there's a website, ebooks.com that are available to download. If I were to download these files (some as low as $3.95) could I put them on iPad? Or will iPad use its own format for ebooks via their bookstore?

There are apps out that will read nearly any eBook format. However, the "built in iBook" app may not read the eBooks you are getting from there.

Also, the Apple Proprietary eBook format will be incompatible with other devices as well.

Found a good post here: New ebook format for iPad incompatible with others - Story - Technology - 3 News

Thanks for the link. It is a tough move by Apple. They probably figure consumers aren't fully onboard yet for the ebooks which leaves a large market share to take. And if people know they can only have ebooks on Apple with Apples compatibility, they will only resort to buying newer editions of Apples iPad. It's a gamble but if it pays off, it pays off big.

There are a few eBook reader apps for the iPhone that should run "today" on the iPad, so that shouldn't be a worry.

What about the Kindle app for the iPhone / iTouch? Will it work on the iPad? I was at the Kindle site yesterday and found those ebooks available through Amazon Very reasonable - ie Shutter Island (recently made into a movie) was less than $5. Will iBooks be that cheap?

imatt, I'm curious about this same exact thing since I plan to mainly use my ipad as an ebook reader. I'm not very excited about the DRM that Apple is implementing. I think if I purchase a book, I should be able to use it however I want - read it, lend it to a friend, etc.

I just checked ebooks.com to see what kind of ebook formats they support. It appears they give you the option to purchase PDF, ePub, Microsoft Reader, and MobiPocket format. It seems the majority of those formats are used on other e-reader software for handheld devices. I just have a feeling that the Apple e-reader software won't read these formats. I mean, they want you to buy books from itunes..not from other vendors using other formats, right?

The iPhone can read PDFs though, so I imagine you'll be able to read PDFs on the iPad. It'll probably just read like any other PDF (no fancy book/page layout and formatting with the turning pages).

I'm interested to see how this all pans out though. I'll definitely be looking for an app that is just as fancy as the built in reader app but allows you to read multiple formats. Thanks for sharing the link. ebooks.com seems like a really cool resource if we can find a way to read them on our ipads.

Originally Posted by JohnnyApple

There are apps out that will read nearly any eBook format. However, the "built in iBook" app may not read the eBooks you are getting from there.

Also, the Apple Proprietary eBook format will be incompatible with other devices as well.

How do we know this? As far as I know, Apple has been silent on the subject. I am a not saying that Apple won't use a proprietary DRM method on its ebooks. I am just don't think we know for sure yet. The article you linked to has a lot of IFs in it. Seems like it contains more speculation than fact.

If I missed the announcement from Apple, could you please post a link. I would really like to read it.

If you can't download the "normal" free books that we see on most every other reader into iBooks I will be very disappointed.

For purchased books there are many apps out there to read purchased content and you will just have to decide the cheapest place to buy them is.

Really irritating that we have seen so little out of Apple, jeez how about a press release or two.

I currently use the eReader app on my iTouch and am able to read all kinds of free downloads. As far as audio books go, I just download them to iTunes then put them on my iTouch. My biggest problem so far has been that I have not yet figured out how to down load only 1 audio book. My iTunes does not allow me to check which audio book I want to download. I don't want to delete the ones I've already listened to, because several involved a lot of time in converting them from CD to a audiobook format that could then be downloaded to the iTouch. I back up all the books I buy from Audible, so they can be reloaded easily. I wonder if I can relisten to any of those on my iPad?