When I checked the iPhone updates last night there was an update for Stanza – and having installed it the app is now working. However do I transfer my loyalty back to Stanza (until it breaks again) or stick with the supported app MegaReader.
I think I will stay with MegaReader.
Upgrading to iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 broke one of my favourite apps, Stanza, an ebook reader. A quick search on the internet will show you how many people are upset by this. I have used my PDAs/smartphones to read books for years, starting with a Psion Series 3a device and books I got on CDs at computer fairs and from BBSs. So I was keen to get another ereader and fast. (See my original post here.)
Well I tried ShuBook - it is OK, but there were two problems. I really could not get on trying to ignore all the Chinese characters and although I could connect it to my Calibre library, it would not download the catalogue to the iPhone. I could transfer books to it via iTunes and it was a good reader.
Whilst looking on the web to see what was to become of Stanza I found this page
which led me onto trying (buying) MegaReader and using it this week and it is working out fine.
Things it does
There are a few issues (if I use Stanza as the bench mark).
Octagon Technology has a client who we support, with manuals he distributes to staff on their iPhones. For this week they have been using iBooks but if MegaReader works out for me I may recommend he buys this for his staff.
Here are a couple of pages with links to free ebooks.
FREE eBooks, Excerpts, Stories! « Mike Cane 2008.
Over 900 Free ePub eBooks! « Mike Cane 2008.
Following the iOS 5 upgrade my favourite ebook reader, Stanza, has stopped working. As the company that wrote the app Lexcycle, has been bought out by Amazon it is unlikely Stanza will be fixed, so I am now looking for another reader app for my iPhone.
As a quick fix, so I could continue reading my current book, I switched to Apple’s iBook app, but to be honest it is a very weak app. It is so slow to open and start reading a book, slowed further by the auto-rotation trying to work out how to display the book. This problem could be fixed by adding a “lock screen rotation” in the app – Apple will tell you to use the system “lock screen rotation”, this is not convenient as I of course open the book before locking the screen or when I have finished reading I have to remember to unlock the screen when I am trying to use the iPhone for other tasks. Come on Apple just add an in app option – make iBooks a better app.
So I need a better reader. I am trying ShuBook and Bluefire.
ShuBook is Asian orientated but it does have English options including excellent English help pages. Bluefire is a much simpler app. Both work well as readers but It was the extras Stanza offered that I liked.
Both Bluefire and ShuBook turn the pages quickly and have links to some online book collections (although many of the ShuBook ones are in Chinese, but I can ignore these) and ShuBook has an option for adding your own download locations including Calibre on your PC.
I am going to use ShuBook first – but hope like many others that Stanza is fixed.
Back in the summer I wrote a post on eBooks and readers. Using the iPhone app Stanza I went online and found a free pulp science fiction eBook – The Penal Cluster by Randall Garrett. For the original article look here.
Now I was impressed with the cover, and Jeremy was not impressed that I chose a book for it’s cover! Well I have now finished the book and I can say it was a good pulp fiction read.
It had all the elements, a hero, space rockets and ray guns, a heroine in distress and even “aliens” taking over the Earth… and at the end there was an unexpected twist to the plot.
So if you want to try out a free eBook I’d recommend this one.
A wide selection of pulp science fiction is available today, because being mostly copyright expired, it has found it’s way into electronic and online libraries and collections. I am not sure that when the authors wrote these “pulp” books that they would ever had believed that copies of their work would be so widely available in the 21st Century.
These collections also include many classic science fiction works from authors you have heard of, HG Wells and Jules Verne to other not so well known authors. Try Olaf Stapledon’s “First and Last Men”, as recommended by Amy H Sturgis. Tony Smith at the StarShipSofa has podcast a number of copyright free stories from Gutenberg in the past as well as being the home of Amy’s “Look Back in Genre History”.
The new podcast Journey Into… is replaying old radio shows, covering a wide variety of genres, all of them “pulp”, as well as new recordings of both older and contemporary stories. I was listening today to a Hornblower story, that was first transmitted on the BBC in the late 1960s. It is the mix of material that Marshal Latham is promising us that has quickly made his podcast one of my favourites.
As the weather has been a bit grey here in Dingwall this morning I have been reading on my iPhone using Stanza – and I finished the eBook I was reading. I am not sure how many books I have loaded on my phone on Stanza, it must be a couple of hundred – but rather than choose one of these I decided to see what was available online for free that I could access and use on my iPhone.
Project Gutenberg and iBooks
Everyone’s first stop for free ebooks, Project Gutenberg now has a mobile site Project Gutenberg Mobile, which works well in Safari on my iPhone 4 and is easy to use and find books that you would be interested in. I looked in the Science Fiction section and found The Door Through Space, by Marion Zimmer Bradley – it was easy to find the download for this book, I chose an ePub version and opened it in iBooks, Apple’s own eBook reader available from the App Store for free. I also chose the version with images so I had the book cover showing on my iBooks shelf!
It was a very easy process and with over 36,000 books available you should be able to find something that interests you.
Stanza
The Stanza app has a built in online catalogue.
Within this catalogue are books to purchase – but there are many free books including a link to Project Gutenberg. Some of the free books on offer, from the shops, are the first books in a series so encouraging you to go back and buy subsequent episodes. Project Gutenberg was easy to use; with the books going straight into your Stanza library.
I was interested in Books from Munseys as they advertise pulp fiction – my favourite – I like nothing better than a old fashioned sci-fi pulp story, with heroes, heroines, monsters and laser beams!
I quickly found a book I was interested in their catalogue by going to the Genres Section. Who could resist this cover? (JSC has just commented “don’t judge a book by the cover”, teenagers, they of course know everything!)
Clicking the download button puts the book directly into your Stanza library. If your return to this page later the download button becomes a read now button as the app records you have a copy of this book in your library.
A quick browse of Munsys and Project Gutenberg shows you there are thousands of free books out there to choose from.
If you want to purchase the latest best seller then Stanza and iBooks both give you access to those as well.
I have an account with Smashwords – I have bought the Starship Sofa short story collections from them. For these books they offered them in a variety of formats – I chose ePub for Stanza/iBooks – all the formats were DRM free.
This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England
What device should I buy to read e-books on?
Last week I was talking with a backpacker about reading when backpacking. She had a real paper book with her, I had my iPhone and was reading two books on it. She then said she was thinking of buying a Kindle – and that got me thinking about what I would recommend for the job.
One consideration in this process is that the phone/smartphone is kept in the pack, ready for use as a phone – rather than running the battery down using it as a book reader.
So what are the requirements for a backpacker’s e-book reader?
* lightweight
* compact
* robust
* easy to keep dry
* versatile
* long battery life
So just looking at this I think I would reject the Kindle – and many of the other dedicated e-book reader devices.
* lightweight – most dedicated units are reasonably light, but not very light
* compact – they are about the size of a large paperback in area but thin. However there are not many models that are truly pocket sized.
* robust – and being thin I am not sure how it would pack. As you push that last stuff sack in the bag, will you break your e-reader?
* easy to keep dry – can you get a dry case (Aquapac) to fit it?
* versatile – some e-readers can be used to browse the web and have other functions but they are limited to doing one thing well
* long battery life – most e-readers make use of screens that consume very little power – this is their one big advantage
So, looking at my list I think a better device for a backpacker would be lightweight, truly pocket-sized and offer more functions than a simple e-reader.
I think that an Apple iPod Touch meets these requirements.
Using a program like Calibre and the iPod app Stanza you could load your own books and buy from some stores. You can buy books from the Apple store and use Apple’s reading app, or even load the Kindle app on the device! Several other booksellers have apps to access their catalogues, giving a very large choice of where you purchase your books.
The screen is small but extremely sharp and easy to read. Stanza also has a simple function to change the brightness of the page to match your surroundings.
An iPod is easily more flexible than a dedicated e-reader.
Leave your camera at home and use the one on the iPod. Same goes for video.
With an iPod you can get online at wifi access points, listen to music and of course there are many other apps that will interest you. However one thing to remember is “how much battery” this will consume. A Kindle has an incredibly long battery life for just reading books – an iPod Touch much shorter if you use it for lots of other things, longer if you use it only as a camera and book reader.
To make the iPod a better proposition you would need to extend the battery life – my son uses a battery pack he got from the supermarket with his iPod, and for my iPhone I have a battery jacket. I know a search of eBay will turn up many more ways to extend the battery life of an iPod (or iPhone).
There are several very good waterproof cases for the iPod and it is truly pocket sized, so you can keep it handy, get it out and read a book at your tea stop in the rain!
If you just want an electronic book reader – there is a good selection on the market, and if you must have one try Sony – they sell a pocket sized model. If you want a more versatile device, as well as a book reader, opt for the iPod Touch.
(Of course an iPhone will offer all the above, and be your phone, blog poster and GPS… and save on the weight of the mobile phone – just take another battery pack!)
This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology Lincoln, England
I have used my PDA as a “book” all the way back to my Series 3 Psion. I have no trouble reading from a screen – which is what most people complain about, however I suspect many have not tried using a modern PDA screen and reader program.
I was at a party last night and got talking about electronic books – so I passed my X51v round and everyone said how easy it was to read, and use.
Using a handheld is a green option,
One bit of advice, I would not bother with the Microsoft Reader ebook program. I tried it out on my first WinCE handheld where it worked OK, but the real problems came when I changed my PC (and then my PDA), something I do several times a year because of my job. The program counted how many devices I had it installed on, and as I had it on my PC in the office, and on the one in my office at home, and a laptop, and maybe the office development machine etc it threw a wobbly and I stopped using it. Now the people from Redmond may well have solved those issues or not, but why bother going back and trying again when there are other reader programs out there. As I said eReader pro (www.ereader.com) is my favourite – and I regularly buy books from them. Mobipocket Reader is another option (www.mobipocket.com). Both offer versions for PCs and handhelds but eReader does not yet have a version for Blackberrys but they are promising one soon.
Both the readers can read the long established doc (not .doc by Microsoft word) format books – and it is easy to make your own ebooks from text files – there are a number of places on the web to find freeware ebooks, use Google or start your ebook collection by searching for Project Gutenberg.
An issue arises when it comes to commercial ebooks because both companies use different (incompatible) DRM systems – so once you buy into one system you are committed, so think carefully before you buy into a system. (Microsoft of course uses a third DRM system and I am sure there are other ebook companies using still other incompatible systems!) Have a good look at the various companies catalogues before you commit, so make sure they offer a selection of the books you like. Of course you could always put all the different readers on your handheld and buy from everyone.
This article is sponsored by Octagon Technology of Lincoln, England