downloaded. If it crashed, you lost your library. This situation has altered somewhat, but you're still not free to back up eBooks as you see fit. Instead, most software allows you to elect a limited number of other machines and devices on which you can store copies of your eBook. Adobe's Digital Editions software, for example, allows you to name up to six devices on which you can create a copy of your eBook, while the Mobipocket software allows you to register up to three devices. In both cases, licences can be transferred between devices at will, meaning that should you upgrade your machine or eBook reader, you don't have to leave your library behind.

How does eBook DRM work?

Digital Rights Management is intended to ensure that the latest eBooks aren't simply copied and distributed for free after being purchased. To that end, eBooks bought from any of the major book chains will be protected by some form of DRM, restricting the number of devices they can be installed on. That number generally varies between three and five, but you'll undoubtedly run into it at some point. Due to the way the Kindle works, eBooks downloaded over its wireless connection are automatically unlocked, but other formats will need to be manually unlocked by the user. The most common are copy-protected PDFs and EPUB formats, which will need to be unlocked with Adobe's Digital Editions software, available as a free download (www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions).

Can I get eBooks for free?

Prices of eBooks will undoubtedly fall, but while we're waiting, why not curl up with a few of those classics you've always meant to read but never quite gotten around to? Dickens, Dostoevsky, Bronte, Shakespeare and even Jane Austen are just a few of the famous names you can find for free. A good place to start is Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page), which boasts 25,000 out-of-copyright books. Google is also pressing along nicely with its aim of digitising every book on the planet, and recently surpassed one million. Given that the web giant also intends to preserve every newspaper article, it could be worth bookmarking (http://books.google.com).