You use your BlackBerry for so many things throughout the day, from reading email to checking up on your RSS feeds and playing games. Have you ever thought about reading e-books or listening to Audio Books on your device?
There are tons of free e-books available on the net that you can download to your BlackBerry and enjoy. Whether you are looking for classic novels, personal health guides or technical manuals, you will find something to suit your needs. The same goes for Audio Books. Librivox.org has tons of public domain books recorded and ready for download.
If you have never had the pleasure of reading your favorite novel on your BlackBerry Pearl, Curve or Bold (for those lucky enough to have their hands on one at the moment) then this guide is for you.
Welcome to the wonderful world of e-book reading on your BlackBerry
Getting e-books on to your BlackBerry requires a couple of steps and two pieces of software. The process is dead simple so just follow along =)
Installing the MobiPocket reader on your BlackBerry
The first step to being able to read e-books on your BlackBerry is to install the MobiPocket reader software on to your device. To do this you must point your BlackBerry browser to the following URL:http://m.mobipocket.com.
MobiPocket will automatically detect the type of BlackBerry you are using and will direct you to the appropriate download version. Once you have been presented with this link, simply click it and confirm the software download and installation.
The installation process should take only a couple of minutes to complete and you will be notified with a pop up dialog box on your screen upon successful installation.
Your device may restart at this point and you will now see a little PDA looking icon on your main applications screen. Clicking on this icon will launch the MobiPocket software on your BlackBerry.
You will notice that there are not many options for you right off the bat. This is because you have no e-books currently installed on your BlackBerry. You will have access to the MobiPocket store right away, but I suggest trying out some free e-books before you go buying books from their store.
Once you have the MobiPocket e-book reading software installed you are only two steps away from enjoying your favorite works. The next step is installing the MobiPocket desktop software.
Installing the MobiPocket software on your desktop
The MobiPocket desktop software is essential to transferring your newly downloaded e-books onto your BlackBerry. The process works by storing and managing your e-books offline and then transferring them to the BlackBerry device once you have connected it to your PC via USB.
To get your copy of the MobiPocket desktop software just point your favorite browser to the following URL: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsReader.asp.
The installation process should take about five minutes to complete and you will be notified upon successful installation.
You are now set up to transfer your downloaded e-books from your PC to your BlackBerry using the MobiPocket software.
Transferring your e-books and audio books from your PC onto your BlackBerry
Now that you have all the required software installed in all the right places you can get to transferring your e-books onto your BlackBerry. To do this just complete the following steps:
- Open the desktop version
- Plug your BlackBerry into your PC via USB
- Drag the downloaded e-book files into the folder that says e-books (this is in the desktop version and is located in the far left panel under Bookshelf).
- Once you see the ebook show up in your bookshelf (you will see an thumbnail of it in the right panel of the reader), click on the send button at the top center of your screen.
- Choose your BlackBerry from the drop down list that appears and the process will begin.
- On your BlackBerry you will now see the book and have the functionality to read it.
- repeat the process for each additional e-book you would like access to on your BlackBerry.
There you go folks. You are now free to dig around on the internet to find all of the wonderful e-books and audio books that are available for your reading and listening enjoyment. If you need a little head start on finding some great resources for e-books, try some of the following links:
- http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
- e-books available from the BBGeeks Store
- http://www.ebooks.com/
- http://www.free-ebooks.net/
- http://e-library.net/
- http://www.fictionwise.com/
- http://www.ebookmall.com/
- http://www.ebookdirectory.com/
If you require even more sources for e-books simply do a Google search for the term e-books or ebooks and you will find thousands of resources immediately.
If you know of any killer resources for free e-books that are not mentioned here, please leave them in the comments for your fellow BBGeeks to enjoy.
13 comments… read them below or add one
Wish ereader.com would add bberry to their compatible list! They’ve iPhone now.
We have non-free but none-the-less very interesting ebooks (and games/movies/music) for instant download at: http://www.contentrealtime.com
Please understand that Mobireader will not work for everyone. My company, along with other security conscious one, has the 3rd party use of serial ports disabled via policy. This way rogue software on the PC can’t gain access to the blackberry.
With this restriction valid programs like Mobireader are prohibited from transfering ebooks from the PC via USB.
Because of this I just chunk up text ebooks from sources like Gutenberg into small sections indexed by number (ie Dracula 1, Drqcula 2, etc.) and email them to my GMail account. Then whenever I want, regardless how long ago I emailed it to myslef, I just use Google’s GMail app and do a search on the keyword (ie “Dracula”) and tada my book pops up.
There’s no software to install on the PC but it is a bit of a pain emailing a 75-chunk book to myself.
I use the Mobipocket reader all the time and love it. However, what I am having trouble with is listening to audio books on my BB Tour. Audible does not support it and their work around doesn’t seem to work. I have tried other formats on WMP, but keep running into digital rights management issues. Any suggestions?
@Chris L
Try the Didiom app – it should work for you:
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/1618
I bookmarked it too, but you forgot to include another great source for free non-fiction ebooks: zbooc.com
I am new to smart phones; is it possible to download novels directly to my. BB 9000?
@olutiye Yes you can – read this post for info:
http://www.bbgeeks.com/blackberry-guides/geek-guide-how-to-read-e-books-on-your-blackberry-88523/
Hi, just wondering if there is a way to download the Mobipocket reader onto your computer than transfer it onto your phone.
@BBellie You can do this a couple ways – one is to download .alx and .cod files to a folder on your desktop then use Desktop Manager to load the app onto your BlackBerry using the App Loader option.
Alternatively you can save .jar/.jad files to your desktop and transfer them to your memory card using Mass Storage Mode – once the apps are on the card you can pop it into your BlackBerry – explore the card – navigate to the folder you saved the file in and click the file. The download and installation will be triggered.
Blackberry Beard seems to over-complicate the matter. Why not just pop out the SD cad and load it up with ebooks?
Downloaded it and it let’s me download samples but then says I loose network connection when I try to download the full book.. Also on my computer I can’t search for books…. Please help!!
Hi everyone,i have tried about a million times to download this ebook reader onto my bb curve 3g,but all i keep getting is ‘The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.’
Please i need someone to enlighten me about this cause i’m finding it real annoying not being able to download this app.Not forgetting,i have tried all the platforms,and i keep getting the same message