Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) is a website dedicated to making public domain writings (generally anything published before 1923) freely available as ebooks. Founded in 1971, it is the oldest digital library, as well as the largest, with over 38,000 items. Books are available in various open formats, including EPUB for Nook and other ereaders, as well as MOBI for Kindle. To help ensure accuracy, Project Gutenberg ebooks go through a lengthy proofreading regimen provided by volunteers at Distributed Proofreaders. Downloading these books to an ereader is a simple process of just a few steps.

1. Go to the Project Gutenberg home page and search for a book by author or title.

2. Click on the title and format to be downloaded.






3. Click on the desired format to download it to your computer. Use EPUB (no images) for Nooks and Kindle (no images) for Kindles.

4. In Internet Explorer, there will be a popup box that gives the option to Save as so that the book will be easier to find later when transferring to the ereader.

5. Connect the ereader to the computer with the USB cord. Then click on the Start menu and go to Computer. The ereader should show up as a device. Drag and drop the book to the ereader. If you're using a Nook, you're done. There's one more step for Kindle users.

6. Double click to open the Kindle. Drag and drop the book into the documents folder.

Always remember to safely eject your ereader from the computer before you start reading!

Downloading/Installing the Kindle app to your mobile device

Downloading/Installing the Kindle app to your mobile device requires a mobile device with an active app store and wireless connection.

1. Locate the Kindle app in your device app store

2. It is a free app but will still require an active app store account to download

3. Follow the prompts for installing the app on your device

4. Once installation is complete, check your device apps for the Kindle icon

5. Now you may read a Kindle ebook on your mobile device using the Ohio eBook Project and an Amazon account.

Look for more information about Downloading Kindle eBooks in future posts.

Dee

Downloading OverDrive on a Kindle Fire

http://nhdbooks.blogspot.com/2011/12/installing-overdrive-media-console-on.html

Would you like to read EPUB books on your Kindle Fire. You will need to install OverDrive Media Console on your Fire. These instructions were found on New Hampshire's Downloadable Books Blog. Enjoy!

Ohio eBook Project and Kindles

It is that time of year when people are anxiously awaiting their new readers and other electronic devices which can be used for digital reading materials. Many go directly to the digital store that support their new reader. But give your Stark County District Library's Ohio eBook Project, our digital collection, a try. There are digital materials such as books, audio files, and/or videos ready for downloading. Need a little help getting started? On the SCDL Computer Training Website, you will find materials, website, tutorials, as well as video tutorials on how to use the Ohio eBook Project.

Amazon Prime Lending vs. Library Lending

Not too long ago we announced with much fanfare that Stark County District Library card holders (and card holders at about 11,000 other libraries) are now able to check out library books to read on their Kindles and Kindle apps.  Here in Stark County, library lending of eBooks has already seen a lot of success, with almost 2,000 downloads in October of 2011. 

But then, earlier this month, Kindle announced that Amazon Prime members will now be able to loan about 5,000 titles directly from Amazon for "free."  First of course, one has to be an Amazon Prime member, which costs $79 dollars a year.

First to discuss exactly what is included in this new deal from Amazon.  When you find a book and go to buy it for your Kindle, if you you are an Amazon Prime member and the book is included in the library, you will be given the option to "Borrow for Free"

Here's the caveat- you can only check on one book at a time, and can only check out one book per calender month.  Meaning if you borrow a book on January 1st, finish it and return it, you will not be able to check out another book until February 1st.  No doubt this measure is meant to encourage people to buy books rather than "borrow" them.  Also you can only use this feature if you have a Kindle.  It will not work on Kindle apps for iPhones and iPads.

On the other side, there are library eBooks.  I can only speak for the Ohio eBook Project and the SEO Library Consortium, which is who the Stark County District Library deals with to get eBooks to our customers.  The eBooks and audiobooks on these sites are, unlike Amazon Prime, actually free.  You can also check out up to 10 at a time from each site (so that makes it possible for Stark County Library card holders to check out up to 20 books at a time).  And of course there is no added barrier of only being able to check out one a month.  You can find books to read on Kindles and Kindle apps, as well as books for other eReaders, such as the Nook and iPad. 

But of course the difference between libraries and Amazon is that Amazon exists to make money, whereas libraries exist to promote literacy and access to information.

And so it will be interesting to see how long this new program from Amazon works.  It has already drawn the ire of not only librarians, but authors and publishers who say this lending is a perversion of the contracts they have with Amazon, calling it "an exercise of brute economic power."

This blogger's advice to Amazon is to tread carefully.  There is no such thing as being too big to fail, just ask Netflix.

General thoughts on the new Kindle Fire and Kindle

Kindle Fire – Day 1
If you are expecting an iPad replacement for the $199 that Kindle charges for the Fire, you will most likely be disappointed. The Fire is a nice device, but it is not an iPad for several reasons. First of all is size. It is significantly smaller than an iPad. The pop-up keyboard can't be used to touch type. The screen has limited real estate. But the size is adequate, unlike an iTouch or iPhone, to easily read and view media such as books and magazines with out the constant zooming in and out that is required on the Touch and Phone. Actually, the screen is just about the perfect size, big enough to view and small enough to be highly portable, for most media. The Fire is slightly heavier than I expected, but not too heavy. It feels well made and sturdy.

Setup of the new device was painless. I connected to my WiFi (I have the WiFi only device) and it immediately downloaded the latest updates and I was up an running in minutes. All of my existing Amazon content was immediately available, EXCEPT.... If you purchased any of the
previous Kindle active content such as games, calculators, notepads, etc., this content does not appear work on the Kindle fire. I'm going to dig a little deeper into that one, but at first look, I don't see that content, and can find no way to make it work.

The interface is intuitive. When you first turn the device one, there are about 3 quick screens of instructions. Those screens provide most of the basics needed to navigate. It all, pretty much, just works. The browser, Silk, is fast and the cloud processing seems to work well. The cloud storage works well and I was able to immediately access the music that I had already stored there. The device comes preloaded with several apps that are “paid apps”, such as QuickOffice. QuickOffice allows you to view Microsoft Office documents. There are also preloaded apps/links for eMail, pulse (a web content aggregation program), Pandora, Facebook, and iMDb. I have not setup the
eMail yet, I'll post later on that process. The instructions indicate that IMAP and POP systems are supported, so eMail setup should allow both the typical systems such as Google, Yahoo, etc., and Microsoft Exchange. The Fire also has the document conversion process that was available on the Keyboard, which allows you to send documents directly to the Fire via an email address. I love this function and use it all the time to carry documents with me to meetings.

The touch screen interface is taking a bit of getting used to. But I had the same issue when I first used an iTouch. You just have to get used to the touch and tap rates. The interface is responsive and not sluggish. I don't expect to have any problems with it within a day or two. Having used a Kindle Keyboard for a year and putting up with the clunky “bookshelf” interface, I love the carousel and the ability to flick through and find what I'm looking for. There are search and sort functions, but I've not found any way to “categorize” content like you can on the Kindle Keyboard.

The device does not come with a USB cable. The charger is a typical “wall-wart” type of charger and is a bit big and clunky. The device uses the same micro-USB cable as the previous Kindle, so if you have one, fine, if not, you'll have to buy one if you want to connect the Fire to your computer to manage content. From all appearance, the Fire is an 8GigaByte device, the same storage space as the smallest iTouch. Since much of the content is in the cloud, this should be adequate for most people. If you are looking to store a lot of audio content locally on the device, this may be a bit
limiting.

So those are my initial findings. I'll post again tomorrow after I dig a little deeper. Just follow the same link to this document that you used and look for the “Day 2” update. I'll also post some comments on the new Kindle Touch later in the day.
WBH

Where to find those free e-books

Many times I'm asked "Where to find free e-books outside of the library catalog?"  What follows directly is "Are these safe sites?"  While I have my favorites that I have provided in the past, Public Libraries published in its July/August 2011 issue a list of free sites that are great additions to the list:
Baen Books: There are about 120 titles available in the science fiction and fantasy genre for PC or Kindle.
Book Lending: Registration is required.  Supports Kindles and you may lend or borrow a book between other users.
Digital Book Index: This site supports iPad, Kindle, and Nook readers.  You may search by title, author, title and author, or title keyword among its 165,000 digital collection.
E-Discover the Classics: Looking for a great classic but don't want to search hours to find them?  Kindles, iPads, Nooks and many other readers are supported. 
Inkmesh: Free and easy to use, Inkmesh has sort by device, free or for cost e-books.  It hosts about 3,500 e-books in fiction and nonfiction.
Open Library: Need children's books?  Open Library includes title from popular Golden Books.   Formats include but not limited to PDF and EPUB.  Membership required.

Don't forget to check out your local library for their digital collection.

Stark County District Library: 

Hi Everyone,
I've been testing out the Kindle on the Ohio eBook Project. The Ohio eBook Project is Stark County District Library's catalog for e-resources such as audio books, music, videos, and more. Prior to September 21st, we could not download those e-resources to a Kindle eReader.
I must admit the ease of use is encouraging. Required: a Kindle eReader with WiFi, a computer with Internet connection, and a SCDL (including Massillon and Louisville Public Libraries) library card. Simple use the SCDL catalog or go directly to the Ohio eBook Project website search for your e-resource, follow the prompts, and let the WiFi do the rest. The next time you enter a WiFi zone, your e-resource will download to your Kindle eReader. Or you may also use a USB connection to download immediately.
Very Exciting!
If you would like a Kindle/Ohio eBook Project training/demonstration, look for our training classes in the Stark Scene Newsletter or on our website calendar.