Digimonkey attended the birthday party of a friend over the weekend, and as she mingled with the other guests, one of them asked Digimonkey, “So, what type of work do you do?” Now, Digi loves answering this question, but the moment she started talking about electronic books, the woman shook her head and said, “Oh, I can’t read those. I don’t have an ereader.”
For those of you who have met Digimonkey, you can imagine her little face scrunching up in an expression of shock and confusion. “But…but…” she stammered, “You don’t need an ereader to read an ebook.” Now it was the woman’s turn to look surprised. “Then how would I get the book?” she said. “So glad you asked,” Digi replied, and she was off and running, sharing the joys of the wonderful world of ebooks with her new ebook buddy.
However, this encounter got Digi thinking. How many other people out there are missing out on the fun of ebooks because they assume that in order to read them, they must invest in a Nook, Kindle, Sony or the like? A tragedy indeed! So, Digi’s going to dispel that myth once and for all right here.
The four best ereading tools that you may already have in your home are a computer (especially a laptop), a PDA, a smartphone, and a tablet. And, for those of you who like to travel a lot, chances are you’re taking one or more of these devices with you anyway, so why not have them do double duty as your portable bookshelf!
Here’s a handy chart to get you started.
| Device | Programs & Apps | File formats |
| Computer – PC | Adobe Reader | Adobe Acrobat |
| Adobe Digital Editions | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Secure pdf, Secure epub | |
| Calibre | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, prc, mobi | |
| Mobipocket | prc, mobi | |
| browser | HTML | |
| Computer – Mac | Adobe Reader | Adobe Acrobat |
| Adobe Digital Editions | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Secure pdf, Secure epub | |
| Calibre | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, prc, mobi | |
| browser | HTML | |
| PDA – Blackberry | Mobipocket | prc, mobi |
| browser | HTML | |
| PDA – Palm | eReader | PalmDoc |
| PDA – Pocket PC | eReader | PalmDoc |
| Smartphone – iPhone | ——— | epub, Secure eReader |
| Bluefire | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Secure pdf, Secure epub | |
| Safari | HTML | |
| Smartphone – Android | ——- | epub |
| Bluefire | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Secure pdf, Secure epub | |
| Aldiko 2.0 | pdf, Secure pdf, Secure epub | |
| browser | HTML | |
| Tablet – iPad | ——— | epub, Secure eReader |
| Bluefire | Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Secure Adobe, Secure epub | |
| Safari | HTML |
Digimonkey would also like to answer the four most common questions from people who are new to ebooks.
1. Isn’t reading on a small screen, like a smartphone, uncomfortable?
One of the advantages of ebooks over print is that you can control the font size, especially in the epub format, so if you need the words to be bigger, you can change the settings. Epub also uses reflow technology to adjust line breaks to make reading on a smaller screen even easier.
2. I really like print books, so how can I find out if ebooks are right for me?
Give them a try risk-free by purchasing and downloading a few of our free reads. That way you can test out the various hardware and software reading options to find the one that works best for you before you put any money down.
3. How can I encourage my friends or family members to try ebooks?
We have a great option for that too! You can purchase a book (or two or three) that you would like to give them and then use our “gift” option in your Library to send them the book. They will receive an email informing them about the gift and instructing them on how to set up an AR/OmniLit account so that they can download their books.
4. What if I miss the smell of a print book?
Digimonkey has a solution. Wear your paperback as a hat while you read! Well, maybe not. But for those who need that olfactory experience while reading, now you can have the advantages of your ebook while enjoying the smell of a print book with Smell of Books. As their slogan says, “The smell of e-books just got better.”
Of course, once you become familiar with one or more of these forms of reading ebooks, you may decide that you want to invest in a dedicated ereader, which is just fine! Your books can be transferred among most devices easily, and Digimonkey and her staff are always here to help answer all your ereading questions. Now go have some fun with ebooks!
Filed Under: DigiMonkey eBook Tips
Tagged: digimonkey, ebooks, ereaders
Customer Satisfaction is now available!! mmmfm… 
I’d like to join Digimonkey how can I do that?
thanks
Lily
Lily, go up to the upper left hand side of the site pages and click on the little word that says “groups.” This reveals a “join groups” button for all of the groups.
Anyone who is registered on the site (clearly you are) can join any of the groups this way.
Hello,
, so once I began to download them to my flashdrive and can read them in pdf format then I was very happy and I can look at my comput screen which is eye level and pretend that I care about the people that walk through the front door of the reception area 
I’m a Admin Assistant/Receptionist, wo that allows me to read my favorite download ebooks on a daily bases, I use to have my books at the front desk but apparently people frown on it when you ignore them when they walk throught the fron door
That is so funny, I take my smartphone with me every where to read while waiting at appointments. Every receptionist think’s I’m the sweetest most patient person! Ha, they didn’t meet me before ebooks! HeHe
We are sadly lacking in gadgets in NZ but I love the fact that I can read no matter where I am, either on my phone or laptop – I nearly always download books in pdf format and I find they transfer nicely to any of my “take out” gadgets and I always have a lot of fun things to read – and now I am older reading books on a gadget is far easier than trying to read the tiny print they have in magazines