Comments on: Lack of Software Makes iPhone Ebook Reading Primitive

By: Marc

Marc — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:02:26 +0000

You may want to check out Stanza; it is very popular for reading on the iPhone.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:33:22 +0000

How interesting, Leah. Thanks for the link. I’m hopeful that with the release of the SDK by Apple, that we’ll get a non web based applet for ereading.

By: Leah

Leah — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:30:12 +0000

I noticed that just a week or so ago apple added a new, free app called reader . It's a little bit of a pain because you're basically cutting and pasting in DRM-free books (I'm not technological enough for anything else) that are then reformatted. But the bookshelf feature is similar to Mobi's, you can access the books offline, and they seemed easy enough to read. Let's hope it's the beginning of more readers to come.

By: Dogzilla

Dogzilla — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:34:06 +0000

I’ve just downloaded 6 books from http://manybooks.net and easily loaded them onto my iPhone. I’m impressed. I’d love to buy books in this format and load them up – reading books on the train into and out of work is excellent, especially since I always have my iPhone with me.

By: Ken Gilmer

Ken Gilmer — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:37:41 +0000

http://scrollbox.org and http://manybooks.net are two sites that have iPhone optimized features for reading books on the go including offline storage mode and customized stylesheets for good readability.

By: Urs

Urs — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:42:47 +0000

This is one of the reasons I am hesitant to get an iphone. I read ebooks on my symbian phone or PDA regularly. I can hold tons of books at a time with no extra weight. I use ereader.com (the old peanutpress) for the books, so a PDF reader would not help me at all. These are .pdb files. Plus, these books are protected and need an unlock code to read (your name and credit card number that you purchased with). I hope either ereader or Apple comes up with something to fix this, then I am all for an iPhone.

By: Will Entrekin

Will Entrekin — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:04:14 +0000

Given that the iPhone can display .pdfs, it’s not all that difficult. I have several available via Lulu, and I’ve received a couple of notes in the past few days from people reading my book via their iPhone. One even took pictures to send to me. And yes, she was able to zoom and flip it horizontally.

Also, it looks really pretty.

By: Horton

Horton — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:41:48 +0000

Great article. I have found the same to be true on my iphone. I experimented with sending a PDF to myself over email. It worked but the attachment did not allow me to flip into landscape or zoom in, making it impossible to read. Better formating may help but i have not experimented further. I also found reading over online sites to be acceptable in landscape. My favorite publishing company Baen (science fiction) allows you to view all of your purchased ebooks via html so if i have internet i can access my library online. Doing it this way means no bookmarks or other reader functions. I plan on keeping my palm as my main reader. However it is nice to know that if i don’t bring my palm along i can still get to something to read. I don’t think the iphone will be many peoples primary reader until there is some kind of dedicated app.

By: Sonja Foust

Sonja Foust — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:45:38 +0000

http://code.google.com/p/telekinesis/ I think this may be the answer to my problem. It’s still in alpha (like, not even beta) so I’m a little scared to try it, but it looks WAY cool.

By: Lynne

Lynne — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:42:05 +0000

I guess I’m gonna have to get myself over to a store and look at one of these things. The lack of an e-book reader is annoying, but for that, I have my CliÃ© UX-50, which is three years old and still working beautifully. Sony doesn’t make them anymore, so it’s going to be a sad, sad day for me when mine dies.

Teddy Pig, I had that same feeling about my //c. I LOVED that computer!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:00:46 +0000

I don't think I'll ever use my iPhone to read ebooks, but this program claims to convert ebook files to an iPhone-friend format. Oddly enough, it only works on a PC. Honestly, I am way too excited at being able to stand on a city corner and pull up a street view of that corner via Google maps to be bothered that it can't do ebooks.

By: Jess

Jess — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:22:08 +0000

I thought about getting an iPhone, but honestly, the price tag was a huge deterrent. As a regular watcher of Attack of the Show, I saw enough that it was interesting, but you know, I don’t use my phone for much more than calling, so it’d be a waste. I upgraded to a BlackBerry a couple days before iPhone dropped, and that’s enough of a brain twist. Maybe in two years, when my upgrade’ll be available, I might get an iPhone. I figured my 40 dollar BlackBerry was a better deal, especially since there will be a second iPhone generation coming in the near future. It’s a rather expensive item to have to rebuy. I’ll wait for the bugs to be worked out first. 500+ vs 40, easy choice, hands down.

I should add that I don’t have the 40/month BlackBerry net thing. I can wait. It’s not that important. Just figuring the darn thing up is enough.

By: DS

DS — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:47:18 +0000

I didn’t particularly care about the iphone until I saw it and then I started salivating like a Saint Bernard. I’m going to wait for my contract to be up next year (in spite of the fact that I don’t use all of the capabilities of my current Razr which is the one I had to had last year.) I am such a techno slut.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:29:35 +0000

I’m a huge Apple fan and a gadget geek, to boot, but I plan to wait until the fall/winter to get an iPhone – it’s my understanding there will be a second generation released late in the year. I don’t know if that one will allow 3rd party apps, either, though, and that may end up being a deciding factor for me. For now, I’m just trying to stay away from the AT&T store because I know if I see one, I’ll just have to have it.

By: Roslyn

Roslyn — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:24:25 +0000

I’m waiting for the next generation or two. Everything I have is Apple, ease of use is just that important to me. Thanks for the review Jane. I think I’ll pop over to the Apple store and check it out. I think I’m getting a laptop for my bday anyway.

By: Robin

Robin — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 16:07:39 +0000

I WILL be getting an iPhone, but not for a few months yet (my Treo is less than a year old, and I want to wait until I have an authorized upgrade from Cingular/ATT). And I’m one of those customers who has ATT AND secondary software on my device, so hopefully Jobs il change his mind on that one. But I’m still an Apple loyalist and will take Jobs’s arrogance over Gates’s any day.

Jane, did you get the 4 GB phone? Is 8 GB just showing off?

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:41:51 +0000

Ebook friendly or not, I…am…so…very…jealous.

They’re not available in Canada yet and I’m tempted to pick one up on my next trip south of the border.

Sadly, Apple (and most other tech companies) usually release a 2nd edition within months of the initial product launch to get rid of bugs and make user-demanded updates, so I’ll be waiting until 2008 to get mine.

By: Jorrie Spencer

Jorrie Spencer — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:35:32 +0000

I was wondering how well ebooks would be read on the iPhone. Thanks for the review!

I’d love one, but they’re not yet available in Canada anyway…

By: Leah

Leah — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:28:22 +0000

With all these awesome devices out there now – iPhone, Sony eReader – it’s almost impossible not to want one. But I was a little hesitant about the eReader because of the price tag and Jane’s initial review that it seems to take a lot of converting to be able to read something you actually want. So then I was looking at eBookwise until I saw that Adobe and other encrypted files wouldn’t work on it. Does that mean any DRM book couldn’t be read?

My ideal device would be able to read ebooks easily and stylishly as well as load Word documents I’d be able to take notes on. Is there anything like that out there?

I feel like such a newbie. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

~Leah

By: Keishon

Keishon — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 13:54:33 +0000

Like I said, if it had a killer ereader app, I’d buy it. I’m sure as time goes on, eventually, they will have it. I’m looking at the Bookeen as my first ereading device. Sale is rumored to be at the end of summer quarter.

Jane, seems like your starting a little collection there of devices. You use your IPAQ more then your Sony Reader? Which one is going to Dallas?