Let's talk about shops!

[quivo]

I've always wondered which sources people tend to turn to, including official channels, when looking for ebooks. Fictionwise has earned a firm place on my list, and I know of other stores like BooksOnBoard and so forth, but have never really tried them because of the hassle of setting up different accounts.

Where do you guys tend to buy? In your experience, where are the best places to buy from, esp. as regards DRM, activation, and all those niggling little customer service issues you can't really know until you lose a download or find that the book isn't working?

Comments

[quivo]

Hey, MBAM! I've yet to buy from them because it was oddly difficult to find out what kind of formats they sold without actually registering on the site, a requirement I thought pretty strange at the time. what formats do they generally have?

As far as the fictionwise rebates, I don't buy a ton of DRMed stuff from them, so only earn and use a miniscule amount of micropay $. I do thinkthe whole thing is really geared toward people who buy lots of DRMed books from them, and use fictionwise as their major store. it is really only valuable in that case; otherwise, not so much.

[cyprinella]

I think it depends on the publisher, since they carry stuff from a couple of different houses. Here's Samhain's list: http://www.samhainpublishing.com/aboutebooks I buy .lit because they're the easiest to convert to .lrf in my experience.

I was debating buying the new Dresden Files in e but the only place I could find it without loading software was Fictionwise. Even after the microrebates that I wouldn't probably use, it was still cheaper to buy a hardcover from Borders and that's not DRMed. And I know that it's not them setting the prices, it's the publishers, but it's still frustrating.

[wide_worlds_joy]

I've got all the Dresdens that I know about. I think it's up to 10 in .lit format.

Let me check

This is the text file I had that came with them:


Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" in MSReader (.lit) format.

[b]0 - Restoration of Faith[/b]
[quote][i]A promotional vignette from the author's website.[/i][/quote]

[b]1 - Storm Front[/b]
[quote]Harry Dresden--Wizard
Lost items found. Paranormal investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things--and most of them don't play too well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a--well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed. [/quote]

[b]2 - Fool Moon[/b]
[quote]Business has been slow. Okay, business has been dead. And not even of the undead variety. You would think Chicago would have a little more action for the only professional wizard in the phone book. But lately, Harry Dresden hasn't been able to dredge up any kind of work - magical or mundane. But just when it looks like he can't afford his next meal, a murder comes along that requires his particular brand of supernatural expertise. A brutally mutilated corpse. Strange-looking paw prints. A full moon. Take three guesses - and the first two don't count...[/quote]

[b]3 - Grave Peril[/b]
[quote]Called to Cook County hospital to deal with an enraged ghost, Harry Dresden, Chicago's resident wizard, is puzzled and disturbed not by the ghost's wrath but by the fact that someone had cast a torture spell on it, goading it into action. Harry's disturbance increases when he discovers that the same spell has been cast on one of his friends. Harry begins to realize that he and his friends may be targets of a vengeful spirit, and as he desperately tries to discover which of his many enemies has it in for him, his friends are attacked one by one. The spirit, whom Harry refers to as the Nightmare, continues to torment Harry's friends until he manages to cast a spell preventing it from harming anyone else until it kills him, which leads to a showdown that Harry might not survive.[/quote]

[b]4 - Summer Knight[/b]
[quote]Harry's life being what it is, in no time at all things get very much worse. First, a little old lady turns into a ghoul and nearly eats him, then Queen Mab of the Faerie's Winter Court informs him that she now holds his debt, and then the White Council of the wizards comes to Chicago to have a wee chat with their most wayward member. The only way Harry can avoid becoming toast is to make a deal with (you guessed) Queen Mab herself. This will provide the wizards have another option besides offering Harry up as a blood bag. Mab doesn't want much, she just needs Harry to find out who killed the Summer Knight before Armageddon breaks out all over.
Other than some assistance from a troop of pizza eating pixies, a den of young-adult werewolves, and a few faerie may-not-wannabees, Harry is on his own in this one. Unless you want to count the people (and not quite people) who are trying to kill him as company. Whatever the reason for the murder was, no one wants Harry to find it. Out of the six queens who rule Faerie, one has hired him and the other five just might kill him on sight. Yet he must talk to them all, as well as their supporters. Sometimes it seems that the vampires would have been a better choice.[/quote]

[b]5 - Death Masks[/b]
[quote]Harry Dresden is not having a good day. A vampire named Ortega is hunting the beleaguered wizard, intending to challenge him to a duel that, Ortega claims, will end the war between the vampires and the wizards. Harry has almost no hope of winning the duel, but soon he is preoccupied by another problem: Father Vincent, a priest, needs Harry's help in finding the Shroud of Turin, stolen by a trio of thieves. Harry traces two of the thieves to his hometown, Chicago, but when he finds them, he learns that he isn't the only one after them. A group of terrifying demons wants the shroud, and its leader is interested in Harry's soul, too. Harry must call on all of his friends, including three brave knights, his police-officer friend, and even his half-vampire ex-girlfriend, Susan.[/quote]

[b]6 - Blood Rites[/b]
[quote]Per usual, wizard-detective extraordinaire Harry Dresden is in trouble. He barely escapes an assassination attempt, courtesy of the Black Council of vampires, when Thomas, a vampire who has helped Harry out on occasion, asks him to take a case. It seems someone doesn't want porno film director Arturo Genosa's latest effort to get off the ground. An entropy spell has killed two of Arturo's assistants, and Thomas wants Harry to find the culprit. With suspects abounding--Arturo has no fewer than three ex-wives--Harry decides to pose as a production assistant at the studio. Though he isn't able to stop another sabotage attempt, this one threatening an actress' life, he does save the young woman. With danger closing in, the last thing Harry needs is a sexy succubus and a surprising revelation about his heritage.[/quote]

[b]7 - Dead Beat[/b]
[quote]Harry is coping with his new roommate--vampire half-brother Thomas. Harry soon has problems bigger than Thomas' clutter to deal with. Marva, one of Harry's vampire foes, summons him with a threat to his police-lieutenant friend, Karrin Murphy. Marva demands Harry get the Word of Kemmler for her, or she'll frame Murphy for murder. Harry doesn't even know what the Word is, but while he's trying to find out, and also what damage Marva will be able to do with it, several necromancers descend on Chicago. When Harry learns that the newcomers are students of Kemmler, an evil wizard who mastered ancient spirits in a way no one has since, he discovers that they are seeking the Word, too, in hopes of seizing the powerful knowledge within it and calling forth a powerful creature known as the Erlking.[/quote]

[b]7.5 - Something Borrowed[/b]
[quote][i]"Something Borrowed" was published in the short story collection My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, edited by P.N. Elrod. It takes place in the Spring or early Summer between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty, and it chronicles the marriage of two members of the Alphas, Billy Borden and his long-time girlfriend Georgia.
Events quickly get out of hand when Maeve and Jenny Greenteeth of the Winter Court attempt to derail the marriage in retaliation for Billy and Georgia's actions in Summer Knight. The failed coup is referenced in Proven Guilty, which was actually published several months before the short story.[/i][/quote]

[b]8 - Proven Guilty[/b]
[quote]Harry Dresden is assigned an unpleasant task by the White Council of Wizards. He has to find out where the Winter Fairy Court stands in the White Council's war against the vampires. To make matters worse, he has gotten a missive from a powerful wizard claiming someone is using black magic in Chicago. It doesn't take long for Harry to pinpoint the source of the problem. Molly, the daughter of a close friend, comes to him for help after her boyfriend is accused of attacking an elderly theater owner at a horror-movie convention. When another attack occurs and Harry sees the dangerous type of magic used, he knows he is dealing with a very serious threat indeed.[/quote]

[b]9 - White Knight[/b]
[quote]This time, when Harry Dresden gets a call from Murphy, it's off the record, because she has been demoted, things in SI are politically shaky, and the police have already declared a suicide. Once Harry gets a good look, though, the suicide is clearly a murder with magical intent. As he investigates, hoping as always to stop the killer before more die, evidence points to the worst possible suspect: his half brother. In another complicated case, there are a lot of very powerful players, and with the war between the White Council and the Red Court vampires, politics are played hard and fast. In tracking down the killer, Harry manages to catch the attention of the White Court vampires again, too. On top of all that, he is still teaching strong-willed, occasionally impulsive teenager Molly Carpenter, and the teacher-student dynamic is difficult for him. And oh, yes, Lasciel, the demon trapped in a coin Harry has secured under his summoning circle, is a lingering presence.[/quote]

9.5 - Its My Birthday Too (Many Bloody Returns)
Harry tries to deliver a birthday present to his brother, Thomas. As usual for Harry, all hell breaks loose when he gets there.

10 - Small Favor
No one's tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.
An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she's calling in her marker. It's a small favor he can't refuse...one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills- and loyalties-to their very limits.
It figures. Everything was going too well to last...

Want me to zip them up?

[cyprinella]

Thanks, but I did actually find them elsewhere. I was just annoyed with the whole pricing set up and ended up buying the hardcover from Borders on release day.