Note: This article is written from the perspective of a Pocket PC user, but most of the programs and resources discussed are also available for Palm-size and Handheld PC users.
The Pocket PC is more than an information organizer. It is colorful,
exciting, and vibrant multimedia device. You can use it to view eBooks, listen to audio books, enjoy music, and watch movies or animation. Not bad for a device that slips into your pocket.
eBooks: Good reading on the Pocket PC
The Pocket PC comes with Microsoft Reader built in, letting you download MS Reader-formatted eBooks and view them on it. Microsoft Reader (see Screen 1) and other eBook viewing programs make it possible to carry a small library with you on your Windows Powered Pocket, Palm-size or Handheld PC. And there are plenty of free eBooks out there. One source is
Barnes & Noble's Web site, but an online search on "free ebooks" should yield plenty of others.
Screen 1: The Pocket PC comes with Microsoft Reader
built in, letting you download and view MS Reader-formatted eBooks.
Other sources on the Web also provide books, articles and other documents in electronic format (usually as simple TXT or HTML files, or word processor DOC files). Project Gutenberg has a
huge collection of royalty free books available online in the ASCII or text format. Another good source is Books Online. The books are available in HTML and Word DOC format. The DMOZ Open Directory Project has a complete listing of electronic book resellers and resources.
The bad news for Pocket PC users is you can't open TXT, HTML and DOC files on Microsoft Reader. You have to do one of two things: install another eBook reader or translate the files into MS Reader format. If you're interested in an alternative eBook reader for your Pocket, Palm-size or Handheld PC, there's an excellent review of eBook readers by Randy Sly on page 30 of the July/August 2000 issue of Pocket PC magazine. You can access it online
here.
If you want to stick with Microsoft Reader, you'll have to translate these eBooks into the Microsoft Reader "LIT" format. To do this, check out Reader-Works Standard desktop PC software. You can download it for free at (www.readerworks.com).
There are some tricks to using ReaderWorks that I'm not going to go into in this article. But I have published a step-by-step article titled "Using Readerworks to Create Microsoft Reader eBooks" online here at the Pocket PC
magazine Web site.
One note on ReaderWorks: It makes the conversion automatically using a wizard interface and there is no built-in preview feature. Once you've converted the document to LIT format you cannot change it. Still, ReaderWorks is a very useful application, letting you convert any of your reading material (in TXT or HTML format) into Microsoft Reader format.
Audible.com: Have your Pocket PC read you a story
If you've got your hands full, or you're just tired of reading, you can have your Pocket PC read you a story. The Audible Web site (www.audible.com) provides books, magazines, news and other content in audio format. Audible.com carries over 19,000 hours of audio content spread across 96 categories of content including fiction and nonfiction, comedy, education, business information, speeches, spirituality, public radio programs and audio versions of the best newspapers and magazines.
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