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When you are looking for E-books, there are a number of factors you should take into account: reader device, formats, DRM, and price are some that I intend to cover in this article.
Quand vous êtes à la recherche de livres électroniques, vous devez tenir compte de plusieurs éléments : le lecteur, les formats, la gestion des droits numériques (les « DRM ») et le prix en sont quelques-uns que je voudrais traiter dans cet article.
Readers The first decision you need to make is what device you intend to read your E-books on. The three large online booksellers in the United States - Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), and Borders (Kobo) - each offers a dedicated device for reading E-books. And consumer electronics companies like Sony (Reader) are beginning to offer devices. Among the advantages of these devices is that they offer a form factor close to that of a real printed book; with e-ink they are often easier to read; and with e-ink they offer really long battery life (as much as two weeks between charges). Their disadvantages are that they are one more device to carry around; they cost between $100 and $200 each; and they are limited in the formats they can handle.
Les lecteurs
La première décision que vous aurez besoin de prendre concerne l'appareil sur lequel vous allez lire les e-books. Les trois grands marchands de livres en ligne aux États-Unis - Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook) et Borders (Kobo) - offre chacun un lecteur dédié pour leurs e-books. Et des sociétés productrices d'appareils électroniques pour les individus, telle Sony (Reader) commencent à proposer des appareils. Parmi les avantages de ces lecteurs est le fait qu'ils vous offrent un élément de forme proche de celle d'un vrai livre papier. Parce qu'ils utilisent de l'encre électronique (e-ink), ils sont souvent plus facile à lire et, avec cet e-ink, leurs batteries ont une durée de vie vraiment très longue (jusqu'à deux semaines entre les charges). Leurs inconvénients sont que cela fait encore un truc à prendre avec vous. Ils coûtent chacun entre 100 et 200 $ US (entre environ 75 et 150 euros) et les formats qu'ils peuvent lire sont limités.
The next option that is becoming more popular is to use an e-reader application running on a tablet device, such as the iPad or one of the many Android tablets. All three of the above booksellers offer free applications for tablet computers. These allow you to search for and purchase books from your tablet, and then download them to it.
Ensuite, vous avez la possibilité - qui devient de plus en plus populaire - d'utiliser une application de lecture sur un tablet, tel que le iPad ou un des nombreux tablets sous Android. Chacun des trois marchands de livres cités ci-dessus proposent des applications gratuites pour les tablets PC. Celles-ci vous permettent de rechercher des livres et de les acheter à partir de votre tablet, puis de les télécharger dessus.
The last option, and the one I use, is to use software on my Android phone. I covered the application Aldiko in my previous article, which has both free and inexpensive paid versions. I also have the three bookseller applications installed. I personally find this the best option for one simple reason: I always have my phone with me. So any time I have a few minutes to kill, I can pull out my phone and do a little reading.
La dernière possibilité - celle que j'ai choisie - est d'utiliser un logiciel sur mon téléphone sous Android. Dans l'article précedent, j'ai parlé de l'application Aldiko dont il y a des versions gratuites et payantes, mais peu chères. J'ai également installé les applications des trois marchands de livres. Personnellement, je trouve que c'est le meilleur choix pour une raison très simple : j'ai toujours mon téléphone à portée de main. Alors, chaque fois que j'ai quelques minutes de libre, je peut sortir mon portable et lire un peu.
Formats Sadly, there is no uniformity for formats in E-books. Some of the formats have been around for a while, like the PDB format used by the Palm Pilot. Others are proprietary, such as Amazon's AZW format. In my previous article, I showed you how to convert books between most unprotected formats using Calibre. Since my primary e-reader software (Aldiko) prefers Epub, I look for books in that format, or books that are unprotected that I can convert to that format. You need to see which formats can be read in deciding on a device or on e-reader software.
Les formats
Malheureusement, il n'y a pas d'uniformité dans les formats des e-books. Quelques-uns - je pense au format PDB utilisé par le Palm Pilot - sont là depuis un bon bout de temps. D'autres sont propriétaires, tels le format AZW d'Amazon. Dans l'article précédent, je vous ai montré comment convertir des livres de et vers des formats non protégés en utilisant Calibre. Puisque le logiciel principal que j'utilise pour lire les e-books est Aldiko qui préfère Epub, je cherche des livres dans ce format-là ou, alors, des livres non protégés qui peuvent être converti dans le format. Avant de choisir un lecteur ou un logiciel de lecture, vous devez vérifier lesquels des formats peuvent être lus.
DRM We seem to be going through a great deal of difficulty with publishers of all media over digital restrictions. It started with the music industry, which now seems to be wising up to how to keep their customers by providing music in convenient files that are not locked down. Between E-music and Amazon, I purchase all of the music I want in plain, unprotected MP3 files. Unfortunately, book publishers are still competing to see who can be the most annoying to their customers. While there are various illegal methods for finding books, I do not intend to explain how to do that. I will point out that these “alternatives” tend to be low-quality and not very satisfactory. And I have found I can obtain high-quality books quite legally that are DRM-free.
Les DRM
Price
If you go to an online bookseller like Amazon and look around, you will see that most books being published these days are being offered in electronic formats at the same time as the dead-tree versions come out. The negative is that they tend to be offered at prices that are as high, if not higher, as the hardcover editions. But there are exceptions, some of which are quite nice. And there are places where you can get books for free, quite legally.
Project Gutenberg
If you know your history, you may recognize the name Gutenberg as the person who is credited with developing (in the West, I know) the printing press. This online project (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page) took his name for creating a library of free books which are in the public domain. Public domain books are no longer subject to copyright, and there are a lot of good books, including many of the classics, that fall into this category. Here are just a few of the books you can find, which were selected by Wired magazine (October 2010) as the best free E-books you can find here:
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain • A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs • Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley • Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
Project Gutenberg has 33,000 books available, so you won't lack for good books to read. These books are not, of course, the latest best-sellers.
Baen Books
Baen Books (http://www.baen.com/) is doing something really good, and I hope it works well for them. They have created something called the Baen Free Library, in which they offer high-quality, absolutely free, and non-DRMed books for download. If you are a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy (and I'd guess most of the folks reading this article are), this is a great way to start building your library. They offer a variety of the most popular formats as well.
Now you might wonder what their business model is. And the answer is that the Free Library is just a selection from their much larger line of books. For example, you can download the first book of David Weber's popular Honor Harrington series, On Basilisk Station, for free. If you like it, they have at least 9 more, and they are available for only $6 each, in high-quality non-DRMed files. I have downloaded a bunch of the free books, but I have also purchased a half-dozen books from them. I check their site periodically to see what is new. Their site is also worth visiting for other free content and author interviews.
WebScription
This (http://www.webscription.net/) is an offshoot of Baen's ebook site, but it offers books from a variety of other publishers as well. Ace Trade, Del Rey, and Tor are among the larger publishers getting on board, as well as some of the smaller specialty publishers like Subterranean Press and Nightshade Books. As you might expect from the Baen connection, the selections all appear to be Science Fiction or Fantasy
ManyBooks.net
This site draws a lot of its content from Project Gutenberg, but also adds some things that are not Public Domain, but which have been made available. I have found books there that are current (e.g. Accelerando, by Charles Stross), so it is worth checking out.
Fictionwise
Fictionwise (http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/multiformat.htm) offers books (and some magazines) at very reasonable prices, and without DRM. The selection is heavy on Science Fiction and Fantasy, but does go beyond. They seem to have a lot of Romance, if that is your thing. I'd rate this higher except it looks like they have their own proprietary format and require you to use their reader. The reader is free to download, but, they don't have an Android version, and so I have not tried them out. Still, the rest of the deal looks pretty good, so check it out if you are interested.
Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow (http://craphound.com/?cat=5) deserves a mention all by himself because of his stance on freedom. He insists that his books be available without DRM, and is opposed to DRM in all forms. He has made free e-book versions of his works available on his website, and, despite this, his sales keep going up. His view is that the two are related: the more people are exposed to his work, the more likely they are to buy his books when they get the chance. Right now you can download quality versions, without DRM, free of charge from his site, and he won't even let you put money in a tip jar. He says that if you want to support him, buy a paper copy and give it to a library. Pretty good advice, I think.
Summary
This is just a snapshot of the market as it is right now (I am writing this in early 2011). I'd bet things would be better in a year. Many of the authors realize that expensive DRMed e-books are not doing them any favors, and are just restricting their market. Just as musicians discovered - building a fan base is much better in the long run. So I think we will start to see publishers try out offering books more conveniently.
But, until that day comes, we do have some options. I'd like to point out, as well, that sites like Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks ask for donations. If you are using them to get free e-books, give them a donation to help expand the offerings they can provide. It is just the right thing to do.