Italian ebooks

Electronic books are the wave of the future. With the advent of the iPad/iPhone, Kindle, Nook and many other devices, reading ebooks has become a convenient way to take books with you on the go.  I myself love reading ebooks on my iPad -- the screen is easy to read, I mark my last page read, and be connected to the internet at the same time in case I need to look up a word or phrase in Italian that I do not understand.

Reading books in Italian is a great way to build your vocabulary.  It is how we build our vocabulary in our own language and helps us to understand unknown words and expressions using context clues.  This can only be learnt by reading (also by listening, too), and it is important to practice mastering context clues.  Reading is also good for the brain -- many a study has indicated that it is possible that keeping the brain active and vital helps us live longer and stave off dementia and other brain wasting diseases.

I am sure that there are many of you who may scoff at ebooks.  I will be the first to admit that I prefer a real book over an electronic one, but there's one reason why they are useful.  Living in the US, it's not easy to get Italian books economically.  Shipping charges can be high, and it can defeat the purpose of purchasing them, especially when the shipping costs are two times more than the price of the book itself.  Ebooks are a great way to keep reading and saving a bit of money, too!

File format types
There are three kinds of ebook file formats*:  epub (with or without DRM -- digital rights management), pdf files and mobi.    Epub files without DRM can be read on the PC and most any ereader device and opened in the iBookstore app on the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch.  Kindle users can have their files converted by Amazon (generally for a small fee), or they can purchase mobi files that can be placed on the device.  Many Italian ebook vendors supply titles in both formats.

Where to go to get ebooks?
The iBookstore via iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch has a decent selection.  Their Italian selections are always growing, and this is a great place to start for those of you who have iOS devices.  And yes, you can even read Adobe DRM titles, too by downloading the app, Bluefire Reader.  This app allows you to connect to your Adobe ID (go to adobe.com for more info) to the app so that titles which have this digital protection can be accessed.  Adobe PDF's can also be read via the iBookstore, too.

You can also purchase ebooks from Internet Bookshop Italia, generally as epub with/without DRM or straight pdf files.

Two other useful sites are Bookrepublic.it and Ultimabooks.it.  Both sell books in various file formats but require that the user physically load the ebooks on their own devices.

The future
In future posts, we will list purchase locations for titles that we review and will provide links for the physical book as well as places for the ebook.  Do you read ebooks?  Have an ebook reader?  Do you prefer to read the real book or read on your PC?  I don't have a Kindle so I cannot experiment at this time.  Personally, I find the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch offer the best experience for reading ebooks -- although these devices tend to be pricey.  All of the web sites mentioned in this post have extensive help sections.  If you have a question about putting an ebook on your device or general questions, feel free to leave a comment or send an email, and I will do my best to respond and help!