Apple watchers are expecting Apple to release the iPad 2 this spring, packed with new features and a refined form factor. Aside from various mock-ups of the next generation iPad appearing at CES this year, several recent leaks from industry insiders are painting a more detailed picture of what the iPad 2 hardware will include.

Similar to Apple's improvements to the iPhone 4 with the Retina display, discoveries have been made indicating a quadrupling of screen resolution is in the works for the iPad 2. Thanks to the release of iOS 4.3 beta firmware, developers have found graphics in the iBooks application that have two different resolutions.

You can add PDF (Portable Document Format) or ePub (Electronic Publication) books directly to your iTunes library and read them on your iPad. To transfer these files to your iPad follow these instructions:

1. Make sure you have the iBooks app installed on your iPad. You can find iBooks in the App Store for free.

2. Download the PDF or ePub files you wish to read to your computer, then run iTunes.

3. Navigate to File -> Add to Library. Find the PDF or ePub files you wish to add and select them.

4. From the left menu in iTunes (under LIBRARY) choose Books.

Those who enjoy reading books now have added functionality thanks to Apple's update of iBooks to version 2.1 on the iPad and other iOS devices. One notable improvement includes the ability to read fully illustrated children's books, photography books, or cookbooks and the like.

In addition, a new Collections feature helps to organize your book collection into different categories for easy access. Full AirPrint compatibility is also included in the update, allowing users to print PDF files or notes directly to their printers.

Apple confirmed it intends to launch international versions of its iBookstore when it ships the iPad to several countries on May 28. iBooks will be available as a free app from the App Store and ebooks can be previewed, purchased and read using the e-reader software.

Previous to the international ship date, the iBookstore was limited to iPad owners in the US due to local copyright laws. So far, Apple has sold 1.5 million ebooks on iPads across the US. Apple continues to work on deals with several publishers and has verified iBookstore access will be available in the following countries:

The iBooks application will not ship with the iPad as a native application. The app will be available as a separate free download from the iTunes App Store.

iBooks provides access to Apple's iBookstore including the Project Gutenberg library of over 30,000 free public-domain books. Apple is expected to offer New York Times bestsellers at the same price as Amazon's Kindle, for $9.99 each.

A report today from AppAdvice.com brought welcome news to anyone interested in reading eBooks on the iPad. With their privileged peek at the iPad's iBookstore, AppAdvice.com was able to spot that Apple has included the entire Project Gutenburg library of eBooks. This means over 30,000 free books will be available for download through iBooks. Yep, 30,000 free books.

For those of you that aren't already familiar with Project Gutenburg, it is the largest online collection of free eBooks. The project was founded by the inventor of eBooks, Michael Hart. Project Gutenburg is volunter supported, and continues to grow.

The following list of the project's top 10 eBooks over the last 30 days provides just a few examples of the sort of literature available through Project Gutenburg:

There are a wealth of free eBooks on the internet, including some of the great classics of literature. The good news is, you can easily add these to your iPad's iBooks library by adding them via iTunes and syncing them to your library.

This is made possible by the fact that iBooks uses the popular open format ePub, as Apple recently revealed. Apple's iBooks informational page states

As part of its pre-order launch day site updates, Apple posted updates detailing new apps that the iPad has brought into the fray. This includes the new iBooks application, as well as iWork suite. One of the most talked about details about the iBooks application that was revealed today is that, if you want it to, it will read books to you.

The dictation/read aloud feature is a product of Apple's VoiceOver technology. VoiceOver, which received an overhaul as part of OS X Snow Leopard, is an accessibility that can read

The iPad is tackling the electronic book market with Apple bringing a brand new content store online, the iBookstore. Titles can be previewed, purchased and read immediately using the iPad-specific application iBooks.

This is great for iPad users in the United States, however it will take some time for the iBookstore to come online in other countries. Problem is that Apple needs to make deals with publishers to offer local content in conformance with local copyright laws.