Seems you're getting a bunch of positive responses on Safari and I'm be adding my voice to that positive chorus. I have access to the full Safari at work and a also limited version via my ACM (or maybe IEEE) membership and I like the service. I'm pretty sure that if it didn't come to me as a work/member benefit I would still pay for the service directly.
I still like physical books for obvious reasons but got used to using electronic books during my recent time in graduate school. The keyword search functions across entire libraries are unbeatable especially for somewhat esoteric topics. It's also nice when colleagues also use the service since you can hyperlink or share bookmarks to help explain your position or question in more detail.
I also have Books24x7 (again via work and ACM/IEEE membership) and recommend that system for a broader base of books from various publishers. Books24x7 has books from various publishers covering different domains: science/engineering, technology (software/hardware & high-tech/low-tech), business, professional development, etc). For a book junkie, the regular emails w/ summary of new books and ability to (virtually) add an almost endless stream of interesting books to your (virtual) bookshelf is very gratifying :-).
ymmv,
C.G.
On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 12:24 AM, Mike Hoy
<mhoy06@gmail.com> wrote:
Have any of you ever signed up for Safari Books Online? They have a few titles I'd like to read and the price isn't bad for the Safari Bookshelf ($22.99). Just looking for any feedback negative or positive before I sign up. For example one book: Programming Python is way more in paper copy than the monthly fee on Safari. So that's a win win right there. But I was also wondering about things like bookmarks, so you can pick up where you left off from the day before.
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Mike Hoy
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powerofprimes@gmail.com
Carlos Macedo Gomes
_sic itur ad astra_
http://claimid.com/cmgomes