Tuesday 20 August 2013

How to use e-books on mobile devices

Many of the e-books that the University has purchased can be downloaded Android and Apple (iOS) devices including tablets, smartphones, iPads and iPhones, as well as e-readers such as Sony ereader, Kindle and Nook.

Different e-book platforms support different devices. The following information has been adapted from the ebooks@cambridge website http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/ebooks/index.html and blog http://ebookscambridge.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/dawsonera-downloading-arrives/.

Dawsonera

dawsonera ebooks can now be downloaded to Android and Apple (iOS) mobile devices, including tablets, smartphones, iPads and iPhones. Users will be asked to choose from 1 or 2 day downloads. Downloading to Mac computers has also been enabled.

Each dawsonera e-book is available as either PDF or as EPUB file, this depends on the publishers. Instructions for downloading these two file types are different and detailed in the online help guides available from this User Guide webpage.

Click on either Downloading ebooks to an Android device or on Downloading ebooks to iOS for step-by-step instructions. You will need to have registered for an Adobe ID if you haven’t got one already, you can do this from here. You will also need to ensure you have the Bluefire Reader App downloaded onto your device (for reading EPUB files) and the Adobe Reader App (for downloading PDF files).

You can still download dawsonera ebooks to a PC, laptop or memory stick and also to a Mac (although if the default PDF reader is Preview the ebooks won’t open, try installing and using Adobe Reader instead). 

Cambridge Books Online, Cambridge Companions Online, Oxford Scholarship Online, SpringerLink and Wiley

Chapters from these platforms can be downloaded in PDF format to e-readers including the Kindle.

MyiLibrary

Some ebooks from this platform can be downloaded for 3 days to PC, laptop, Sony ereader, Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices, but not Kindle. See Help with downloading from myiLibrary , including a list of downloadable titles, or watch the YouTube video on Downloading MyiLibrary e-books.

Useful guides

The English Faculty Library has produced a document on the pros and cons of using Kindles and a guide to downloading a Cambridge Companion chapter to Kindle.

See the ebooks@cambridge Access instructions for e-books collections guide for detailed help.