Do you read ebooks? If you do, you are one of an increasing number of people that have switched to electronic books and are helping to save the rainforests. Here's how to get ebooks free!

Not everyone reads ebooks because they are saving trees and there are probably carbon emissions associated with running internet servers and manufacturing ebook readers too. It's simply convenient to carry a library of books on a small electronic device that can be held in one hand and carried in a pocket or bag.

There are several apps and devices for reading ebooks, but one of the most popular is Kindle and this Amazon app is available everywhere - on Android phones and tablets, iPhone, iPad, computers and dedicated devices.

Another major player is Google Play Books and this is a natural fit for anyone with an Android phone, but first let's look at Kindle.

Amazon Kindle vs Kindle for Samsung

The Amazon Kindle app is very good and it has access to millions of books though the Amazon store. It also has a useful range of features. It runs on all Android phones and it is fine on Samsung phones and tablets. It could not be better, or could it? Samsung seems to think so and it has produced a customised version of Kindle for Samsung phones.

To get the Samsung version of Kindle, open Galaxy Apps on your phone and search for 'Kindle'. Install Kindle for Samsung.

It is so similar to the regular Kindle for Android app that it is hard to find any differences beyond a few minor changes to items on the menu. They even share the same book library, so you can read a book in either app. So why would you want the Samsung version?

The only significant difference is that every month you can choose a free book from Amazon. If the menu is opened on the left, there is a Samsung Book Deals section. Whenever I have looked, there has always been four books to choose from. That isn't a lot, but it changes every month and it is worth checking out to see what is on offer. Sometimes there are some excellent books, but at other times they are not to my liking.

Tap a book and there is the option to buy it for no charge. Grab them while you can because they may not be available next month when they are replaced with a new selection.

Reading aids

Open a book in either the Amazon or Samsung version of the Kindle app and then tap a page to zoom out. Open the menu using the three dots in the top right corner and there are options to use Word Runner and Word Wise.

Word Runner is a way to read a book one word at a time. Of course, you already do read one word at a time. However, this literally shows one word instead of a whole page of words. There is a speed control that determines how fast the words appear and you can stop and continue at any time. It could be used to build up your reading speed.

One of the advantages of ebooks compared to physical books is the built in dictionary. Long press a word and you can get a definition of a word, a Wikipedia entry if applicable and even a translation into a foreign language.

WordWise takes this further and by increasing the spacing between lines of text, it can show definitions of difficult words within the text. You might find it useful to enable it if you struggle to understand some words in the book.

Free Amazon Kindle books

Whether you use the Samsung or Amazon Kindle app, there are many free books, although they can sometimes be difficult to find. As you browse the store from within the app, you might stumble across them.

The Kindle app does not show prices when browsing the store, so you have to open each book's page to see the price. Occasionally they are free.

One way to find free books is to simply search for them. Select the Store tab at the bottom of the Kindle app and search for 'free books'. Apparently there are 50,000+ titles. Tap Filter and sort by popularity or customer reviews to see the best of them.

Add your interest to the search, for example, search for 'free books sci fi' to see all free science fiction books, or 'free books crime thrillers', and so on. Searches like this often turn up thousands of books, although it depends on the niche.

Free books from Google

Don't limit yourself to one book store. Google Play Books is another excellent ebook reader and there is a huge range of books available from Google. The app works on iOS as well as Android and books are synced between the two if you have, say, an Android phone and iPad.

One of the nice features of this app, is that it suggests books you might like based on previous books you read. Perhaps it knows that i like free books or maybe it is the niche I like, but there are often free books among the ones it suggests. It is common for the first book in a series to be free, probably to get you hooked and buying the rest of the series.

The best way to find free books in Google Play Books is to tap the Store app at the bottom of the screen and search for them, just as with Kindle. Search for 'free book's to see all freebies or add a niche like 'free books travel' to find travel books for example.

Unlike Kindle, the Google app does not say how many search results are found, so I cannot say how many freebies there are. The list seems to go on and on as you swipe up , so there must be hundreds in a niche and thousands in total.

Audiobooks are available if you want to listen to books rather than read them, but there is an alternative. Instead of listening to a real person reading a book, the Google Play Books app can use text-to-speech to read a standard ebook out loud.

Open a book and tap a page to zoom out. Press the three dots in the top right corner and tap Read aloud. It isn't as good as a real person, but try it and see, it could be useful when you are too tired to read yourself.