Unfortunately, the site is hosted by Tripod, so you'll have to deal with those annoying pop-up advertising windows. Some of these are available as RocketEditions. 1st Books acts as both a bookstore and publishing house. Authors are able to self-publish their works and have it sold by 1st Books. There are also titles in Spanish and Portuguese.
Users download a free reader software.
Books purchased through the site are encrypted for that reader and device. Most books offered initially seem to be from e-publishers but a graphic on the site infers that books from St. Martins Press imprints will be available in the near future. The site allows you to create a bookshelf in which you can place your favorite books. You must register to use the site. However, NetLibrary does have a very nice collection of books from various scholarly and academic sources as well as a number of books from O'Reilly and Associates.