The Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Sony Reader and other eReaders allow their owners to carry a library of digital books, magazines and other printed content with them wherever they go.

Most have special screens featuring “e Ink” (or comparable technology) that’s much easier to read than tablet and computer screens, even in direct sunlight. Such screens require far less power than tablet screens, too, so eReaders often can go a month or two between battery charges. And because eBooks usually are cheaper than printed books, eReaders can be money savers for people who buy lots of books, quickly paying back their price tags of typically $70 to $200.

But eReaders also have a big limitation—while tablets, smartphones and laptops are very versatile, most eReaders are designed chiefly to purchase books and magazines from the online store of the company that makes the eReader. Still, there are other things eReaders can do…

  • Download free books from libraries. Many local libraries now feature a digital download section on their Web sites or on partner Web sites. Anyone with a library card can choose from a wide selection of eBooks for free. Visit your library’s site for details or call a librarian for guidance.
  • Helpful: Sony’s eReader is adept at downloading library eBooks—it comes with the necessary software installed.

    Sites including Project Gutenberg (Gutenberg.org) and Open Culture (OpenCulture.com) also offer free downloads of certain titles, mostly classic works that are in the public domain.

  • Access the Internet or e-mail. Most eReaders include Web browsers. These tend to struggle with graphics-intensive Web pages, but they generally do a reasonable, if somewhat slow, job loading text-oriented pages. Some eReaders make browsers challenging to locate. Your eReader’s user’s guide has details.
  • Example: On a Kindle, the browser is buried in the “Experimental” menu. To find it, press the Home button, select “Experimental,” then choose “Basic Web,” followed by “Enter URL.”

  • Play games. There are games designed for eReaders. Text-based games such as Sudoku and Scrabble and slow-paced games such as Monopoly tend to work better on eReaders than fast-paced or graphics-intensive games. Visit your eReader’s store to find game options. Most cost only a few dollars or less. 
  • Example: In the Amazon Kindle online store (Amazon.com/Kindle-eBooks), search for “Puzzles & Games” near the top of the screen.

  • “Push” Internet content onto your eReader. If you find an interesting article or blog post on the Internet, you can transfer it to your eReader. That way you can read it when you aren’t near your computer—and read it on your eReader’s easy-to-read screen rather than on a computer screen. 
  • Start by setting up an Instapaper (Instapaper.com) or Readability (Readability.com) account. These free online services let you click a “Read Later” bookmark to choose online content that you wish to transfer to your eReader (or simply read later on your computer). If your eReader is a Kindle, these services can automatically transfer this content to your eReader via Wi-Fi. With other eReaders, you will have to download the content to your computer, then transfer it to your eReader manually via a USB cable. A free online service called Calibre can help convert online content to eReader-friendly formats (Calibre-ebook.com).

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