The convenience of eBooks keeps you from carrying a backpack full of books, but is it worth the trouble of finding and downloading to your phone or tablet? There are many pros and cons: they are as light as the device you use to read them, they are online when the library is closed for the night, and they are keyword searchable. Some will even read themselves to you. However DRM can make it difficult to download, and the screen size limits their readability. Here are some tips to make it work!
eBooks that are available as a PDF download or viewable on a webpage are the easiest to read on any device, and are the recommended way to go with phones and tablets. Most phones and tablets have PDF and webpage readers. No special software is required. Many eBooks that come this way allow you to download one chapter at a time— a more memory or data plan conscious way to get the eBook. A fast way to tell if the file is DRM protected is the file type. EPUB files in our eBook collections are protected by Adobe DRM, and require Adobe Digital Editions or the Bluefire smart phone app, and an Adobe ID. Downloading the additional software and registering it will require some time to set up, and is also an option for your mobile device if you are not in a hurry.
Stands for “Digital Rights Management,” a technology used to protect digital products from copyright infringement. To view a DRM protected eBook, you must verify your identity and provide an electronic key for opening your eBook. So it usually requires more steps then click, open, and read. It first requires registering with the publisher, downloading software to read the eBook, registering with that software, then downloading the eBook.
