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By David Rothman

Update, 2:40 p.m.: The New York Times has just written up the Samizdat public domain CD project and mentioned other public domain sources. – DR

Mobipocket screenshotVia DownloadSquad, here’s a helpful list of a few sites with free e-books suitable for cellphones or PDAs. Along the way, Brad Linder makes some interesting observations of ease of e-books vs. p-books—the P/E controversy, as I’ll call it. “The small screens actually organize text in such a way that your eyes don’t have to scroll very far from left to right, making speed reading a little easier.”

Meanwhile, notice his focus on “free”? I wish more publishers would get it. If they don’t want a whole generation to grow up shunning commercial e-books, then they need to work more closely with the library world. The library model means free e-books for consumers while preserving compensation for writers and publishers.

By the way, the p-library model isn’t very free to me—I need to get to the Alexandria, VA, Library today to pay off a $10+ fine on overdue p-books, whereas the e versions expire painlessly and automatically. I’m pretty grumpy. But at least I’m better off in this situation than the poor. Imagine the digital-and-educational divide angle—and the blessing that the e-library model in the TeleRead vein could mean for the poor and the rest of us, while still providing for revenue for the publishing industry. Funding of e-books wouldn’t be so happenstance in nature.

Detail: Oh, for the local library to carry genuine e-books, not just the audio variety. Meanwhile laptops are showing up in Alexandria schools without the system having a good idea of what to do with them. Imagine what e-books—if supported and explained well—could mean in this town.

Related: MobileRead discussion of how many e-books people have actually bought.

 
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