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Yahoo!Answers on ebooks
Occasionally, I hang out at Yahoo!Answers, which purports to be an info-sharing site, but is really a weird kind of social networking place. With no conversations, but with points.
I have a cluster of copy-pastable answers I keep for generic questions--where can I get free ebooks, what-is-an-ebook, and so on. I don't often answer the "where can I download [currently popular novel] for free?" questions; I got tired of saying "you can't legally do that; here's a link to where you can buy it in an overpriced DRM'd format." (I decided anyone who can't google for [title ebook] shouldn't be reading anyway.)
With the new ebook readers out for Christmas, there's a flurry of new questions... can I put Kindle books on my new Nook (ans: not w/o cracking the DRM); where can I get free ebooks for my [Sony/ Kindle/ Nook]; how can I put ebooks on my MP3 player. And the fun questions: I bought an ebook and it won't load on my Nook, how do I fix that? (What kind of ebook did you buy?)
I forget, or I try to forget, that there are a ridiculous number of people who don't know what filetypes are, because Windows hides file extensions by default. They went to an ebook store, and clicked on the button that says "buy EBOOK!" And downloaded whatever software the store told them to--but have no idea what they're getting. Sigh.
If you can tolerate Teh Stoopid (Y!Ans is a magnet for it), Y!A is an interesting place to visit, to get an idea what people who know *nothing* about ebooks think about them.
I have a cluster of copy-pastable answers I keep for generic questions--where can I get free ebooks, what-is-an-ebook, and so on. I don't often answer the "where can I download [currently popular novel] for free?" questions; I got tired of saying "you can't legally do that; here's a link to where you can buy it in an overpriced DRM'd format." (I decided anyone who can't google for [title ebook] shouldn't be reading anyway.)
With the new ebook readers out for Christmas, there's a flurry of new questions... can I put Kindle books on my new Nook (ans: not w/o cracking the DRM); where can I get free ebooks for my [Sony/ Kindle/ Nook]; how can I put ebooks on my MP3 player. And the fun questions: I bought an ebook and it won't load on my Nook, how do I fix that? (What kind of ebook did you buy?)
I forget, or I try to forget, that there are a ridiculous number of people who don't know what filetypes are, because Windows hides file extensions by default. They went to an ebook store, and clicked on the button that says "buy EBOOK!" And downloaded whatever software the store told them to--but have no idea what they're getting. Sigh.
If you can tolerate Teh Stoopid (Y!Ans is a magnet for it), Y!A is an interesting place to visit, to get an idea what people who know *nothing* about ebooks think about them.
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