[mandony]

Recently many public domain eBooks have appeared as paid 'apps' in AppWorld.
Most, if not all, of these books are available as FREE ePub downloads from public sites - most linked through Internet Archive: ARCHIVE.ORG

AppWorld has several ePub readers which have a one time charge for about $2-5. Almost all are good enough to read these free books.

Are some purchasers of these paid apps just newbees who don't know how to get free stuff? .. Or, paid books simply do not have sales? .. Or, are some paid books in fact great? Yes, I can understand that a well illustrated book is worthwhile, but, not a text based book.

With these, the appWorld collection of 'apps' is building up fast.

[kbz1960]

It's because of apple everyone thinks you have to have an app to do anything even though these aren't actually an app.

[BuzzStarField]

It's a somewhat devious marketing strategy designed to ensnare gullible consumers. In the real world it is akin to selling disposable razors. Cheap content (the blade) is packaged with cheap delivery system (the handle) - the unit is meant for a few uses and then is discarded. "Real" developers don't like this strategy because it clutters a market place where visibility is already a problem. The recent proliferation of "offline" maps reflects the same strategy. It is no surprise that consumers have exactly the same complaint.

Well, why doesn't RIM prohibit this practice? Two reasons: first, RIM is catering to those misguided analysts who think that app tonnage is important. Secondly, they do not want to get into controversy associated with determining unilaterally what constitutes a "real" app. It seems like a slippery slope to me as well. However, I think that there would be no objection to re-jigging app world so that the clutter problems are corrected. Perhaps a separate section for "content-based" apps?

[rickgainsmith]

I hate them! I go to 'newest' daily to see whats new, only these crappy books.

If Amazon released every one of their books as an 'app' in App World would it then be better than the App Store? Silly way of looking at it, a Book Store is for books, App Store for Apps, RIM is soooooo ssllllloooooowwwwwww.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Altarocks]

I haven't tried any of these on my PB, but have done so at times for my Nook. The only reason I ever do it is when B&N offers a public domain title for a nominal charge ($.99) that is formatted in Epub. Most p.d. titles are formatted as pdf, which can be read on my Nook but are not as nice visually as Epub versions. As long as a free Epub version is available I can't think of any reason to pay for it other than ease of finding it.

[peter9477]

Purchasers of these crappy "apps" should realize that every time they spend money on them, they're basically paying again for exactly the same app.

The reader app involved is probably a piece of garbage and very crude, and you're paying a buck, or two or more, for that reader, along with a piece of free content that you could download yourself and read in one of the decent E-pub readers.

Definitely a trap for the gullible, especially considering how crude (I suspect) the reader is.

[mandony]

Most p.d. titles are formatted as pdf, which can be read on my Nook but are not as nice visually as Epub versions. As long as a free Epub version is available I can't think of any reason to pay for it other than ease of finding it.

There is a plus to use a pdf when the pages are heavy in graphics. Their conversion to e books often creates rendering problems. I sometimes obtain public domain books in both pdf and epub just to select the best viewer. I found the best rendering is with the updated app- epub reader from appWorld.

The best place to get free ebooks in many formats is

http://archive.org

which links to a vast collection of edu and org web libraries