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Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization^[1], enabling the publisher to gain additional revenue from a title after it has been purchased, often using some type of microtransaction system.

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Downloadable content is sometimes offered for a price. Since Facebook games popularized the business model of microtransactions, some have criticized downloadable content as being overpriced and an incentive for developers to leave items out of the initial release.
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Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from aesthetic changes for a character, or new objects or challenges, to expansion packs adding new levels, game modes or a whole new storyline. Downloadable content became prevalent in the 21st century, and especially with the proliferation of Internet-enabled, sixth-generation video game consoles. It has become common practice to re-release games in the form of special editions incorporating previously released DLC along with the main title.^{[citation needed]}

Since the popularization of microtransactions in online distribution platforms such as Steam, the term DLC has become a synonymous for any form of paid content in video games, regardless of whether or not they constitute the download of new content, leading to the creation of the term 'on-disc DLC' for content included on the game's original files, but locked behind a paywall.^[2]

1History

History[edit]

Precursors to DLC[edit]

The earliest form of downloadable content were offerings of full games, such as on the Atari 2600's GameLine service, which allowed users to download games using a telephone line. A similar service, Sega Channel, allowed for the downloading of games to the Sega Genesis over a cable line. While the GameLine and Sega Channel services allowed for the distribution of entire titles, they did not provide downloadable content for existing titles.

On personal computers[edit]

As the popularity and speed of internet connections rose, so did the popularity of using the internet for digital distribution of media. User-created game mods and maps were distributed exclusively online, as they were mainly created by people without the infrastructure capable of distributing the content through physical media.

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In 1997, Cavedog offered a new unit every month as free downloadable content for their real-time strategycomputer gameTotal Annihilation.^[1]^[3]

On consoles[edit]

The Dreamcast was the first console to feature online support as a standard; DLC was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection and the size limitations of a memory card. These online features were still considered a breakthrough in video games, but the competing PlayStation 2 did not ship with a built-in network adapter.^[4]

With the advent of the Xbox, Microsoft was the second company to implement downloadable content. Many original Xbox Live titles, including Splinter Cell, Halo 2, and Ninja Gaiden, offered varying amounts of extra content, available for download through the Xbox Live service. Most of this content, with the notable exception of content for Microsoft-published titles, was available for free.^[5]

With the Xbox 360 introduction in 2005, Microsoft integrated downloadable content more fully into their console, devoting an entire section of the console's user interface to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Microsoft believed that publishers would benefit by offering small pieces of content at a small cost ($1 to $5), rather than full expansion packs (~$20), as this would allow players to pick and chose what content they desired, providing revenue to the publishers. They also partially removed the need for credit cards by implementing their own Microsoft Points currency, which could be bought either with a credit card online or as redeemable codes in game stores to avoid the banking fees associated with the small price points.^[6] This is a strategy that would be adopted by Nintendo with Nintendo Points and Sony with the PlayStation Network Card.

One of the most infamous examples of DLC on consoles was the Horse Armor DLC package released on the Xbox Live Marketplace in 2006 for the Bethesda Softworks game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion that fans criticized as useless and overpriced.^[7] However, by 2009, the Horse Armor DLC was one of the top ten content packs that Bethesda had sold, which justified the DLC model for future games.^[6]

Sony adopted the same approach with their downloadable hub, the PlayStation Store. With Gran Turismo HD, Sony planned an entirely barebones title, with the idea of requiring the bulk of the content to be purchased separately via many separate online microtransactions.^[8] The project was later canceled. Nintendo has featured a sparser amount of downloadable content on their Wii Shop Channel, the bulk of which is accounted for by digital distribution of emulated Nintendo titles from previous generations.

Music video games such as titles from the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises have taken significant advantage of downloadable content. Harmonix claimed that Guitar Hero II would feature 'more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game to this date.'^[9]Rock Band features the largest number of downloadable items of any console video game, with a steady number of new songs that were added weekly between 2007 and 2013. Acquiring all the downloadable content for Rock Band would, as of July 12, 2012, cost $9,150.10.^[10]

On handhelds[edit]

Nokia phones of the late 1990s and early 2000s shipped with side-scrolling shooter Space Impact, available on various models. With the introduction of WAP in 2000, additional downloadable content for the game, with extra levels, became available.

Through use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection users can download DLC to the Nintendo DS handheld for certain games. A good example is Picross DS, in which users can download puzzle 'packs' of classic puzzles from previous Picross games (such as Mario's Picross)^[11] as well as downloadable user generated content.^[12]Professor Layton and the Curious Village was thought to have 'bonus puzzles' that can be 'downloaded' using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, however connecting to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection simply unlocked the puzzles which were already stored in the game.^[13] Similarly, Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 had hidden costumes that were unlocked using DS Download Stations for a limited time.

Due to the Nintendo DS's use of cartridges and lack of a hard drive there is limited space for DLC and developers would have to plan for storage space on the cartridge. Picross DS itself only has room for ten puzzle packs, and Professor Layton's and Ouendan 2's DLC is already on the cartridge and is simply unlocked with a weekly code.

The Nintendo DS's downloadable content is distinct as it is currently being offered at no cost. However, the Nintendo DSi contains a Shop similar to that of the Wii that contains games and applications, most of which must be bought using Nintendo Points. It is also worth noting that, using the Wii's Nintendo Channel, various DS files, such as game demos and videos can be downloaded onto the Wii console and transferred via wireless to a DSi handheld.

The Nintendo 3DS supports downloadable content as of update (4.0.0.7U), the first title to support it being Theatrhythm Final Fantasy^[14] in the form of extra songs. Other games to support DLC quickly followed, such as Fire Emblem: Awakening, and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Starting with Apple'siPhone OS version 3.0 release, and Apple'siPhone 4, downloadable content became available for the platform via applications bought from the App Store. While this ability was initially only available to developers for paid applications, Apple eventually allowed for developers to offer this in free applications as well in October 2009.^[15]

On-disc DLC[edit]

Controversy has arisen when games have charged the user for access to content that was in the game's original distribution. This originated the term 'on-disc DLC'.^[16]Some games include some portions of planned DLC on-disc; a notable example is Mass Effect 3 by BioWare and Electronic Arts. The game disc/distribution included portions of the content in the 'From Ashes' DLC; when the user purchased the DLC, it unlocked this content and downloaded additional patches to complete the content. According to Electronic Arts, this on-disc DLC was done because they needed to have the appropriate hooks ready to go within the main game, comparing the content on-disc to scaffolding for constructing a building.^[17] Specifically, because the content was planned to add a new playable character which then could be played in the main campaign, they needed to have that content on-disc for all.^[18] From BioWare's perspective, having some of that support already in the game allowed them to finish off the main content of Mass Effect 3 and turning it over to Electronic Arts to publish on schedule, thus allowing them to focus on completing the 'From Ashes' content at their own pace, which would be downloaded once the DLC was purchased.^[19]^[18] However, players felt they were being cheated by Electronic Arts since the majority of content was already on disc, and believed Electronic Arts had simply locked the content away behind a microtransaction to get more money from players.^[19]

Monetization[edit]

Downloadable content is sometimes offered for a price. Since Facebook games popularized the business model of microtransactions,^[20] some have criticized downloadable content as being overpriced and an incentive for developers to leave items out of the initial release.^[21]

In addition to individual content downloads, video game publishers sometimes offer a 'season pass', which allows users to pre-order a selection of upcoming content over a specific time period, and ensuring the customer's ability to immediately obtain the content upon release. While a season pass is often a way to get a discount when compared to purchasing each DLC individually, critics argue that users are essentially paying upfront for something while they don't know what it will be. Downloadable content can also be included in a game purchase, such as with pre-order bonuses or bundled into re-releases of the full game, often branded as a 'Game of the Year' edition or similar.

Certain items are provided for free. Providing free DLC can also provide revenue for game companies at the expense of users' convenience. For example, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PlayStation 3 was shipped with certain features disabled. However, users can freely download packs to re enable the missing content from the PlayStation Store. Consequently, users are exposed to advertisements and potential purchases. There is also the additional marketing benefit that users may believe that there is continuing support for the product if there is an apparent flow of such patches. Some games have free DLC content to promote other games. The Wii U version of Sonic Lost World features crossovers with Yoshi's Island and The Legend of Zelda to promote Nintendo titles.

Where a normal software disc may allow its license sold or traded, DLC is generally locked to a specific user's account and does not come with the ability to transfer that license to another user. For instance, non-transferable DLCs were used in EA's 'Project Ten Dollars' as mechanism to fight the used games market.^[22]^[23]

Microsoft has been known to require developers to charge for their content, when the developers would rather release their content for free.^[24] Some content has even been withheld from release because the developer refused to charge the amount Microsoft required.^[24]^[25] Epic Games, known for continual support of their older titles with downloadable updates, believed that releasing downloadable content over the course of a game's lifetime helped increase sales throughout, and had succeeded well with that business-model in the past, but was required to implement fees for downloads when releasing content for their Microsoft-published game, Gears of War.^[24]

As of 2010 the sale of DLC makes up around 20% of video games sales, a substantial portion of a developer's profit margin. Developers are beginning to use the sale of DLC for an already successful game series to fund the development of new IPs or sequels to existing games.^[26]

Availability[edit]

While some content is delivered exclusively through online services, other extra content may already be on the game disc. Extra content on a game disc is inaccessible until it is unlocked by an online service (named 'disc-locked' content^[27]). Some criticism stems from the fact that many of the items sold on sites like Xbox Live Marketplace are not downloadable content at all, but are instead content keys used to unlock content already on the game disc. Because of this, many people feel as if they are paying to unlock content they already purchased when they bought the game itself. For instance, criticism arose over the downloadable characters for Street Fighter X Tekken, which were found to already be on the game discs.^[28]^[29]

Publishers may also choose to re-release certain titles with previously available downloadable content bundled. There is also criticism concerning the exclusivity of downloadable contents, as some of these contents are frequently added to new disc version of the game. Buyers of the Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition would have access to contents previously exclusives as downloadable content without having to pay any extra fee.^[30] The Star Wars: The Force Unleashed re-release 'Ultimate Sith Edition' featured an additional level that was later released as DLC, despite LucasArts stating it was exclusive to the re-released version.^[31]

There have also been cases where DLCs were intended to be part of the main game, but they were later stripped out of it in order to be sold as a separate feature. Tomb Raider: Underworld has been criticized for providing two DLCs, exclusive to the Xbox 360, that were supposedly removed from the original game.^[32]^[33]The Sims 4: My First Pet was likewise criticised for containing items that had seemingly been removed from the Cats & Dogs expansion, with the DLC requiring the downloadable expansion pack in order to work. PCGamesN described it as 'a stuff pack for an expansion pack'.^[34]

In other media[edit]

While video games are the origins of downloadable content, with movies, books and music also becoming more popular in the digital sphere, experimental DLC has also been attempted. Amazon's Kindle service for example allows updating ebooks, which allows authors to not only update and correct work, but also add content.

References[edit]

^ ^a^bGiskard (2012-10-12). 'Total Annihilation: An RTSG Classic'. The Engineering Guild. Archived from the original on 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-06-18. Total Annihilation was one of the early adopters of the DLC releases and every month Cavedog would release a new unit for free to try with the game.
^'What Is DLC in Gaming and How Does It Work?'. LifeWire.
^TA downloadable units on cavedog.com (archived in the Internet Archive on March 30, 2001)
^gamesindustry.biz (2002-08-15). 'Sony confirms PS2 online plans'. Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
^Goldstein, Hilary (2004-07-16). 'Ninja Gaiden Hurricane Pack Vol. 1 Q&A - New details on the enemies, AI changes, and camera fixes. Exclusive screens show off even more enemies and a second costume!'. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
^ ^a^bWilliams, Mike (October 11, 2017). 'The Harsh History Of Gaming Microtransactions: From Horse Armor to Loot Boxes'. US Gamer. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
^Sterling, Jim (March 13, 2011). 'Oblivion's Horse Armor DLC still selling!'. Destructoid. Retrieved 2013-06-18. The 'Horse Armor' downloadable content for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has become notorious as the premier example of bad DLC. It's a pointless waste of money that gives something totally useful to a non-character you'll barely use.
^'Gran Turismo HD will be a barebones release'. VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
^'Guitar Hero II for Xbox 360 to have most DLC ever'. VideoGamer.com. 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
^'Rock Band is an EXPENSIVE Hobby, but HOW Expensive?'. Rockbandaide.com. Retrieved 2012-11-06.
^'IGN: Picross DS'. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
^'1UP: Picross DS Review'. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
^'Professor Layton and the not so downloadable content'. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2008-09-24.^{[permanent dead link]}
^'First 3DS game with paid DLC is Theatrhythm Final Fantasy'.
^Chen, Brian X. (2009-10-15). 'Apple Allows In-App Purchases in Free iPhone Apps'. Wired. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^'EA exec says complaints about 'on-disc DLC' are 'nonsense''. Ars Technica.
^Orland, Kyle (August 13, 2015). 'EA exec says complaints about 'on-disc DLC' are 'nonsense''. Ars Technica. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
^ ^a^bKain, Erik. 'BioWare And EA Respond To DLC Controversy'. Forbes. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
^ ^a^b'BioWare Responds to Mass Effect 3 DLC Controversy'. PCMAG. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
^Chris Morrison (2008-10-29). 'A popular Facebook game enrages players by adding micro-transactions'. VentureBeat. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
^Ransom-Wiley, James (2006-04-03). 'Download Oblivion's horse armor, for a price'. Joystiq. Retrieved 2013-12-17.
^Raumer, Daniel (2010-02-18). 'Electronic Arts - …kämpft gegen gebrauchte Spiele'. GameStar. IDG. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
^Adam Satariano and Cliff Edwards (2010-02-10). 'Electronic Arts: Lost in an Alien Landscape'. businessweek.com. Retrieved 2013-12-17. 'Project Ten Dollar,' a coupon program to reward people who purchase a new game with downloadable content and upgrades. People who buy used games pay an extra $10 or more for the same goodies.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^ ^a^b^cGame Informer, April 2007
^Earnest Cavalli (2007-03-26). 'Microsoft hearts capitalism, shiny rocks; does not heart free content, sunshine'. Retrieved 2013-12-17.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^Lizardi, Ryan. 'DLC: Perpetual Commodification of the Video Game.' Democratic Communiqué [Online], 25.1 (2012): n. pag. Web. 1 Aug. 2017
^'CAPCOM'S DISC-LOCKED CONTENT COULD COMBAT USED GAME SALES'. www.cinemablend.com.
^Dransfield, Ian. 'Capcom Includes Paid DLC On The Disc, Hilariously'. Play. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
^Sinclair, Brendan (March 16, 2012). 'On-Disc DLC Outrage Is Off the Mark'. GameSpot. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
^'Snow' (November 18, 2009). 'Announcing Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition'. Capcom. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
^Thorsen, Tor (2009-07-24). 'Force Unleashed unleashing more DLC, Sith Edition'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
^Tomb Raider Underword DLC Was Meant To Be In Original Game - Kotaku
^Tomb Raider DLC content meant for original game - BitGamer
^Hood, Vic. 'Buy the other half of your furniture with the latest Sims 4 Stuff pack'. PCGamesN.

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Downloadable_content&oldid=917774240'

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Ever thought of creating a library with thousands of free books? You'd never have to spend a dime. It sounds impossible, but it's not! Free books, on nearly any subject you can think of, are all over the internet, ready to be downloaded, read, and shared. All you need to do is speed up your reading so you have enough time to get through all of them!

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Here are the top 20 sites where you can find and download a wide variety of completely free books online, anything from romance novels to computer technology manuals.

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Read Print

What we like

Easy to search
Free account grants access to the community and a personal page with a virtual 'bookshelf'
Comprehensive quotation database
Offers lots of ways to find free books

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Only has classic books and those with Creative Commons licenses
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Read Print is an online library where you can find thousands of free books to read. The books are classics or Creative Commons licensed and include nonfiction, essays, fiction, plays, and poetry.

Free registration at Read Print gives you the ability to track what you've read and what you would like to read, write reviews of books you've read, add books to your favorites, and to join online book clubs or discussion lists.

You can access the books on Read Print without joining, but you won't have access to the other features mentioned above.

Finding Free Books On Read Print's Website

There are several ways you can find what you're looking for at Read Print:

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Check out the top 250 most famous authors on Read Print.

For example, if you're looking for books by William Shakespeare, a simple search will turn up all his works in a single location.

Reading Books at Read Print

Once you've found a book you're interested in, click Read Online and the book will open within your web browser. You also have the option to Launch Reading Mode if you're not fond of the website interface. Reading Mode looks like an open book, however, all the free books on the Read Print site are divided by chapter, so you'll have to go back and open it every time you start a new chapter.

If you find a book you really like and you'd like to download it to your mobile e-reader, phone, or tablet, Read Print provides links to Amazon, where you can download a title for free if you're a member of Amazon Kindle Unlimited.

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ManyBooks

What we like

Selection includes more than just classics and Creative Commons books
Great categorization makes finding what you love easier
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Some functionality may not be available on the new site
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ManyBooks is one of the best resources on the web for free books in a variety of download formats. There are hundreds of books available here, in all sorts of interesting genres, and all of them are completely free. One of the best features of this site is that not all of the books listed here are classic or creative commons books.

Finding Free Books on Many Books

ManyBooks is in transition at the time of this writing. A beta test version of the site is available that features a serviceable search capability. Readers can also find books by browsing genres, popular selections, author, and editor's choice. Plus, ManyBooks has put together collections of books that are an interesting way to explore topics in a more organized way.

In addition to these basic search options, you can also use ManyBooks Advanced Search to pinpoint exactly what you're looking for. There's also the ManyBooks RSS feeds that can keep you up to date on a variety of new content, including: All New Titles By Language.

Reading Books at ManyBooks

All of the free books at ManyBooks are downloadable — some directly from the ManyBooks site, some from other websites (such as Amazon). When you register for the site you're asked to choose your favorite format for books, however, you're not limited to the format you choose. When you find a book you want to read, you can select the format you prefer to download from a drop down menu of dozens of different file formats.

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The Literature Network

The Literature Network: This site is organized alphabetically by author. Click on any author's name, and you'll see a biography, related links and articles, quizzes, and forums. Most of the books here are free, but there are some downloads that require a small fee.

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Free Computer Books

Free Computer Books: Every computer subject and programming language you can think of is represented here. Free books and textbooks, as well as extensive lecture notes, are available.

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Librivox

Librivox.org is a dream come true for audiobook lovers. All the books here are absolutely free, which is good news for those of us who have had to pony up ridiculously high fees for substandard audiobooks.

Librivox has many volunteers that work to release quality recordings of classic books, all free for anyone to download. If you've been looking for a great place to find free audio books, Librivox is a good place to start.

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Authorama

Authorama.com features a nice selection of free books written in HTML and XHTML, which basically means that they are in easily readable format. Most books here are featured in English, but there are quite a few German language texts as well. Books are organized alphabetically by the author’s last name. Authorama offers a good selection of free books from a variety of authors, both current and classic.

Authorama offers up a good selection of high-quality, free books that you can read right in your browser or print out for later. These are books in the public domain, which means that they are freely accessible and allowed to be distributed; in other words, you don't need to worry if you're looking at something illegal here.

How Do I find Free Books to Read Here?

Authorama is a very simple site to use. You can scroll down the list of alphabetically arranged authors on the front page, or check out the list of Latest Additions at the top.

Once you find something you're interested in, click on the book title and you'll be taken to that book's specific page. You can choose to read chapters within your browser (easiest) or print pages out for later.

Why Should I Use Authorama?

If you're looking for an easy to use source of free books online, Authorama definitely fits the bill. All of the books offered here are classic, well-written literature, easy to find and simple to read.

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Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is one of the largest sources for free books on the web, with over 30,000 downloadable free books available in a wide variety of formats.

Project Gutenberg is the oldest (and quite possibly the largest) library on the web, with literally hundreds of thousands free books available for download. The vast majority of books at Project Gutenberg are released in English, but there are other languages available.

If you already know what you are looking for, search the database by author name, title, language, or subjects. You can also check out the top 100 list to see what other people have been downloading.

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International Digital Children's Library

International Digital Children's Library: Browse through a wide selection of high quality free books for children here. Check out Simple Search to get a big picture of how this library is organized: by age, reading level, length of book, genres, and more.

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eBooks and Text Archives

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Questia Public Library

Questia Public Library has long been a favorite choice of librarians and scholars for research help. They also offer a world-class library of free books filled with classics, rarities, and textbooks.

More than 5,000 free books are available for download here, alphabetized both by title and by author.

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Wikisource

Wikisource: Online library of user-submitted and maintained content. While you won't technically find free books on this site, at the time of this writing, over 200,000 pieces of content are available to read.

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Wikibooks

Wikibooks is an open collection of (mostly) textbooks. Subjects range from Computing to Languages to Science; you can see all that Wikibooks has to offer in Books by Subject.

Be sure to check out the Featured Books section, which highlights free books that the Wikibooks community at large believes to be “the best of what Wikibooks has to offer, and should inspire people to improve the quality of other books.”

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Bibliomania

Bibliomania: Bibliomania gives readers over 2,000 free classics, including literature book notes, author bios, book summaries, and study guides. Free books are presented in chapter format.

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The Open Library

The Open Library: There are over one million free books here, all available in PDF, ePub, Daisy, DjVu and ASCII text.

You can search for ebooks specifically by checking the Show only ebooks option under the main search box. Once you've found an ebook, you will see it available in a variety of formats.

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Sacred Texts

Sacred Texts contains the web’s largest collection of free books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric in general.

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SlideShare

Another site that isn't strictly for free books, Slideshare does offer a large amount of free content for you to read. It is an online forum where anyone can upload a digital presentation on any subject.

Millions of people utilize SlideShare for research, sharing ideas, and learning about new technologies. SlideShare supports documents and PDF files, and all these are available for free download (after free registration).

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Free eBooks

Free eBooks offers a wonderfully diverse variety of free books, ranging from Advertising to Health to Web Design. Standard memberships (yes, you do have to register in order to download anything but it only takes a minute) are free and allow members to access unlimited eBooks in HTML, but only five books every month in the PDF and TXT formats.

A VIP membership here (at $39.95 for a full year or $49.95 for a lifetime membership) gives you unlimited access to any book you want, in any format.

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The Online Books Page

The Online Books Page: Maintained by the University of Pennsylvania, this page lists over one million free books available for download in dozens of different formats.

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Almost Free Books - World Public Library

World Public Library: Technically, the World Public Library is NOT free. But for $8.95 annually, you can gain access to hundreds of thousands of books in over one hundred different languages. They also have over one hundred different special collections ranging from American Lit to Western Philosophy. Worth a look.

They also have what they call a Give Away Page, which is over two hundred of their most popular titles, audio books, technical books, and books made into movies. Give the freebies a try, and if you really like their service, then you can choose to become a member and get the whole collection.

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Not Quite Free Books - Scribd

Scribd offers a fascinating collection of all kinds of reading materials: presentations, textbooks, popular reading, and much more, all organized by topic. Scribd is one of the web’s largest sources of published content, with literally millions of documents published every month.