Curling up with a good book is a great way to relax, and many people are trading in their hardcovers for e-book readers—digital tablets that store books as text files. It’s a convenient way to read your favorite classics or the latest gripping whodunit novel, and one of the great things about e-books is that there are plenty to be found for little to no cost.

E-book devices

You’ll need an e-book reader or software that can open an e-book before you can read it, of course. You could use your computer or laptop to read an e-book, but many bookworms are buying dedicated e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle (starting at $79), Barnes & Noble’s Nook ($99), and the Sony Reader (starting at $149).

If you have an Apple iPad2, iPhone, or iPod Touch, you already have a mini e-book reader. Both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have free e-book apps available for the iPhone and Touch, and there are other e-book apps available such as Kobo’s iPhone app. Apple’s iPad2 includes access to Apple’s iBookstore. You can use the iBookstore to find, buy and download new e-books with just a couple of taps on the iPad’s touchscreen. Barnes & Noble offers a free e-reader app for the iPad, which includes features such as book sharing, free book samples and a variety of customizable options for how e-books are displayed. More info about the app can be found here.  

A fistful of formats

When you find an e-book you’re interested in, it’ll be available in one or more formats. Make sure the format you choose is compatible with your e-reader. Some of the more popular formats include EPUB (supported by the Nook, Sony Reader and iPad), Adobe’s PDF (Sony Reader, Nook and Kindle), Mobipocket (Kindle) and simple TXT files (Kindle and Sony Reader). As an example, Barnes & Noble offers its books in the EPUB, PDF and PDB formats (a format commonly used for smartphones and PalmOS or Windows Mobile devices). Also, some e-book readers such as the Kindle, Nook Color ($249) and Sony Reader support MP3 files, so they double as audiobook players.

Free books from a familiar source

One of the best places to find free e-books is the same place you’ve been getting free books for years—your local library. Many libraries now offer e-books and audiobooks that you can borrow. You’ll probably need a membership to your library to check out an e-book, but the checkout process is pretty simple. First, download the PC or Mac software your library uses to manage the e-books you borrow, such as OverDrive Media Console or Adobe’s Digital Editions. After that, simply find an e-book you’d like to borrow from the library’s website and download its file.

Jennifer Lam, Senior Press Representative for the New York Public Library, says that NYPL members can check out e-books for 7, 14 or 21 days. Once the checkout period expires, you’ll no longer have access to the file on your PC or e-book reader. Lam says the New York Public Library has hundreds of thousands of e-books available, including new releases, bestsellers and classic titles. These titles are available in a variety of formats, including Adobe Digital Editions PDF, Mobipocket Reader and EPUB.

Build your digital library

If you want to cast a wider net in your search for a book, give Google Books a try. Google has scanned more than 15 million books that you can search through, according to Google spokesperson Jennie Johnson. Although many of the books are protected by copyright, the entries may contain links to libraries where you can borrow the book or to a store where you can buy it.

Libraries that let you borrow e-books are great, but free e-books that you can keep are even better. Johnson says that Google Books has more than 3 million public domain (that is, free) books available in its library that you can download as PDFs or download in the EPUB format. Johnson says, though, that you don’t need to download these books to enjoy them. You can store your Google books in Google’s Books Library and read them with the Google Books Web reader. These books are stored “in the cloud”, so you can access them whenever you have Internet access, and you won’t even need an e-book reader.

Not surprisingly, familiar online booksellers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com have a sizeable selection of free and discounted e-books. Barnes & Noble’s spokesperson Carolyn Brown says that Barnes & Noble has partnered with Google to offer more than half a million free public domain titles. All free books on Barnes & Noble’s site are indicated by a “Get Free” button in place of the usual “Buy Now” button. You’re not likely to find free bestsellers, but there are quite a few titles available for less than $5 in several categories. Sony has a large selection of e-books at its Reader Store, and you’ll find many discounted and free e-books here as well. Google, in addition to its searchable books library, also has opened its Google eBookstore. You can buy current, popular books at the eBookstore, but you can also find many free and cheap e-books here as well.

There are plenty of other sources of free e-books that aren’t necessarily household names. Websites such as Project Gutenberg, Kobo and Planet E-book have hundreds of free books you can save to your e-reader, including many classics such as “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Treasure Island” and “Pride and Prejudice.”

As you’d expect, you can do more with e-book readers than read e-books. You can also read digital versions of magazines and newspapers. Sites like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble sell subscriptions to popular publications such as “The New York Times,” “Newsweek” and “The New Yorker,” that you can download to your computer and e-reader. Prices will vary from one publication to the next. For example, a monthly subscription to “The New Yorker” from Barnes & Noble costs $2.99 per month (delivered weekly), whereas a subscription to “The Atlantic” from Amazon.com will cost $1.99 per month (delivered monthly).

Prices for newspapers vary even more than for magazines. “The New York Times” costs $19.99 per month when you subscribe through Barnes & Noble or $19.98 per month from Amazon.com, but a subscription to “The Denver Post” costs only $5.99 per month from both sites. Note that some publications, such as “USA Today,” will let you access a digital version of the publication for free if you already subscribe to the print version.

Turn your e-book into a reference library

Aside from having access to the information in all the books you’ve downloaded, you have other research options built in. If you’re reading through an e-book and stumble across a word you’re not familiar with, don’t worry—e-book readers such as the Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader Touch all include built-in dictionaries. The Kindle and Sony models use The New Oxford American Dictionary, and the Nook includes Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. If you need a good thesaurus, Barnes & Noble offers the New American Roget’s Thesaurus for a mere $4.36. And with the Kindle, you have free access to Wikipedia.

The next time you’re ready to hit the beach or your backyard with a bundle of books, leave the tote bag behind and grab your e-book reader. You can load it up with dozens of your favorite books, and it doesn’t have to cost you a dime.