The ebooks on DarkCreek have been formatted into a simple and easy-to-read web page format. This means that you can read them on any device that supports web browsing. This article focuses on the Sony PSP, but you should also be able to read these books on PDAs, cell phones, Nintendo DSs, laptop computers, any device at all that supports web browsing!
These ebooks are all considered Public Domain in the United States (where DarkCreek is hosted), and are therefore free to the public. There is no charge for reading these on your device. Copyright laws vary by country, so if you are outside of the U.S. you might want to consult your local laws if you have any concerns.
Tips for reading Ebooks on a PSP (Play Station Portable)To read an ebook, connect to a wireless connection and point your PSP Internet browser to http://darkcreek.com/ebooks/ and load one up. You dont have to STAY connected to the wireless connection - as long as you dont navagate away from that page, it should stay loaded in the web browser, even when the PSP is turned off.
While the ebook is loading, it is almost impossible to navigate around on the page. Give it time to load - watch for a little animated circle in the lower right hand corner of the screen. If you see this, it’s still loading. When the circle is gone, it should be fully loaded.
Use left-side arrow keys to quickly jump between links - it is much faster than trying to steer the cursor around the screen.
PROBLEM - Most of our ebooks contain a table of contents, to quickly find your chapter. When you click on one of these links, it will APPEAR that nothing happens - but trust us, it IS working - just slowly. Larger ebooks can cause a bit of a memory issue, and it can take anywhere from 20 seconds to 2 minutes to find the correct chapter (a link that would work instantly in Firefox or IE). Maybe this is something that Sony can fix in a future firmware release…
MEMORY PROBLEMS? - The books on this site should load into the browser without any problem - if a book refuses to load, and suggests that you go into OPTIONS and change settings to conserve memory - well, don’t do that just yet. The problem is PROBABLY that you already have other websites / pages loaded into other tabs in your PSP browser. (Yep, you can have multiple sites open at once!) Here’s how to check - while holding down the SQUARE button with your right thumb, use your right index finger to repeatedly hit the clear right shoulder button. At the top of the screen you will see a red, blue, and tan bar, which represent three browser tabs. Each time you hit the shoulder button, you cycle through to another tab. If you find other pages loaded, then simply go to a page that you want to close, hit triangle to go to the menu, and under the first menu item on the bottom left, press X, and then select CLOSE PAGE. This will free up the memory that page was using. Try reloading your book in the original tab you were in, and it should load up fine.
TIP - When you are reading the book, press the down-arrow twice to go down a full page. Pressing it once will only load half of a page.
For comfortable reading, toggle the screen brightness button on the bottom right-hand side of the PSP.
If the text is too big or small, you can adjust it in the PSP browser settings. Just press the triangle button while your book is loaded, to bring up the browser menu screen. Press the right-arrow until VIEW is selected (the white box with a large “A” in it), press X (TEXT SIZE should be selected), press X again, select a different size, and press X a third time to change it. Press the triangle button again to go back to your browser window. It will take a minute to reformat the page to the new size - again, watch the bottom right corner of the screen for a small, animated circle. When it disappears, it is done reformatting.
While reading your book, be careful of the clear shoulder buttons on the top of the PSP - they function as forward and back browser buttons - bumping the left one can take you away from what you were reading. If that should happen, just press the right shoulder button and wait - it should take you back to where you were reading before the bump.
TIP - Save the DarkCreek ebooks library in your PSP bookmarks (the little heart icon on the browser menu screen). This will allow you to return to the ebook library, without having to retype the address each time. We will be building the library up, adding books rather frequently, so check back often!
PROBLEM - On the PSP browser, there’s a big gap between an apostrophe, and the following S. Yes, we know this is annoying, but it’s a problem with the way fonts are rendered on the PSP. Maybe this is something Sony can fix, but we are trying to try to fix it on our end with different CSS settings. No luck yet, but who knows?
The best tip of all? Reading the book is almost always a LOT better than watching the movie. Example - the Disney version of the Jungle Book was okay, for a kid’s movie. But try giving the book a read - its a VERY cool story, and very different than the movie.