WOWIO: Free eBooks (ad-supported)

[Ahknaton]

USA only :(

http://www.wowio.com/index.asp

What is WOWIO?
WOWIO is a new kind of online bookstore that enables readers to download ebooks for free, using commercial sponsorships to compensate authors and publishers. Readers get free ebooks. Sponsors get a powerful new channel to communicate their message to precisely the people they want to reach. Publishers get a new means of distributing their books, expanding their readership, and monetizing their intellectual property.

What is an ebook?
An ebook is an electronic book. It looks and works just like a print book except that you read it on a computer, mobile device, or ebook reader.

How do I get started?
Set up a WOWIO account and then download free ebooks. That's all there is to it. If you don't have Acrobat Reader, download the latest version from Adobe for free.

How do I get my books?
First, find the books you want and click on the "Add to Download Queue" button. When you are ready to get your books, click on the QUEUE button at the top right of the page. The Download Queue shows a numbered list of the books you chose. You can get the top three books in your Download Queue each day, not to exceed 30 per month. You can change the position of books by changing their corresponding numbers (left of title) and clicking Update. Click the GET EBOOKS button when you are ready to get your books. Download buttons will appear when your books are ready for download (this usually takes a couple of minutes). You can wait for the Download buttons to appear, or you can come back later. An email will be sent to you when your books are ready. Clicking the Download buttons will save each ebook on your computer.

Do I need any special software or equipment?
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe Web site. A broadband connection is not technically necessary, but strongly recommended. That's it.

Why do you require that I authenticate my identity?
Signing up for a WOWIO account requires that you agree to the terms of a licensing agreement. Since an agreement is only meaningful when it is between two real parties, we require that people offer some proof that they are who they say they are. This licensing arrangement is what enables WOWIO to protect the content of our publishing partners and provide you with free ebooks.

Is my information kept private?
Absolutely. We only allow publishers and sponsors to review usage data in aggregate. No user-specific information is ever shared, sold, or disclosed in any way.

Do I have to be a United States resident to sign up to WOWIO?
For now, WOWIO is only available to people living in the United States. Copyright laws vary by country and currently our licensing restrictions limit distribution to U.S. residents.

[Warka]

Another eBook resource dangerbot linked to in the Shoutbox recently: http://www.ebookee.com/

[Macrobius]

This is more a techie thing, but it has some potential if you have your own website:

http://www.scribd.com/ipaper (iPaper widget, with various deploy options for streaming PDFs from your site).

The service itself is worth a search

http://www.scribd.com

[Dan Dare]

wowio seems to have a few nuggets but much dross.

Searching under publishers, Oxford University Press for example, there does seem to be a whiff of the remainder table about the offerings.

Still mouths and gift horses is probably the best way to approach it.

[il ragno]

I'm so used to the heft and portability and reassuring solidity of actual, physical books I wouldn't be a good candidate for this. I even enjoy the smell of the paper stock!

[Baron_Corvo]

I'm so used to the heft and portability and reassuring solidity of actual, physical books I wouldn't be a good candidate for this. I even enjoy the smell of the paper stock!

Me too, a good book is a sensual object as far as I'm concerned.

[Kim Jong Tha Illest]

I am sympathetic to what some people are saying about paper and binding. Fortunately, if you are pretty keen on this kind of thing, you can turn e-books to print books fairly inexpensively*. If you have a printer, all you need is a hand press (about $150) and some contact cement. It kind of kills on your ink, but there are all kinds of places you can get bulk ink (id recommend this anyway, ink doesn't go stale) for literally cents to the dollar compared to the rip-off pre-filled cartridges. Shareware programs like ClickBook can do all the page arranging for you (still looking for a freeware counterpart). After initial expense (the printer and hand press - although I'm assuming that most people on the internuts either have a printer or can access one) you can rock out at something like a buck fifty a book (up to 1000 pages trade pb style), for something indistinguishable from a commercial print run. Of course, if you want a fancy cover and nice paper, it'll be a bit more.

http://www.gigabooks.net/ is a good resource here.

*DISCLAIMER: it should go without saying that this is only for making personal copies of books that you have paid for. Printing books that you do not own is piracy, and piracy is illegal.