eBooks are literally electronic or digital books that can be downloaded just like any other digital media and read with the appropriate software, very much like you do with your music or photos.
There are many eBook formats that use different readers but the main ones that are widely used by Waterstones, Amazon and other leading book retailers are
You may download any of these readers for free to your desktop, laptop or other handheld device so that you can read your eBooks, subject to operating system requirements.
In addition to text based eBooks, audio books are also available. These are typically available in MP3 or WMA format.
Mobipocket, owned by Amazon the internet book seller, is free software that can be loaded on to PDAs, mobile phones or computers to enable the user to read eBooks that are encrypted (Digital Rights Management) to prevent unlawful resale or copying of books. It should also be noted that Mobipocket eBooks are not printable, this measure is also for copyright protection.
Whenever you buy an eBook through Mobipocket or one of its partners you download the book on to your device, but they also store a copy in your own virtual private library for you to access 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
At the current time (September 2008) they offer more than 70,000 eBooks covering categories such as romance, adventure, thrillers, reference, business, finance, and health. They have eBooks available in English, French, German, Spanish, Hindi and many other languages.
Although 70,000 books is a large collection of books, you do need to make sure that they offer the books you want before choosing a Mobipocket as your eBook reader software. Best to look for readers that read other formats in addition to Mobipocket, like the Sony Reader
In addition to offering free eBook reader software, they also offer free software so that you too can create your own digitally rights managed eBooks. This is known as the eBook Creator.
We have not tested the Cybook by Bookeen