Project Gutenberg ebooks will be included in the iBookstore for free

Two days ago we told you that Project Gutenberg's ebooks should be compatible with the iPad, and we even showed you some ways to get around any possible restrictions Apple could have imposed on the vast catalog of free ebooks. Well, it looks like those workarounds won't be necessary, because according to appadvice, the entire Project Gutenberg catalog will be offered for free from the iBookstore.

Project Gutenberg has a library of over 30,000 books online, with classic titles from all walks of literature. Apple's not only supporting access to this vast library of works, they're officially offering it from within their own store, for free. This is a pretty classy move from Apple, and one that makes the iPad a very attractive purchase for anyone interested in reading the classics without shelling out a whole lot of money for them.

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Source: http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/03/exclusive-ipad-ibooks-fea…

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Two days ago we told you that Project Gutenberg's ebooks should be compatible with the iPad, and we even showed you some ways to get around...

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trayser

It will be interesting to see whether this will bring free books from current amateur authors.

Project Gutenberg doesn't state explicitly if it does or does not accept new 'free' books from amateur authors. (i.e. submitted by the authors themselves). This is same as amateur app developers testing out app store with free apps. (of course with a $100/yr developer license)
If PG allows new books, amateurs can have a better exposure via the iBookStore.

Another route might be to submit a free book on iBookStore. If apple allows that from individual authors, then authors can get the benefits of a large platform just like the app developers did. I don't know whether they would allow that, since they might get flooded with a large number of books (many with poor quality) that they might have to review (or at least read once) to put on iBookStore.

March 26 2010 at 8:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jonwil2002

My guess is that in adding PG content to the iBookstore, Apple can ensure that content such as that which got previous PG apps banned is rated as 17+ or whatever it is and can be blocked via the existing controls.

March 26 2010 at 6:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James

Good, then I don't need to figure out how to download an epub file from Gutenberg and then get it onto the iPad! I can just download it for free from the iBookStore.

Hmmm, pr0n on the iPad! Now that would sell like mad! Playboy, Penthouse, etc. As well as videos... They really need an adult profile on the Apple online stores. i.e. validate age of customer, don't keep the account logged on, etc. Of course they will have to start selling protective coatings for the iPad if they open a pr0n store... Of course it will never ever happen, too sleazy for Apple.

March 26 2010 at 5:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

LiamW

"Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom" is written by Cory Doctorow, and to my knowledge his books aren't available on Project Gutenburg, so it must have other ebook stores in there as well. My guess is FeedBooks.

March 26 2010 at 3:44 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to LiamW's comment

brian

I don't know how Cory came up in this conversation, and yeah his books probably won't be here, but he's still got free versions of everything he's done. "Down...", for example, is here: http://craphound.com/down/download.php

Though I enjoyed "Little Brother" much more.
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

Here's hoping you can click on an ePub link in Safari and have something good happen! (Unlike VCF files, which you can receive in email and save, but if you click on a VCF link in a browser it fails, grr...)

March 26 2010 at 11:04 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

LiamW

Sorry, I should have clarified. In the picture in the article it shows Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom right there on the ibookstore.

March 26 2010 at 11:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

insky

Didn't Apple reject a reader app on the iPhone because you could download books off of Project Gutenburg...specifically one of which those books could happen to be the Kama Sutra? Expect your choices to be limited.

March 26 2010 at 1:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

rodericrinehart

Love it. Great move. Less than two weeks till I get my hand on this thing.

March 26 2010 at 1:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply