I was the kind of person who had paperbacks everywhere in the house. And then a friend told me to try a Kindle. I don't think I've seen a thread here about ebooks or ereaders and camping, so I thought I'd share a couple of resources; and get the geeky conversation started.
If you like reading while camping, and don't have an eReader yet--ask yourself why not. There are several sources for free (public domain) books, or for freely borrowing new releases from libraries in ebook format. Now when I go camping I make sure my ereader is charged, and I have lots of books on it--but I rarely actually buy a book; because there are so many free resources. But I've noticed when camping that although a lot of fellow campers have ereaders, in chatting about ereaders those campers aren't aware of the multiple free resources for books that are there.
Just about any electronic hand-held gizmo you might have will have an app for reading ebooks. For reading outside, however, an "e-ink" device is generally easier to read in outside light. So if you've tried reading on an Android, or i-Device outside and been irritated due to the screen glare or washed-out screen, you may want to try any one of the $70 or less e-ink ereaders. Personally, I like the ability to have a backlight, but still be e-ink; so I have the Kindle Paperwhite. But Kobo and the Nook line have similar devices, too.
But in my opinion, the device you choose isn't as important as knowing how to get a huge "stack" of books to read while camping. A couple of free locations in case you weren't aware of them. There are more resources than these, but here's a starting point if you weren't aware of any of them:
1) Ready to download, minimal techno-geek knowledge required:
a.http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain
b.http://www.gutenberg.org/
c. If you have a Kindle (or a device which reads .mobi), bookmark this, and grab the new version every once in a while: http://www.mobileread.com/mobiguide
Once you have that "book" on your Kindle, in that is a listing of hundreds (thousands?) of public domain books you can download directly to your Kindle--just need to be connected to the internet.
2) Getting geekier here, but help available:
More and more public libraries are part of Overdrive,http://www.overdrive.com/ The easiest way to get started is to go to your local public library, and see if they are affiliated and learn how to check out new releases using overdrive and whatever device you have.
3) Get your full-on geek going:
If you have a "regular" computer (windows or mac), and you are relatively proficient in how to install and use new stuff, there's a program called Calibre,http://calibre-ebook.com/, at first glance it's for seeing what ebooks you own / have on your device. But one of the neat things people have done is (because they are full-on geeks) have written PlugIns for Calibre, or have written "news downloads" for various newspapers. So you can have Calibre download (for example) the articles from a current newspaper--if someone has written a template for that particular newspaper--and Calibre will format it into the ebook format you need. Then you copy it to your ereader to read when you want to. Another Plugin I've used is the one for "FanFiction"; that let's you download fan fiction from web sites like www.fanfiction.net, www.anarchiveofourown.org,http://www.fanfiction.mugglenet.com, www.whofic.com ...and a whole plethora of other sites. Fan Fiction may or may not be completed stories, and the quality of the story may be poor (potentially written by a 12-year old for their middle-school Lit class), but when you are looking for a free read, and you are addicted to Dr. Who type stories...enough said.
4) Not Free Books:
Of course, you can always actually go BUY an ebook. Every ebook device you have will often have a ebook store associated with it (nook = Barnes and Noble, Kobo = Kobobooks, Kindle = Amazon, etc. etc.) so you can of course always spend actual money.
If you like reading while camping, and don't have an eReader yet--ask yourself why not. There are several sources for free (public domain) books, or for freely borrowing new releases from libraries in ebook format. Now when I go camping I make sure my ereader is charged, and I have lots of books on it--but I rarely actually buy a book; because there are so many free resources. But I've noticed when camping that although a lot of fellow campers have ereaders, in chatting about ereaders those campers aren't aware of the multiple free resources for books that are there.
Just about any electronic hand-held gizmo you might have will have an app for reading ebooks. For reading outside, however, an "e-ink" device is generally easier to read in outside light. So if you've tried reading on an Android, or i-Device outside and been irritated due to the screen glare or washed-out screen, you may want to try any one of the $70 or less e-ink ereaders. Personally, I like the ability to have a backlight, but still be e-ink; so I have the Kindle Paperwhite. But Kobo and the Nook line have similar devices, too.
But in my opinion, the device you choose isn't as important as knowing how to get a huge "stack" of books to read while camping. A couple of free locations in case you weren't aware of them. There are more resources than these, but here's a starting point if you weren't aware of any of them:
1) Ready to download, minimal techno-geek knowledge required:
a.http://www.feedbooks.com/publicdomain
b.http://www.gutenberg.org/
c. If you have a Kindle (or a device which reads .mobi), bookmark this, and grab the new version every once in a while: http://www.mobileread.com/mobiguide
Once you have that "book" on your Kindle, in that is a listing of hundreds (thousands?) of public domain books you can download directly to your Kindle--just need to be connected to the internet.
2) Getting geekier here, but help available:
More and more public libraries are part of Overdrive,http://www.overdrive.com/ The easiest way to get started is to go to your local public library, and see if they are affiliated and learn how to check out new releases using overdrive and whatever device you have.
3) Get your full-on geek going:
If you have a "regular" computer (windows or mac), and you are relatively proficient in how to install and use new stuff, there's a program called Calibre,http://calibre-ebook.com/, at first glance it's for seeing what ebooks you own / have on your device. But one of the neat things people have done is (because they are full-on geeks) have written PlugIns for Calibre, or have written "news downloads" for various newspapers. So you can have Calibre download (for example) the articles from a current newspaper--if someone has written a template for that particular newspaper--and Calibre will format it into the ebook format you need. Then you copy it to your ereader to read when you want to. Another Plugin I've used is the one for "FanFiction"; that let's you download fan fiction from web sites like www.fanfiction.net, www.anarchiveofourown.org,http://www.fanfiction.mugglenet.com, www.whofic.com ...and a whole plethora of other sites. Fan Fiction may or may not be completed stories, and the quality of the story may be poor (potentially written by a 12-year old for their middle-school Lit class), but when you are looking for a free read, and you are addicted to Dr. Who type stories...enough said.
4) Not Free Books:
Of course, you can always actually go BUY an ebook. Every ebook device you have will often have a ebook store associated with it (nook = Barnes and Noble, Kobo = Kobobooks, Kindle = Amazon, etc. etc.) so you can of course always spend actual money.
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