emule is also a good choice, to look for single books from the more actual writers. manybooks.net is also good for legal albeit older books and has many formats available
Are you looking for ebooks as in: I want to buy some ebooks?
Or as in: I have this sh*tload of paper books that I would like to have as ebooks because I don't want to strain my back carrying them around?
The former is rather easy to solve and has been pointed at above; the latter requires some research and a bit of willpower and restraint. Apparently (I would of course not know) the P2P networks are full of entire libraries of ebooks; one could argue that if one already owns a paper copy of a book, obtaining an electronic version of same would be quite ethical.
The willpower and restraint lies in that one would only keep those torrented ebooks that one indeed already owns.
Naturally: allegedly, apparently and according to rumour and popular lore...
I've heard rumors of the strange land of Usenet, too.
I don't remember how I did it, but every week they're sending me a free e-book to read in HTML, Mobi and PDF format.
Oh here it is from their latest e-mail:
Originally Posted by TOR
In the coming days we’ll be announcing other new original material on Tor.com, including more original fiction and art and new e-book giveaways. Some of these offerings will be available only to people who register on the site itself, so if you haven’t done so already, consider signing up right now. It takes only a couple of minutes and it’s entirely free.
I don't remember how I did it, but every week they're sending me a free e-book to read in HTML, Mobi and PDF format.
Oh here it is from their latest e-mail:
When was the last time you got a free book from them? I've been collecting them, but recently they announced that they'll only be sending out previews. It's been a couple of weeks & no free ones since.
One group that provides a free, vast library of works in the public domain (works that are old enough to no longer be copyrighted) is the gutenberg project http://www.gutenberg.org
If you feel passionately about free ebooks and have an hour to spare a month, one way to help keep this project alive is to volunteer as a proof-reader. It's painless.
I have had an ebook reader since the rocket ebook came out and I discovered the gutenberg project back when I got my rocket ebook. (My rocket ebook is still my primary ebook reader--I love it. I can take a relatively small device with me when I travel and carry approximately 30 books in it, depending on the size of the books that I'm storing).
One group that provides a free, vast library of works in the public domain (works that are old enough to no longer be copyrighted) is the gutenberg project http://www.gutenberg.org
If you feel passionately about free ebooks and have an hour to spare a month, one way to help keep this project alive is to volunteer as a proof-reader. It's painless.
I have had an ebook reader since the rocket ebook came out and I discovered the gutenberg project back when I got my rocket ebook. (My rocket ebook is still my primary ebook reader--I love it. I can take a relatively small device with me when I travel and carry approximately 30 books in it, depending on the size of the books that I'm storing).
There are a number of books there not available in the other site, due to differences in copyright laws in Australia, such as the Robert E. Howard "Conan" books.
