Gift for nephew's new Nexus...books?

[chessie]

My nephew is getting a Nexus 7 for his 20th birthday.  He will be wanting to use it for reading books.  I've not used my Nexus for this myself.  I mean, I've looked at the books that came with it, but I just prefer real books, so I haven't explored any options for finding books to download.  I would like to get him a gift card to buy/download books to the tablet for reading, but I am unsure what the best provider is.   What do you guys use to download books?  I guess he could use an Amazon gift card?  What about Google Play?  Just looking for the best option. 

[matt]

I think amazon has the largest selection. I get the free out of copyright stuff from project gutenburg et al.
Also more music, and they store your purchased music in the cloud for you. Even if you bought cds.

When a niece had heart surgery, I tried to convince the local school system to get the textbooks in ebook format. It's in the works, probably happen after she graduates. Inch by inch, step by step, we'll drag the world reluctantly into the 21st century.

[chessie]

Thanks Matt.  For me personally, it's both a price issue, and a convenience issue.  I like to be able to toss a book down at the beach and not worry about sand.  Or toss it off the bed and not worry about it breaking. Also, I just find it easier to read, using an actual paper book.   Really has nothing to do with being in the 21st century.   I am firmly there.   

So there is no problem getting Amazon books to read on the Nexus?  I thought I had read somewhere about a conflict and that the Kindle was needed to read Amazon books.  Maybe that was a while back.

[Bigtroutz]

Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble are the most commonly used places for eBook purchase.  Your local library will lend eBooks, often times using an application named Overdrive and most commonly in the ePub format.  Generally eBook library rental can be done over the internet just as purchase from Amazon, etc.  One problem you will encounter is digital rights management (copy protection, DRM) that restricts the use of purchased books and another is the wide variety of incompatible eBook formats (like the tower of babel, heh).  You can add almost any eReader device to your Amazon account and then eBooks will be downloaded automatically by your home WiFi or you can use your PC.  You will find that it is best to download to each device separately rather than transfer between them since files are often inaccessible when downloaded into a Kindle or Google Reader app.

It's always a good idea to start the process by downloading free books that almost always are free from DRM once you have your N7 setup to test out various readers, etc.  Here are some good sources to get  you all started.

MobileRead

672 Places for Free eBooks Online ---> currently 600+ places for free books online

Best Free eBook Reader for Android   ----> reviews of some of the best Android eReader Apps

Top Apps for Reading Ebooks on Android Devices | VikiTech.com ----->  same as above reviews

Comparison of Android e-book reader software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  ----> real nice comparison tables

[matt]

Great post, bigtroutz. I'm with you on the real books, chessie, I'm a regular at halfprice. You can't pass on or resell ebooks, and the price seems the same as new paperback. Try carrying 400 books in a pocket, tho.
Maybe kids should have to carry all those textbooks, it's good exercise! (Duck) On yet another hand, pressing flowers and squashing bugs are not recommended tablet functions.

[fxsarge]

I would just do the Google play gift card because then he can use it for anything on his tablet.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[Bigtroutz]

I would just do the Google play gift card because then he can use it for anything on his tablet.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

Most Google books have DRM and as far as I know almost ALL are ePub or PDF files.  The google ereader sux and by default they hide the books you download into coded file names. As far as I know, any books you purchase must be downloaded into the google default ereader and downloading them for an alternate ereader is a pain in the butt.  My take, Google Play is one of the worst choices for book purchasing out there.

YMMV

[fxsarge]

Its worked fine for me but I guess that's guess I don't have any other ereaders and I love Google cloud so that book is on all my tablets.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[Bigtroutz]

Yep, it does work but it's just not very flexible is all.  I do get annoyed by any of the attempts to close off your alternate options by big corps.  imo, if I buy a book, a movie, a song, I should be able to use if how is best for me, not most profitable for them.

[chessie]

Thanks for all that info!  That is a huge help.  I'm going to forward those links to him now.   

[fxsarge]

Yep, it does work but it's just not very flexible is all.  I do get annoyed by any of the attempts to close off your alternate options by big corps.  imo, if I buy a book, a movie, a song, I should be able to use if how is best for me, not most profitable for them.

Google music is 100% flexible and you can watch your movies on any computer that plays YouTube. Actually you can read any of their books on your computer too. Sounds a lot more flexible than iTunes. I understand what your saying but businesses have to make money if you want them to stick around and keep providing their services. That's why I actually still buy a lot of CDs.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

[rontopia]

maybe its me but I use the nook, kindle and google books apps like this.. so I can keep it straight..

for technical and books for school, I use the kindle app
for novels and such, I use the nook app
for free classic books(war and peace) I use google books

for music, I use google play music, they let you keep almost an unlimited amount and i always have access to it, computer, tablet or phone.

I tried others but it just got so i couldn't find anything or remember where I bought it from.. this is easier. I have also started moving all my documents to google drive and encouraged my kids to do the same so that they dont have to call me and say they forgot their homework, because if they have a web browser they have their reports and notes.. whatever..

i tunes is a confusing mess..