Project Gutenberg is an old flame of mine, so I'd like to talk about it here a bit.

It is one of the oldest and best-known e-book repositories around, relying on donations and volunteer efforts to consistently turn out high-quality digitized texts for sources that have passed into the public domain.

Unfortunately, due to U.S. copyright law, which protects publisher interests to a scandalous extent, one can assume that any works published within one's lifetime will emerge from behind the shield of copyright law at about the same time one is preparing for the grave.

Thus Project Gutenberg's collection is somewhat aged, but it remains an invaluable resource even so. Many of us in the United States take for granted ready access to books and other forms of media; however, such is not the case universally. For those who can't find a copy of Dickens at the local bookstore four blocks away, for those who appreciate the classics but have no classics to appreciate, Project Gutenberg is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.