Tuesday, January 1, 2008

eBooks directly to your handheld



One of the coolest things about Amazon's new Kindle eBook reader is the ability to download content directly to the reader, without having to use a separate computer. (Although, as I mentioned before, it was really the old Rocket eBook devices that pioneered this notion, delivering eBooks just by plugging your reader into a phone line.)

In order to compete, eReader.com now is offering their flagship eReader Pro software for free for Windows Mobile PDAs and Windows-powered smartphones, and they've added "OTA" -- "over-the-air" -- technology to let you download books directly to the device.

But what about us folks with Palm OS devices? Well, if yours has WiFi (as mine does) or you have a Palm OS smartphone, try this for an easy experience downloading public-domain and Creative Commons ebooks straight to your device: the mobile-optimized mnybks.net, a simplified portal to the manybooks.net site I raved about earlier:



The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site


5 Comments:

At January 01, 2008 6:39 PM , Anonymous nick said...

You can also try http://www.booksinmyphone.com - classics and creative commons works for java capable phones 'OTA' or via a PC.

They have a MIDP-1.0 reader for older phones and a MIDP-2.0 reader that takes advantage of the whole screen for newer phones. According to sun it should work on 90% of phones sold today (ymmv).

 
At January 01, 2008 9:02 PM , Blogger Jim said...

Do you need to be loged into a Hot Spot for this to work?

 
At January 01, 2008 9:32 PM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

Jim: yes. (For eReader and mnybks.net, not for the Kindle.)

 
At January 03, 2008 7:17 AM , Blogger Lou Sytsma said...

Hey very cool! Thanks for the heads up Rob!

 
At January 04, 2008 11:02 AM , Blogger Nick Matthews said...

Thanks Rob!

I installed Mobipocket (an ebook reader) onto my BlackBerry, and now have a few classics to read on the go.

I can get OTA downloads from mnybks.net, which works through WiFi hotspots, or over the cellular network (of course, one should be aware of what data rates they may incur from their cellular provider).

 

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