Free eBooks are widely available from various sources on the internet. This page describes the various ebook formats in which one can download free ebooks, and more importantly, the websites that offer such books. For example, Apple is allowing the iPad to download DRM-free ePUB ebooks via iTunes which can then synch to the iPad.http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/ibooks.html The page also contains the latest news and developments in free ebooks for various ebook reader platforms. A special section (sidebar) has popular books for iPad Kids.

An ebook can take the traditional form of the PDF electronic document file that can be read on any computer with Adobe Reader which includes most of the electronic ebook readers. Free books are also available in audio mp3 format for downloading to any compatible mp3 player. There is growing interest in the eBook Reader formats that simplify the downloading of books, including free ones, onto an eBook Reader. The Top 100 Bestseller list (December 2010) for Amazon's Kindle contained 64 free e-books.http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/12/ebooks-outsell-books-on-amazon-but-theyre-free.html Digital giveaways are the latest marketing approach by booksellers contributing to a high number of free books on Amazon's e-bestseller list.http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/free-e-books-create-overnight-sensations-466 E-book piracy is also becoming a concern as 3.2 million ebooks were dowAmazon announced in May that a separate bestseller list for free downloads will be created so the paid books will be visible (rather than hidden amongst free ebooks).http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/05/amazon-to-drop-free-books-from-kindle-bestseller-list.html nloaded during an Attributor study.http://www.themillions.com/2010/01/confessions-of-a-book-pirate.html

One of the first eReaders was the Kindle from Amazon. There are now many others including Barnes & Noble Nook, Hanvon N series, Bookeen Cybook Opus, Elonex eBook, Endless Ideas, BeBook, Interead COOL-ER, Samsung Papyrus, Foxit Software eSlick, iRex Digital Reader, Jinke Hanlin. At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, new ones introduced include the Plastic Logic Que, Skiff Reader, EnTourage eDGe, and Blio. This page caters to the explosion of eReaders and the need for consumers to find books of interest. The resources are categorized by traditional format (e.g., pdf), audio books, resources that list and rate multiple websites, academic archives, and the websites dedicated to specific ereaders (Amazon for the Kindle, Barnes & Nobles for the Nook). There are numerous ebooks offered by authors or companies in specialized fields but not listed here.

These websites require software to be downloaded to a specific ebook reader. While most books are for sale, there are free ebooks listed.

Amazon eDocshttp://www.amazon.com/e-Docs-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=551440 for the Kindle

Apple iPad iBooks application allows downloading of the free books in the Gutenberg Project free ebook collection. iClarified has posted a "How to Transfer ePub eBooks to Your iPad".http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=8920

Barnes & Noble eBookshttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/index.asp For the Barnes & Noble Nook (see free e-book sectionhttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379001668/?cds2Pid=29168&linkid=1537750 with about 100 titles)

Borders eBookshttp://ebooks.borders.com/content/borders/index.shtml For the Reader Touch Edition and Reader Pocket Edition and soon the SpringDesign Alex eReaderhttp://www.androidguys.com/2010/01/11/spring-designs-alex-ereader-coming-to-borders/

Google Bookshttp://www.google.com/googlebooks/about.html so far SpringDesign Alex Readerhttp://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10424944-264.html

Sony partnered with Google Books to provide over half a million public domain titles to the Sony ebook library.http://gizmodo.com/5174880/google-brings-500000-public-domain-ebooks-to-sony-readers

These websites offer a collection of free eBook resources (links). They may contain some of the links listed above (e.g., Gutenberg Project).

FriedBeef's Tech Best Places to Get Free Books – The Ultimate Guidehttp://www.friedbeef.com/best-places-to-get-free-books-the-ultimate-guide/ listing 35 websites and the top 10 are reviewed.

Best free Digital Libraries (primarily Australia and New Zealand)http://www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm

HongKiathttp://www.hongkiat.com/blog/20-best-websites-to-download-free-e-books/20 Best Websites To Download Free EBooks with ratings

Resources for PDF and other traditional electronic document formats that include specialty books such as business, computer science, or classic literature.

Project Gutenberghttp://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Planet PDFhttp://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp a free PDF eBooks archive

Planet eBookhttp://www.planetebook.com/ home of free classic literature

WebSource Free Ebookshttp://www.web-source.net/free_ebooks.htm Internet Marketing, Advertising and Business Ebooks

FreeComputerBooks.comhttp://freecomputerbooks.com/

Get Free Bookshttp://www.getfreeebooks.com/

eBook Directoryhttp://www.ebookdirectory.com/

free-ebookshttp://www.free-ebooks.net/

Baen Free Libraryhttp://www.baen.com/library/ a portion of Baen's titles are free

You can even find free magic ebookshttp://www.learnmagictricks.org/freedownloads/ http://www.freemagictricks4u.com/free-magic-ebook.html http://www.witguides.com/browse.asp?cat=49 http://www.magicforall.com/html/magic_etricks.html

Free books that are available in audio MP3 format. These are typically read by humans although computer-generated reading is becoming popular.http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/2

1000+ Free Books, MP3 Audio Books http://www.free-books.org/download.php

Books Should Be Freehttp://www.booksshouldbefree.com/ Popular free audio books

Audio Books for Freehttp://audiobooksforfree.com/<ref>

Most but not all academic book digital archives are free so included here.

The Online Books Pagehttp://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/archives.html includes large scale repositories, smaller archives, foreign languages, specialty archives, regional, and portable reader editions

The eBooks Directoryhttp://ebookdirectory.com/search/Reference/Academic/

Free iPad book: Winnie the Pooh (included with iBooks download)

Toy Story Read-Along (free)http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20002462-1.html

Alice for the iPad (12th most popular free application in the Apple App Store for iPad)http://distimo.createsend3.com/t/r/l/bddfh/tukhsidt/j

Google Editions launches in Summer 2010 - waiting for news on what free ebooks will be available.http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176301/Google_Editions_to_launch_in_summer_selling_digital_books_report_says?taxonomyId=16