An eBook is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read on a personal computer using free eBook reader software, or on a reading device such as Palm, iPhone and iPod Touch, and Sony Reader. To find out what devices work with what eBook reader software, please check our Reading Devices page.

E-books have several advantages over print materials:

• You can conveniently buy eBooks from your computer or reading devices while at home, work, or on the go.
• Text or words can be searched, cross-referenced or looked up in a dictionary.
• Because eBooks are compact electronic files, hundreds of books can be stored in the memory of your computer or reading device.
• E-books can be stored on several computers or portable devices, making them accessible from multiple places.
• If you lose an eBook, you can easily replace it by re-downloading the title (up to the number of allowable times).
• Readers who have difficulty reading printed books can benefit from the adjustment of text size and font.
• Most eBook reading devices allow reading in low light – even total darkness – with an included backlight.
• Although electricity is required for reading, eBooks are not made of paper or ink, making them considerably greener than the print alternatives.

To read an eBook you only need a PC, laptop or handheld device and the free Reader software. We offer eBooks in five different formats, including Adobe ePub, eReader Pro, Microsoft Reader, Open ePub and PDF. Check out our Reading Devices page for details on devices, our Reading Formats page for details on Formats and the Operating Systems Compatibility chart at the bottom of our FAQs page.

This depends on the device (or browser) you want to use and your operating system. For details please see our Reading Devices page for popular reading devices and compatible formats.

Only a DRM-free (or Open) PDF ebook format will work on a Kindle from retailers other than the Kindle store.

Go to the Start Here tutorial in the Help pages for a step-by-step instruction on getting started with eBooks.

See the iPhone / iPod Touch tutorial in the Help pages.

This depends on the publisher, but in general you can download any DRM-formatted book 4 times. There are no limits for non-DRM formatted titles (like PDFs).

Most eBooks are transferred to handheld devices Palm, Pocket PCs, and other such devices by synchronizing the device with your computer. If you are not familiar with synchronizing your device, you should consult the instructions for your specific device.

We have titles in 6 different formats, each with special software required for reading. These include:

• Adobe Digital Editions (DRM), Adobe ePub (DRM), Microsoft Reader format (.lit), eReader format (.pdb), Adobe PDF (Open) and ePub (Open).
• See the eBook Formats Comparison Chart and the e-Reading Devices Comparison Chart to see what format you need. It all depends on what device you want to read on.

Many publishers use DRM to control the distribution and use of their electronic content. A publisher or author of an eBook, not the retailer, determines the level of restrictions to be applied to each eBook, including how many times the eBook can be downloaded for single purchase, and the number of devices to which the eBook can be transferred. If an eBook has DRM, it is usually encrypted and/or copy-protected and consequently can only be read on authorized computers or handheld devices by authorized users. On the other hand, if an eBook is unencrypted, or not copy-protected (often referred to as a non-DRM eBook), the eBook can be transferred to personal computers or reading devices an unlimited number of times for personal use.

This depends on the publisher, but in general you can download any DRM-formatted book 4 times. There are no limits for non-DRM formatted titles (like PDFs).

Please visit our Reading Software page. Download links are provided for the free software you need for reading eBooks on various devices.

Gifting can only be done with Open formats like PDFs and non-DRM ePub titles. Titles encrypted with DRM are linked to the Buyer and so cannot be given away.

Some books have territorial rights restrictions set by the publisher that, depending on your location, might mean you cannot purchase a particular eBook from eBookPie. Unfortunately, you will not discover this until you attempt to checkout and purchase your eBooks. At that point the system will tell you if a given title cannot be downloaded due to your location. We apologize if you encounter this, but it is out of our control. Such restrictions are controlled by the respective publishers.

In order to download a single Adobe eBook on multiple computers, Adobe Digital Editions must be activated using the same Adobe ID on each computer. To activate Adobe Digital Editions using an Adobe ID…

• Open Adobe Digital Editions.
• Select Library > Authorize Computer….
• The ‘Authorize Computer’ dialog box is displayed.
• In the appropriate fields, enter the email address and password for your Adobe ID.
• Click ‘Activate’. Your computer is activated to your Adobe ID.
• Click ‘Finish’ to close the ‘Setup Assistant’ dialog box.

You can try to deactivate Adobe Digital Editions, and reactivate it on the subsequent computer.

• Deauthorize Adobe Digital Editions
  • Open Adobe Digital Editions
  • On your keyboard, simultaneously press the Ctrl, Shift, and D buttons (if on Windows) or the Cmd, Shift, and D buttons (if on a Mac)
  • Click the button that says Deauthorize Computer

• Activate Adobe Digital Editions with an Adobe ID
  • Sign into your Adobe ID
  • Open Adobe Digital Editions
  • Click on the Library button (looks like 3 books, at the left of the page)
  • Click on the downward arrow next to the word LIBRARY
  • Click on Authorize Computer
  • Login to your eBookPie account, My Downloads, and click ‘Download’ to download your ebook.

(IMPORTANT: If you’ve already done this on a different computer than the one you’re using now, or if you’ve done this previously for some of your downloaded eBooks, make sure to Activate with the same Adobe ID that you used in the past.)

Unfortunately, not at this time, but we understand that Adobe is working on it.

The eReader software will enable you to read ebooks on your Android device. Just be sure to choose the eReader format when buying your ebook.

eReader for Android Supported Models:

• HTC Dream
• HTC Droid Eris
• HTC Hero
• HTC Magic
• HTC Sapphire
• HTC Tattoo (formerly HTC Click)
• LG GW620 Eve
• Motorola Calgary
• Motorola CLIQ
• Motorola DEXT
• Motorola Droid
• Motorola Milestone
• Samsung I7500
• Samsung Galaxy
• Samsung Moment
• T-Mobile G1
• T-Mobile G2
• T-Mobile myTouch 3G
• T-Mobile Pulse
• and other devices running the Android OS (Android 1.5 or later recommended)

The error may look like this:

IO ERROR on NETWORK REQUEST. 

Please check your network connections and try again. 

Network path 
Event detail 
ERROR#2038 

This is a somewhat infamous error code for Adobe Digital Additions (ADE) and is very generic. Below are a few things you can try that have worked for other ADE users, mostly to do with adjusting your firewall or security. 

1. Adjust your firewall settings

The error is stating that ADE cannot open a network connection to ebook.lightningsource.com. This is normally caused by firewalls, or application level firewalls.  To see if it is a general connectivity issue try going to http://ebook.lightningsource.com in a browser, if you are unable to go there at all then there is a firewall between you and the site (not necessarily on your computer) that is blocking the connection.

If however you are able to connect to the site, then the next most likely issue is that you have an Application Level Firewall that is blocking outbound connectivity for ADE (and perhaps any other program but the browser).  For Windows “Zone Alarm” is one of the more popular application level firewalls.

Another cause can be a spam or virus checker, such as Kaspersky or McAffee, which is not set to allow Digital Editions to access the internet. You can try it again, but you’ll most likely need to troubleshoot your machine to see what’s blocking the download. 

2. Increase Flash storage size

Increasing the maximum storage size that Flash can use on your machine sometimes solves the problem. To do this, Right click ADE to bring up Flash settings, choose Settings, then the Local Storage tab, and increase the local storage slider. You can set it to unlimited if you want temporarily to see if it works.