Ebooks

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Re: iCloud Drive

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        Here John Carter jumps in to the discussion, "A major disadvantage of iCloud is that it does not allow sharing between users in the way that Dropbox does. However, iCloud has other features that aren’t available in Dropbox. So it becomes prudent to know what iCloud is for and to take advantage of those features in addition to using Dropbox for what it does best.

        "To get informed on what iCloud is for, get the eBook “Take Control of iCloud” by Joe Kissell (2nd Edition) here. (Click on “All Ebooks” in the left margin to find the title. A 30% MUG discount will be applied at checkout.)"
        John provides this further info:  "Here’s an outline of the major iCloud features:
   * Media syncing
   * My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing
   * Syncing documents and app data
    * Mail, Contacts, Calendar, browser data, Reminders, and Notes
    * iCloud Keychain
    * iCloud.com
    *  Find My Device and Find My Friends
    * iCloud backup
    * Apple TV
    * Back to my Mac
      And John summarizes,  "Some of those features require Mavericks, and some are available in Mountain Lion or Lion."
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Set Up an eBook Library on an iPad

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        "Here's a helpful article on how to set up an eBook Library on an iPad," says Jim Hamm.  He continues,  "At the Apple store this past Friday I took a look at the new iPad Mini, and because of its small size and light weight, it might make a good eBook reader. But as I played with it, I didn't like the small font size on websites. I had to increase the font in order to comfortably read it. I didn't like doing that. On my iPad 2 I can easily read website font, without adjustment, because of the larger size of the screen. 
        "Before buying an iPad Mini (if you should have an interest), be sure to look at the font size first. The font size on eBooks might be larger, but I wasn't able to check this out. For easy portability, though, the new iPad Mini would be handy. And, like all the iPads, it is a beautiful device.
        "At the Apple store I also compared, side by side, my iPad 2 with the new iPad 4. I couldn't tell an appreciable difference between the two. In theory, the iPad 4 has a better screen and a faster processor, but I couldn't tell a difference in performance or viewing.  If there was a difference, it wasn't enough to impress me."
        Here John Carter adds his opinion of the MakeUseOf newsletter earlier reviewed by Jim Hamm above, " In addition to the article, you'll find several advertisement links to free eBooks - but I would be careful about going there as you never know how much money those "free" eBooks will actually cost you.

        "There are also advertisement links to help you convert PDF files to the eBook format, links to help you write your own eBook, and links to help you self-publish your eBooks. Again, click with caution on any advertisement link."
        And John also mentions, "The article itself is chock full of suggestions and tips on how to find eBooks, and not just for the iPad, but for the Kindle as well. And did you know that you can read a Kindle eBook on the iPad? There's an app for that."
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Who Inherits Your eBooks?

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        Here is an interesting article discussing who owns your ebooks and digital music when you pass on. Jim Hamm writes, "I hadn't even thought of this till I read this article. As the article points out, both Apple and Amazon, for example, only grant you 'nontransferable' rights to use digital data — all that music and ebooks you bought, you don't own. If this is of concern to you, one way around this restriction would be to purchase CDs for music and printed books.
        "If you choose to continue the digital life (as many of us will — it's so easy and convenient), leave the passwords for your computers and tablets and Kindles where your heirs can find them. Perhaps in your cookie jar — kids know to look there first."  And here Jim leaves us with ideas to ponder — and his grin! 
 

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FREE Books From Amazon

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Here's another listing of FREE books from Amazon.  Jim Hamm informs us, "A few possible downloads I saw, but most seemed to be romance novels. Apparently, one has to check back periodically to see if any books of interest have been added."  Then he added, "I like the daily email of free books from Amazon that I get from the following link much better.""Didn't I see something earlier about ebooks?" you're asking.  Look along the right hand side for the listings.  Click to bring up the category.  There are 13 postings already about ebooks. "But, Jim, how can I read these FREE books on Mac if I don't have an e-reader like iPad?" John Carter gives us this solution: For all your Amazon e-books, download and use Kindle. Works on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. And it keeps your place when you go from one device to another. Got time to experiment with it, somebody?  Let us know!

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More About FREE E-books

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        Since our posting of April 6 here Jim Hamm has found another site, offering free e-books.  He tells us, "If you enjoy reading e-books, here is an article describing various methods of getting free e-books. Also, the Calibre program discussed in the article is useful in converting a document into a format your device can use."
        This just in:  the last of April Amazon released a program for Mac, "Send to Kindle for Mac" that allows users to easily send personal documents and DR-free ebooks to Kindle ereaders and apps and the Kindle cloud archive from Mac computers.  See more here.

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eBooks on Sale

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        This, just in from John Carter:  "O’Reilly is having a special 50% off sale on ebooks.
$11.99 – Switching to Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition
$13.99 – Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual
$4.99 – Troubleshooting Your Mac, Second Edition
$11.97 – My New Mac, Lion Edition
$15.99 – Office 2010: The Missing Manual
$15.99 – Excel 2010: The Missing Manual No code required.
        "Visit the O’Reilly site before midnight tonight, (Pacific Time) April 26, 2012  to take advantage of this great offer!"

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Who Should Set the Price?

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        "In case you didn't see it, here is a good article debating both sides of the question: 'who should set prices on books -- the publishers or retailers'?"  Jim Hamm sends this article from MacWorld.  He says, "Although there's arguments to be made for both sides, I'm for retailers setting the price they want to charge. To paraphrase a point in the article, do you want, say, a chicken producer in Iowa setting the price of what you pay to buy a chicken in a local Safeway store?"  Following the article find 33+ comments so far this morning.  What's yours?

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Selling e-Books

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        Recent news about Apple caught Jim Hamm's attention.  He passes on what he's found out, "Here is an interesting article about the recent lawsuit against Apple and five major book publishers by the Department of Justice. I guess I'm against the idea of publishers forcing retailers to sell an e-book at a certain price. A retailer should be able to set their own price — that's the way competitive capitalism is supposed to work. However, according to this article, Amazon, at one point, sold new e-books below their cost, effectively slowly killing the real book industry. Is this good or bad? Why would Amazon want to do this, anyway — maybe to sell more Kindles, do you suppose?
        "Three publishers have already settled the lawsuit, but Apple and two publishers haven't settled yet. It will be interesting to see what ultimately happens with Apple in this lawsuit."

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FREE E-Books

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        He does know how to get our attention:  "Free!"  Jim Hamm goes on to say, "Here is an article about free eBooks for your iPad or Kindle. For the iPad you might want to install the free app: eBook Search. Then you can really get started looking for eBooks."  That's 38,000 FREE eBooks.  (He closes the email with "sent from my iPad" so you know he's grinning, too.)

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Digital Books vs. Traditional Books

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        Printed books have a growing competitor in ePub or digital books.  Helping us keep informed about this we hear from Jim Hamm.  He asks, "Want to download and read a book on your Mac? The TidBITS Newsletter brings forth an ePub reader for the Mac. Here's two articles that offer more info on this."  This one is from Macworld. 
       Here's a video talking about the publishing of e-books, as compared to traditional books.  Jim comments,"I found it interesting to hear how the two models compare, particularly from the perspective of authors."  

How to Check Out eBooks at Library

Following is a brief article on checking ebooks from a library. Jim Hamm explains, "As the http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/hands-on-checking-out-library-books-with-kindle.ars article states, the process is a bit clunky, but it works and it's much easier than driving to the library twice — once to borrow and once to return a book. Over time, I feel certain, the process will improve and the selection of available ebooks will increase."