On-line books

On-line books are a type of eBook that can be accessed and read via the Internet. Online books are available as free and paid versions. They are different from traditional e-books as they can be read online. Before the advent of the Internet, e-books were in CD format which had to be inserted  into the computer to be accessed and read. Apart from web sites, there are hardware devices known as eBook readers, which work with software services to provide online e-book access. E-books can now be read with smart phones and other hand held devices, the most popular one being the Kindle from Amazon.com.

There are a large number of web sites that offer free on-line books. These books are categorized according to language, genre, title, and author. Users can also use search engines within the web sites to find books. Some of the popular Web sites that offer free online books are:

Project Gutenberg is a digital library created by Michael S. Hart in 1971. It is the oldest digital library in existence today. It is a volunteer based endeavor that has aimed to digitize and classify cultural books or references. They are basically text versions of publicly available books and documents. They now also cover non-English titles as well. Apart from text versions, online books are available in different formats such as HTML, EPUB, PDF, PLUCKER and so on. They have a number of affiliate projects and communities that contribute to the library. They currently boast of close to 30,000 titles directly available on Project Gutenberg and over 100,000 titles available with their affiliates and partners.

The Online Books page is a reference based Web site which catalogs e-text books and is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. It was created by John Mark Ockerbloom. As of now, the Online Books Page lists over 35,000 free titles. It offers one of the most comprehensive listing of online books. Users can search for books present on their listings which consist of titles directly indexed by the site owners or by individual contributors, and projects.

The Internet Public Library is a reference site which provides access to newspaper and magazine articles, almanacs, dictionaries, encyclopedias and other kinds of reference material. It also provides links to third-party websites that offer free online books. It is a student managed website hosted by the Drexel University.