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PRODUCT SHOOTOUT
eBookstore roundup: finding the best deals
By Heather Wardell
Electronic books (eBooks) have a number of advantages over the paper versions. If you already take a handheld or smartphone with you, your eBooks can be with you wherever you go, and they don't weigh any more whether you're carrying one or five books at once. When I first began reading eBooks, the selection was limited, but now a huge variety of books can be found electronically.
"Some stores offered the identical book for almost 60% less money than other stores."
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But where to find them? This article compares several eBook providers and gives their price for Stephen King's novel Cell and Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles for comparison purposes (prices accurate as of June 20, 2007). This will help you get a feel for how the prices of eBooks from top authors vary and where to get the best deals.
One thing that surprised us: some stores offered the identical book for almost 60% less money than some of the other stores.
www.eReader.com
The first eBook site I bought from and still the first one I check when I'm looking for a new book, eReader.com has a catalog of more than seventeen thousand titles. Unfortunately, the search function isn't outstanding; it's slow and sometimes gives odd results, so it can be difficult to be sure that a particular book is not in their list.
All books are available in eReader format, and the eReader software (in both a free and paid version) is available for nearly all handhelds and smart phones, as well as for Windows and Macintosh desktop computers. The eReader software, also known as Palm Reader, is used by other sites as well.
Here's a bit of historical trivia: eReader.com was once Palm Digital Media, the electronic publishing arm of Palm, Inc. Back in 2002, it was first transfered to PalmSource (the former subsidiary of Palm, Inc. that used to make the Palm OS). It was then sold to PalmGear back in 2003. In 2004, PalmGear was sold to Power By Hand, which then changed its name to Motricity. So eReader.com has been run by Palm, Inc., PalmSource, Palm Digital Media, PalmGear, Power By Hand, and Motricity. This is one site that gets around!
Prices at eReader.com tend to be higher than at the publishers' own sites, although subscribing to eReader's weekly newsletter gives you a ten percent discount on most books. What is nice about eReader.com is that nearly all books have an excerpt posted on the site.
At eReader.com, Cell is $8.99, The Diana Chronicles is $17.95. As for ratings, eReader loses a point due to its wonky search.
OUR RATING: 3 of 5
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