There seem to be many options for eBooks. I downloaded a copy of the e-text of Dicken's Christmas Carol for a special needs teacher in my school from the Project Gutenberg and LibriVox.com websites. It was simple to do, and I could save the text in MSWord, giving me the helpful option of changing the font size. Mp3 files of the book were also easy to access and use.
On my public library network's website (sailsinc.org) there is a link for children's TumbleBooks - featuring animated, full-color talking picture books with nice sound effects and music which can be viewed online; audio books; and puzzles and games. My local public library has been publicizing TumbleBooks, and their popularity is rapidly increasing. I think TumbleBooks are a high quality product worth checking out. The SAILS Library Network also provides free access to many popular, quality eAudio Books for its patrons, with the number of available titles steadily increasing.
I have seen Kindle being promoted and have read some about it. One thing that I read that stuck in my mind is that the Kindle is an Amazon propriety product so that one can only purchase books for the Kindle from Amazon. This does not lend the Kindle eBooks to much price competition. I have used a similar reader--Rocket Reader to download and read books on a handheld device. For me, the main drawback was the lack of access to free titles. The eBook reader did have some nice features--the ability to: change text size, store several full length adult books on a device the size of a large paperback, good searching text capabilities, and a built-in dictionary that could be easily used to look up any word in the text. The Rocket Reader could be used in a dark room, which might come in handy at night with someone sleeping beside you! There is still something about a traditional paperback that I still prefer. It will be interesting to follow the popularity of these Kindles!
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