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Free Books for your Amazon Kindle

My pick of the week on the latest episode of MacBreak Weekly wasn’t so much my new Kindle (which I do like a lot), but rather a few services that make it easier to find and download free books you can read on the Kindle. These picks included Project Gutenberg, Manybooks.net, and the wonderful Feedbooks.

Feedbooks is the service I highlighted as being the most interesting of the three to me since you can download one Kindle/Mobi book (more info) containing clickable links to hundreds (thousands?) of free and Creative Commons-licensed books that can be downloaded directly to your Kindle, usually in less than a minute or so. Zesty. Hello, 1984 and A Princess of Mars.

In addition to all the great stuff Andy has enumerated, these free book services have made me see the Kindle as a flawed but fascinating game-changer. More tips and buying advice coming soon (short version: it ain’t for everybody, by a long shot, but it’s surprisingly great for commuters and travelers who devour novels in particular).

And, if you’re still hungry for more Kindle-friendly book sites, check out Free Kindle Books and Free Ebooks Online. The post contains a large collection of links that can help fill your reader in no time.


TOPICS: Amazon, Books, Kindle

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sfkeydel's picture

Definitely a game-changer, but...

In principle, I believe the Kindle is a necessary first step toward a post-paper future, but the fugly, it burns! Also, the name itself conjures up the wrong types of images from ‘Fahrenheit 451.’ Here’s hoping Apple delivers us from Bezos…

KenCarpenter's picture

Kindle and Tupperware

Amazon needs to sell their Kindle like Tupperware sells plastic bowls and salt & pepper shakers — at house parties.

You can’t begin to appreciate a Kindle until you get it in your hands, until you read something, until you download something.

switch11's picture

amazon is already pushing for Kindle Tupperware type stuff

This is a really good idea and Amazon is already working on it - There’s a See a Kindle in Your City section of the Kindle Forums at Amazon where Kindle owners in various cities are showing off their Kindles. To see one particular user’s thoughts who showed off his kindle in portland - go to www.tinyscreenfuls.com.

The other option is to buy struggling borders and leverage the stores. March 24th - Borders could become the latest victim of the credit squeeze, announcing Thursday that it may put itself up for sale.

btw posts on both of these items are on the kindle blog with the free ebooks article listed above.

Merralin's picture

Kindle Tools

As a Mac and a Kindle owner who doesn’t run Windows, I have not been able to use the Mobipocket Creator software to create Kindle books from PDFs, but just recently I found a new Mac application called Stanza that may be helpful to Mac Kindle owners. Stanza can open books directly into the application from the Gutenberg site and export them as Kindle books. It’s in beta and I would need to play around with it more before recommending it.

Also may I mention my Kindle blog which has a lot of sources for free Kindle titles? http://kindlereader.blogspot.com

JayDew's picture

Feedbooks, etc.

Thanks for the tip on Feedbooks, Merlin. I knew about ManyBooks and Munseys (www.blackmask.com), but Feedbooks had escaped my attention until now. Amazon’s own Kindle forum (here: http://tinyurl.com/26h723) can be a decent place to learn new tips and tricks, but as the product has rolled out to more people the forum seems to have devolved into a help desk. But there are still some gems in there.

About Merlin Mann

Merlin Mann's picture

Bio

Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He’s best known for being the guy who started the website you’re reading right now. He lives in San Francisco, does lots of public speaking, and helps make cool things like You Look Nice Today. Also? He looks like this, answers questions, and has something like a life.

 
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