Ebooks are a great way to enjoy literature – they’re cheaper than print books due to the lack of print and distribution costs (and completely free if the work is in the public domain), and you start reading seconds after buying one.

1. Free Amazon Kindle Reader For Pc
2. Amazon Kindle Reader For Laptop

Kindle for PC is freeware that lets you access your Kindle titles without a Kindle device. Its Whispersync feature automatically syncs your last page read. ‎Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Amazon Kindle. Download Amazon Kindle and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. ‎Turn your iPhone or iPad into a Kindle with the free Kindle app, and carry all your eBooks with you, wherever you go.

You don’t need a specialist device like a Kindle either thanks to the many free ebook readers available for your desktop. These are particularly good for students who want to reference texts in their work, add annotations, or refer to online resources.

So what makes a good ebook reader? For general use, a clear layout and the ability to sync your bookshelf across multiple devices are essential; for students, note-taking and bookmarks are essential; and for anyone who sometimes struggles with their eyesight, text-to-speech and one-click font customization are welcome additions.

• Thinking of buying a Kindle? Find the right one for you

1. Kindle for PC

The best free ebook reader, whether you use Amazon or not

Amazon’s official Kindle app for Windows (as well as Mac and mobile devices) is smart and stylish, and although it tempts you with reading suggestions from the Kindle store, the sales pitch isn’t too in-your-face.

There’s no setup necessary if you already have an Amazon account. Just log in with your usual username and password and your virtual shelves will be populated automatically (though you’ll have to click a book’s cover to download it, so bear this in mind if you’re planning some offline reading). Notes and bookmarks are synced across devices automatically, as are flashcards – an extremely useful addition for students using digital textbooks for revision.

Kindle for Windows also includes text-to-speech function, and changing font sizes and color schemes is as simple as clicking or tapping a button.

2. Freda

Premium features for free – Freda is a real rival to Amazon’s crown

Freda (from the delightfully-named Turnipsoft) is a superb ebook reader that integrates with Project Gutenberg, giving you access to thousands of free ebooks, and Smashwords, where you can find works from independent authors and publishers. Importing your own ebooks is a piece of cake too, with support for all the most popular formats. You can even connect Freda to your Dropbox account enabling you to access books from multiple devices.

Freda supports bookmarks, annotations and highlighting, making it a good choice for students. There’s also text-to-speech for anyone who has trouble with text on screens, as well as auto-scroll and speed-read – a tool that works much like Spritz, displaying words in quick succession so you can read without moving your eyes.

You will notice I have multiple [when I can find] vendors to choose from. You will only see readers that I have tested and will recommend to you on this page (Except for the section). I have no personal preference as to who you decide to purchase from. CAC Reader Manufacturers (listed alphabetically):||||||||||||||||||||||||| NOTICE: The links to vendors / products is an attempt to save you time searching for the specific item, by linking you directly to the item shown.

Freda is funded by ads, but these are discreet and are only visible on the bookshelf screen; they won’t interrupt your reading.

Free Amazon Kindle Reader For Pc

3. Calibre

An open source ebook reader that’s a great choice for students

Calibre is an open source ebook reader and manager that’s lightweight and lightning-fast. Unlike many free ebook readers, Calibre supports Amazon’s AWZ format (though it won’t open DRM-protected files) as well as all the other popular ebook file types, and if any metadata is missing (such as genre or cover art), you can add it yourself using the bookshelf’s options menu.

One of Calibre’s best features is Reference Mode, which displays the current chapter and paragraph number in the top left – ideal if you need to cite references in an essay. We also like Flow Mode, where text is shown as a continuous scrolling stream without page breaks; not as pleasant as simulated page-turning for recreational reading, but a handy time-saver to avoid flicking backwards and forwards through a textbook.

Amazon Kindle Reader For Laptop

4. Sumatra PDF

A PDF, ebook and comic reader that's ideal for multiple PCs

Despite its name, Sumatra PDF is a great little ebook reader, capable of displaying books in EPUB and MOBI format, as well as comic books in CBZ and CBR comic books.

Sumatra PDF is a portable app, so you can save it to a USB stick or cloud storage service and use it on any PC. You can save your ebooks in the same place too, eliminating the need to sync your library.

It’s easy to adjust basic settings like font size, but Sumatra PDF’s advanced options can only be edited by opening a text file and typing in new values. If you want to change the page color, for example, you’ll need to find the hex code for your preferred shade and enter it on the appropriate line. It’s not difficult, but we’d prefer a graphical interface.

There’s no way to add notes or highlights, but the convenience of carrying your ebook library and reader anywhere might outweigh those drawbacks for you.

5. Icecream Ebook Reader

A stylish free ebook reader, but lacking advanced features

Icecream specializes in smart, no-frills software, and Icecream Ebook Reader is no exception. It supports EPUB, MOBI, PDF and FB2 ebook formats, and once you’ve imported your books they’re arranged in a neat bookshelf with a choice of viewing options. One particularly handy feature is the ability to archive and export your ebooks; ideal if you use more than one PC and don’t want the hassle of importing your books twice. There’s no cloud syncing though.

The reader itself is similar to the Kindle app in appearance, with one-click (or tap) buttons for changing font size, color theme (day, night, or sepia), and viewing the table of contents.

Unfortunately, some of the options you can see in the menus are only available if you hand over US$19.95 (about £15, AU$25) for the Pro version. Premium features include importing multiple ebooks simultaneously, adding notes, editing metadata, and copying text.

The free version of Icecream Ebook Reader is quick and very easy to use, but only really suitable for recreational reading. Students will find the lack of note-taking and copying frustrating.

• Want to write your own ebook? Check out the best free software for writers

Finally, Kindle for the Mac is here. Across the board, Mac OS X versions of e-reader software seem to be an afterthought for sellers of e-books. Unfortunately, this seems to be more of the same.

When Barnes & Noble launched apps for the iPhone version of its e-reader app, Windows, and the Mac (all of which appeared even before its standalone Nook e-reader), the Mac version was stripped down to the point of being barely usable.

And when Amazon launched a Kindle iPhone e-reader, and then a Windows version, a Mac OS X version wasn't even mentioned. After a long wait, however, Mac users can now read their Kindle collection on their iMacs, Power Macs, and MacBooks.

The 8.8MB installer download took under a minute on a typical broadband internet connection, and it's a typical drag-to-the Applications folder DMG installer. When you first start the reader, a dialog box asks for your Amazon account login. Sure, you can choose 'Continue without registering,' but then you wouldn't have any books to read. Clicking on 'Archived Items' brings up the registration box again.

Your 'Archived' tab will then fill with any books you've purchased, which you can then download. Any book you're in the middle of reading appears at the spot where you last left off, regardless of which device you used. To turn pages, just scroll the mouse wheel, hit a keyboard arrow key, or click on the arrow next to the page. I miss that there's no page-turning animation like you see in the iPhone Stanza or Classics apps, just a quick snap to the next page. But that's more a matter of personal taste than a major complaint.

As on the Kindle device, you can't change a book's font, and all books use the same (albeit pleasing) typeface. But you can enlarge or shrink the font size and set words per line after clicking on the 'Aa' button in the toolbar at the top of the window. You can't ever hide this toolbar for a full-screen, text only screen, a real drawback that denies readers a more immersive reading experience.

By contrast, the Barnes & Noble PC e-reader lets you use any font on your system, and it even lets you switch to reverse type, which can help prevent eyestrain. And though the B&N Mac app is in many ways still less functional than this new Kindle app, it does let you read in full screen. It also let you choose any font and any background/font color combination.

Another drawback in the Mac Kindle software is that you can't shop for books from within the app—you need to fire up your Web browser and log in to Amazon's site. But these are limitations it shares with the PC and iPhone versions and with the Barnes and Noble readers.

Is Mac for Kindle a success? I'll give it a more formal evaluation (and a score) once I've had a little time with it. But consider this: Barnes and Noble offers over a million e-book titles, while Amazon claims only over 450,000. In any case, however, true Apple fans probably won't be reading their e-books on their Macs, anyway, but rather on their new iPads with the slick iBooks app.