Download and Read ebooks

Transcription

1 Download and Read ebooks Many ebooks are available online, and as well as being read on ereaders and tablets (e.g. ipads) they may be downloaded and read on your computer. Books which have been scanned and converted to ebooks now number in the millions. Most of these must be purchased (cheaper than buying books), but there are thousands which are free; these are generally older titles out of copyright. These notes describe selecting and downloading ebooks from websites, and reading them on your computer using two free desktop applications, Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions. Downloading to an ereader is also described Two versions of Adobe Digital Editions are available: version 1.7 (download from besides for reading, this allows you to download ebook files from your computer to an ereader; version 1.8 Preview (download from labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions1-8); this is probably easier for reading on-screen than version 1.7. Two main ereaders are available in New Zealand: Kindle (associated with Amazon.com) and Kobo and similar (e.g. Sony). Like Apple and Microsoft, the ebooks for these have incompatiblefile fomats. I purchased a Kobo ereader (with 100 free books) from Whitcoulls. The associated international Kobo website ( has over 2 million books available. Kobo and similar ereaders generally use EPUB and PDF formats. Files can be converted to a format suitable for your ereader using Hamster Free Ebook Converter (download from ebook.hamstersoft.com/en/home). ebooks Using Adobe Digital Editions Download and install Adobe Digital Editions, v With books downloaded to Adobe Digital Editions (see later sections), open Adobe Digital Editions Icons to select Library View or Thumbnail View are at the right All Items, Not Read, Borrowed, Purchased, Recently Read, and Recently Added are at the left. Click on Library > Sort By to sort books in various ways: Title, Author, Publisher, Last Read, Date Added, Pages, or Status Double-click on an ebook listed in Library or Thumbnail view Click on Reading to select Show/Hide Navigation Panel, Add Bookmark, PDF View, EPUB Text Size, Next [Page], Go To Page, Show Page Numbers, Find

2 The Navigation Panel opens on the left, showing the Chapters (if the Table of Contents is selected; clicking on a chapter will open that chapter EPUB Text Size (or clicking on the icon at the right) allows Small (3 columns), Medium (2 columns), or Large, Extra Large, or Ultra Large (single column) Also move to the next (or previous) page by the Right/Left or Up/Down keyboard cursor buttons, Page Up or Page Down, or or (bottom right of screen) Go to allows you to select a particular page or use the slider at the bottom of the screen Turn the pages using buttons or the Left/Right cursor keys on the keyboard Click to select Contents Click to select Settings : Text Size Text Style (various fonts) Alignment (Default, Left, Justified) Margins Theme (Colour/Background) Click on for Full Screen Return to Library, etc. Close using A book is bookmarked at the last page it was open at (see the illustration). The next time the book is opened it will open at this page. ebooks Using Kindle For PC App Download and install the Kindle for PC App Open Click on Kindle > Free Kindle reading Apps Select Windows (under Computers ) Click on Download; follow on-screen instructions to save and install Click on Kindle > Free Kindle reading Apps

3 Read ebooks on Kindle For PC App Open the Kindle for PC App (the Library is shown above) This can be sorted (View > Sort by): Recent, Title, Author Double-click on a book to open it The toolbar has Library, Sync to furthest page read, Add bookmark, Go to location in book, Change font size, colour, words per line (see illustration), Multiple columns, Full screen In Full Screen, a toolbar has Sync to furthest page read, Add bookmark, Change font size, colour, words per line, Multiple columns, and Exit Full screen Download ebooks from Amazon for Kindle For PC App With Kindle for PC open, open Type title, author, etc. in the Search Bar (or type free ebooks ) Scroll down, go to further pages (there are hundreds of them); click on book to select In the window which opens, click on Buy now with 1-Click Sign in (for new customer, complete the information required In the box with Deliver to... your Kindle for PC will be listed; click on Continue A box informs you that the ebook is waiting for you on the Kindle library; click on Go to Kindle for PC

4 Download ebooks from Kobo (Have Adobe Digital Editions open when downloading files, and they will be added to the library) Open then either: Type Title, Author, etc. in Search Bar Select Top 50, New Releases, Free ebooks, etc Browse suggested titles on home page Browse New Releases, Bestsellers, etc. Browse Categories When an ebook is selected: If a free ebook, click on Add to Library If buying, click on Buy Now Choose Create an Account (first time), or Sign in Give Credit Card details (new account; if existing account, details are held) Click on My Library (above the Search Bar when signed in) Click on Download EPUB In the download window, select Open with Adobe Digital Editions, click on OK If Adobe Digital Editions is not open on your computer, then Save file is selected and the file will be saved where downloaded files are saved on your computer.

5 Downloading ebooks from Other Websites A Google search will reveal many websites where ebooks can be downloaded, including: Project Gutenberg ( Over 39,000 free books. A variety of formats is available for each; in the example shown, EPUB was chosen for the Kobo ereader Save to your Downloads folder Open Adobe Digital Editions; click on File > Add to Library Locate saved file; doubleclick on it Books on Board ( and ebooks.com ( You ll have to pay for these

6 Transfer a book from Adobe Digital Editions to a Kobo ereader This can be done with version 1.7 of Adobe Digital Editions, but not in the Preview version The layout and background colour (black) of earlier versions differ from the Preview version (which is ideal for reading ebooks shown on the previous page ). When an ereader is plugged into a computer with Adobe Digital Editions v1.7 open, it is detected and listed in the left panel. ebooks in the Library can be dragged and dropped to the ereader listed in the left panel (see the illustration at right). Convert Files to EPUB Format using Hamster Free Ebook Converter Files in some formats (.doc,.docx,.rtf) can be converted to EPUB format for reading on an ereader by a number of downloadable programs. One of these is Hamster Free Ebook Converter (from This will convert files for use in a number of ereaders (below right). There are also a number of Formats and platforms it will convert to (below). Prepared by Neal Utting edent@clear.net.nz