Ever since I recieved the MDA I've been very eager to use it to read ebooks. I've never had a machine capable of doing so, so I am very uneducated about the entire field.
I have acquired several .lit and .pdf ebooks. I know there is a program instantly installed on the MDA to read pdfs, and it is my understanding that I am supposed to use Microsoft Reader for .lit files.
However . . . neither of these programs seem fit to read anything on this phone. The pdf reader makes me scroll left and right, and fitting anything to the page makes the entire thing unreadable. And Microsoft Reader seems very poorly made, suffering the same problems and unchangably large text.
Does anyone know a solution to my problem? Another program to read the files, or settings I am simply missing?
Thanks in advance.
I am using Mobipocket reader on my blue angel for more than 6 months - it's the perfect tool for me www.mobipocket.com. And its free
Before I was using Microsoft reader, but Mobipocket comes with a desktop and PDA software and the desktop software can convert very good a lot of files, which you can read easilly on the PDA
Hi,
The most popular one is Microsoft Reader which is freely available and there are literally TONS of free e-books on their site for you to download.
http://www.mslit.com/default.asp?mjr=FRE
Repligo is nice, and can kinda convert pdf.
I use Isilo generally.
Use pdf2txt to convert pdf if necessary.
V
I've never used those format's, but I've been using uBook from Gowerpoint and I love it. I use it in conjunction with all the stuff I get from Gutenberg (the BEST place to get free ebooks) and haven't had a problem since. You can use it free if you don't mind a minor annoyance every three pages of the reminder or you can pay a little bit to register.
Mack, I have used Microsoft Reader, and it just seems far too weak. I didn't like it. No margin control, font size, etc. . . . unless I'm wrong. Feel free to correct me, itd make this a lot easier!
I tried MobiPocket and so far it seems like the best. I can control those functions I just mentioned, and seems to convert pdfs well. However, it stills seems to have few problems (It seems to kill itself randomly and - as far as I can tell - doesn't save my font settings.
I found a program called Convert Lit to, well, convert .lit files. I haven't tried it yet but I've heard good things.
I haven't tried the other suggested readers, but, judging from their websites they don't seem as good as MobiPocket. Ill eventually get to them.
Off topic....
does anybody use RSS to get news on your phone and which sites you use.....?
Mobipocket reader is good.
Regards,
Arto.
RussianInLa: I like newsreader, it does the job quite well.
For RSS channels, I grab a bunch of usual suspects - check out my old website newsreader,
www.vijay555.com/news
However, I'm improving that with many (illegal) news scrapers, grabbing full articles from many different sites (eg Wired). Their normal RSS feed just gives headlines.
That's a good option if you can host php - write your own scraper and grab ANY webpage as RSS
V
Ubook
Have to agree with Jose_v, ubook is the best all round reader. It doesn't read pdf files, which for me is fine but can read ebooks in text, htm or html and rtf formats, all of which can be zipped to save space. It will also read palm and mobipocet format files that are not drm'd. Zip compression is better than mobipocket's, so you save that little bit extra space on your precious mini-sd.
It has recently become shareware and comes up with its logo every few pages, which is easy to get rid of as you just press down. Seeing as I have been using it for about 3 or 4 years now, I purchased it without hesitation when it became shareware.
Use it, you will learn to appreciate it.
To change the font on MS Reader, go to the Library page, click Settings, and change your font size. You can't do anything about the margins, though someone told me you could change them by opening a document in MS Word, expanding the margins, then converting to Reader. Haven't tried it yet.
Speaking of Word, download the free Word-to-Reader converter. Anything you can read in Word, including TXT and HTML files, can be converted to yo9ur own LIT files. You can even customize the cover picture. http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/rmr.asp
uBook is great, and I use it for all my old Palm ebooks, but I have so many LIT files, it's just easier to read them in Reader. Besides, none of the other programs have a PC version. I can read the same file on my desktop or laptop if I want, and if I sync the files, my PPC remembers where I was when I was reading it on the other device.
Re: Ubook
fuzzywuzzy said:
Have to agree with Jose_v, ubook is the best all round reader. It doesn't read pdf files, which for me is fine but can read ebooks in text, htm or html and rtf formats, all of which can be zipped to save space. It will also read palm and mobipocet format files that are not drm'd. Zip compression is better than mobipocket's, so you save that little bit extra space on your precious mini-sd.
It has recently become shareware and comes up with its logo every few pages, which is easy to get rid of as you just press down. Seeing as I have been using it for about 3 or 4 years now, I purchased it without hesitation when it became shareware.
Use it, you will learn to appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to third uBook, I used it on my old HPC and through a number of Pocket PCs and it is a wonderful app. Why I haven't actually registered it yet is beyond me, I can't imagine a better reader.
Related
can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
i know i can just search google but there are soo many of them some are shareware some are comerical some are free.....
it's a jungle out there!
PErsonally I use mobipocket, for a couple of reasons..
It supports OEB (Non- protected books, so in 10 years time you will still be able to read them)
The reader is free (on the website it is advertised as a trial - this is for the pro version, install it anyway under the trial, aftrer the trial ends you can still use the software but some of the more complex functions are disabled -like autoscroll)
The reader will operate on palm or PPC - meaning I can share my books with my friends who have palm, rather than having to reformat them.
They also supply a publisher program for creating the books, this is free for home use.
It's not microsoft
go to www.mobipocket.com
Rudegar said:
can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reader I use is muBook from http://gowerpoint.com/.
It can handle .PDB, .PRC, .TXT, .RTF and .HTML as e-books, and display inline .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, .WMF (in RTF) or .BMP.
If you're starting from a TXT file, you don't gain much by converting it to an e-book format, unless you add niceties like an index.
Which book is it? If it's out of copyright, you may be able to get it from manybooks in an e-book format (with index etc.).
well as to which book it is then no it's not a copyrighted book and it's not a book you'd find anywhere on the internet, somebody i know wrote it and all
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it
Rudegar said:
well as to which book it is then no it's not a copyrighted book and it's not a book you'd find anywhere on the internet, somebody i know wrote it and all
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I use mobipocket too and I guess, it is a great program. You can convert your .txt - file with mobipocket publisher 3.0.
You don´t need the profressional version and you have the possibiblity to take indexes and a lot of more features of formatted textes and add your bookmarks and other features.
have fun!
well i of cause have that ms ebook reader and i have acrobat reader if at all possible i would pref not installing any more ebook readers on my xda2
will it be required ?
Rudegar said:
well i of cause have that ms ebook reader and i have acrobat reader if at all possible i would pref not installing any more ebook readers on my xda2
will it be required ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess, you will be able to convert your text into pdf- or -lit - format. But the readers have less features, the files are much bigger - but it is possible...
First I had the microsoft reader and the pdf-reader too. Now I have only the mobipocket-reader...
Rudegar said:
can anybody recommend me a ebook converter / maker
got me a book as txt and i really would pref reading it as
ebook lit or at least pdf
i know i can just search google but there are soo many of them some are shareware some are comerical some are free.....
it's a jungle out there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft have a plugin for MS word that will convert a document into eBook .lit format.
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/rmr.asp
Or if you want a more professional program ReaderWorks Standard by Overdrive is also available.
http://www.overdrive.com/readerworks/
Cheers
prowler
prowler
thanks i already found that word plugin
and i suppose i could use it
but then i have to take the book to work
because at home i dont have word
Have you tried PDFcreator?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
or
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
FREE for personal and commercial use! No watermarks! No Popup Web Ads!
Rudegar said:
i wanted to make it ebookish
because then when reading it i would be able to put bookmarks in and get a bit better more cleartypish font then the std notepad
as a rule just make it's easier and more easy to read it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uBook will give you the choice of any font you like, with 3 different modes of anti-aliasing/alpha blending, multiple styles/backgrounds, font sizes/colors, columns, bookmarks, annotations, and it will even figure out headings etc. (for example convert CHAPTER 1 to a chapter heading). No conversion necessary. It just works.
Why lock yourself into some company's proprietary e-book format, when there's great, free, open source software that will read all sorts of formats, and offers a lot of options? If you're using an e-book reader that doesn't read .TXT files and can display them nicely, then you're cheating yourself.
You can also try PDF Printer . It supports Vista.
Hi everyone,
Since we don't get Microsoft Reader installed by default any more I am trying to decide which one to install instead. Any suggestions? Is Microsoft Reader the best one (seems unlikely)? I've got lots of .lit files that I want to read...
The most usable and flexible e-book reader is - no doubt - uBook Reader. It reads almost all kind of text formats (txt, rtf, html, prc....).
I tried all reader apps.
This is the best.
I'm sure and you will.
Here you can see:
http://gowerpoint.com/uBook_feat.html#Features
better still where do u get ebooks from :S
Which uBook
uBook looks great from the web page, but we are offered many different versions to download. Which version is compatible with Universal/Jasjar?
Use the first one in the list, for PocketPC Arm version
The newest:
http://gowerpoint.com/uBook09g_PPC_ARM.exe
It has a very-very nice vga interface!!!
Just downloaded it and now I'm off to bed with Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. Thank a lot for the info!
I've tried a couple of e readers and found mobibook the best. It does everything Microsoft reader does plus you can change the background colour and text (I prefer to have a black background with white text which is easier on the eyes at night). It also has the auto scroll feature which you can speed up/down. There is a another program (can't remember the name) which will convert .lit (MS reader) to html which mobibook can read. Also MS reader took ages to load and even longer to load the book. Mobibook takes about 10 seconds.
Also both programs are free.
Cheers Paul
M$ Reader can have problems with encrypted ebooks stored on the SD card when using PowerSave. Also Mobipocket can lose the information on where you were last if you close the eBook. So not perfect eBook reader yet - more WM5 shambles!
I'm using M$ Pocket Reader on WM 5 as I did on WM 2003, but the text font is much bigger as on WM 2003 with nyditot virtual display (even when smallest font is chosen).
So anybody have an idea how to make the font smaller if possible? Thanx in advance.
Best regards,
tomestos
I use IsiloX and Isilo to convert and read all my books. I convert most of my texts down, eg chm files, txt, html etc. It includes a built in webripper so it will rip, format and compress a site for reading on the go.
I've done a very nice version of the CIA World Factbook in about 4mb. Never used it though...
I use TombRaider for certain reference works, but for straight through ebooks, normally Isilo.
I use a lit converter and BCL AllPDF to convert between those formats into a more portable form.
Oh, I also use and very much admire Repligo, but generally only use it when I need pretty full PDF type use but without the skitzoid embolism the Adobe PDF reader induces.
V
anyone know good ebook reader for reading manga? i.e. image files jpg/png etc. i tried ebook but it crop the image abit too small to read, any that can easily zoom etc.
hoanglong said:
anyone know good ebook reader for reading manga? i.e. image files jpg/png etc. i tried ebook but it crop the image abit too small to read, any that can easily zoom etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second that request. Anything that can cope with .cbr and .cbz format (common in Comics, although they are just RAR or ZIP files rename) would be ideal.
hoanglong said:
anyone know good ebook reader for reading manga? i.e. image files jpg/png etc. i tried ebook but it crop the image abit too small to read, any that can easily zoom etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second that request. Anything that can cope with .cbr and .cbz format (common in Comics, although they are just RAR or ZIP files rename) would be ideal.
I think the .lit to .html convertor that frigit is refering to may be clit (yes, seriously - convert lit, geddit?)
Yep that's it. I had a good laugh too. I think they maybe changing the name though for obvious reasons.
guys my ms reader was installed by someone on the sd card and now i cant use it...it shows error number 10...even tried copying the folder to the devise but it still refuses to wrk....HELP............SOMEBODY...........ANYBODY
where to find ebooks
anyone know a good site that i can get free ebooks from?
Tuningszocske said:
The most usable and flexible e-book reader is - no doubt - uBook Reader. It reads almost all kind of text formats (txt, rtf, html, prc....).
I tried all reader apps.
This is the best.
I'm sure and you will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to agree with the above. Also its one of the few readers that has a good autoscroll. Tried most apps once, and I find Ubooks way of refreshing one line at a time to be the most suitable for me. My only gripe is that it does'nt render PDF-files too well, and atleast in previous versions it was a bit slow on CHM, and I could'nt use autoscroll on them.
Would any of you readers know a way to remove borders from a PDF? The problem I'm having is that my Tablet PC's screen is too small to display a A4-page nicely, if I zoom the white borders of the page away then the text is fine to read but this means a lot of zooming and scrolling for every page. So if I could just remove them I would have pages that would fit the screen
BetterDeal.com.au said:
anyone know a good site that i can get free ebooks from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are stacks of out of copyright books here:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/
I've been using Microsoft Reader with some considerable pleasure, but I have no experience of any other. The only minor quibble I have is that with an encrypted ebook, it sometimes takes a second or so to open the book. Apart from that, its seems great.
I'll try some of the others out though and compare results.
I'm frustrated by the way pdf's are forced to completely redraw (or maybe reload) themselves when you scroll around within a page. It makes them a time consuming hassle. Is there any way to make it scroll smoothly? I'm using the clearvue pdf viewer that was loaded with the Cingular 812555.
u have mobipocket and others, but most of them arnt free...
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eNews/default.asp
and im not sure if it solves ur problem, i just suggest alternatives to try...
Thanks trashman for the suggestion. I'm not worried about paying for the program if it does the trick (though of course I would rather find it for free). Does anybody out there know if mobipocket will help smooth out scrolling when viewing PDF's?
mgspeed said:
Thanks trashman for the suggestion. I'm not worried about paying for the program if it does the trick (though of course I would rather find it for free). Does anybody out there know if mobipocket will help smooth out scrolling when viewing PDF's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't display PDF's, you'll need to convert them, which may result in problems unless your PDF source is fully text-based.
That is, don't even try to convert a, say, graphics-heavy tech book to the Mobi format.
dunno with heavy graphics but with normal graphics, pictures and so on i have no problem with it...and it scroll fast on text and relatively smooth on graphics...
but mene is correct, u cant read a pdf right away, it need to be "converted"...
Trashman said:
dunno with heavy graphics but with normal graphics, pictures and so on i have no problem with it...and it scroll fast on text and relatively smooth on graphics...
but mene is correct, u cant read a pdf right away, it need to be "converted"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, with a normal, say, literature book the Mobi format is much better than PDF.
I for one am a fairly heavy PDF user and have always gone back to the bloated Adobe Reader 2.0. Just found this Foxit Reader for Windows Mobile which is still beta but was quite impressive. No installation, just a small executable that I copied to my Program Files directory and changed the PDF default viewer in the registry. It has a stupid nag screen and an Evaluation banner at the top of the that I'm sure will disappear when it's actually released. Looks like it has promise.....
I tried 'em all on my 8125, and settled on Foxit Reader. It only cost me $9.99 for a licensed version, and it works as well as any. It is very fast, takes up very little room and redraws seamlessly. The only drawback to it is that it has no find function. But tables of contents and links within documents are both fully functional. It's the best pdf viewer I've used in all my years of using PDAs and Handhelds.
This is the URL to the beta download, but if you contact the company they are very good about communicating with you.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/foxitreader/rd_ppc.php
You can contact Sales here: [email protected]
I did have some trouble in getting the licensed version to keep my registration key from one session to the next, and had to get about 4 different "new" versions from them before they finally got me the fully licensed executable, but they didn't give up and their replies were timely.
Overall I'm very happy with it. I even open 6+Mb manuals with it and it is very fast in doing so, and just as fast in navigating within those large documents.
G'luck
Okay. The I downloaded the Fox Reader evaluation. Is there anyway to make it the default reader once you get the licensed version?
By the way - it's much quicker to use than the clearvue reader.
RepliGo PDF Mobilizer looks quite nice as well. The viewer for pocketpc is free, but you'll need to convert your PDFs to a custom format with their software, which is shareware (but nothing a quick search with Google can't fix).
The converted files are about half the size of the original PDF without losing layout/features etc.
addicus said:
Okay. The I downloaded the Fox Reader evaluation. Is there anyway to make it the default reader once you get the licensed version?
By the way - it's much quicker to use than the clearvue reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use a registry editor, navigatate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Look for pdffile. The Shell\Open\Command. Open the key and copy the text to the clipboard. (Mine says "\\Program Files\FoxitReader for WiM5.0.exe" %1" Close that and go down to Opendoc\Command and replace the text in the entry there.
Dr Puttingham said:
Use a registry editor, navigatate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT. Look for pdffile. The Shell\Open\Command. Open the key and copy the text to the clipboard. (Mine says "\\Program Files\FoxitReader for WiM5.0.exe" %1" Close that and go down to Opendoc\Command and replace the text in the entry there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just found this thread again. I dl'd total commander and this worked perfectly. Thanks Dr.!!!!!
Just had a look at Marketplace and can't see an ebook reader client.
Anyone know of one please? I would have thought that the HD2 big screen was perfect for reading.
The HD2 is excellent for reading ebooks, but you need to specify which format your ebooks are in.
My preference is for Mobipocket but this can't handle protected eReader files. For that you would need to download eReader . However I couldn't get this to install from the PC installer, though it's OK from This topic using the CAB file.
Thanks Neil, I'll give them both a try.
I like both but prefer Mobipocket!
Just a hint though- with both you need to go into the options to select screen tapping to tunr pages as the HD2 doesn't have a D-Pad
Oh- & both are free programs!
What is an ebook? I mean what is the file extension? Is there only one format for all the ebooks out there? Is it a LIT like the Microsoft Reader, or a different format?
alex fung said:
What is an ebook? I mean what is the file extension? Is there only one format for all the ebooks out there? Is it a LIT like the Microsoft Reader, or a different format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The file extensions are dependent on the format the ebook is encoded with, which determines which ebook reader needs to be used.
Ebooks are either encrypted or open format. To comply with the publishers requirements, all mainstream ebooks are encrypted, and different formats use different modes of protection. There is an increasing problem with being able to buy ebooks in different countries- for example many ebooks available from FictionWise can't be downloaded in UK due to licensing restrictions, but another company, BooksOnBoard have a bigger selection of globally available titles.
As you mention, Microsoft Reader used the .lit extension, but as this program doesn't work with WM6 it's a bit of a problem. There are other programs than can read .lit files, such as uBook (microbook) but they can't read any with DRM. There are ways however to strip the DRM on the PC version of MS Reader which still works.
The earliest mobile ebook reader was on the Palm Pocket, and the program I mentioned above, eReader works with these files which are still being used for mainstream books. They have the .pdb file extension
Mobipocket books have the .prc file extension but Mobipocket can also read html, text files and unencrypted eReader files.
There is unfortunately a move towards more proprietary formats with the release of devices like the Amazon and Sony ebook hardware. Also, many new ebooks are being released using the ePub format which is an Adobe protocol and is not available for any mobile devices.
Sorry for the long post! Its abit of a soapbox for me as I've been usign ebooks for a long time and relish the idea of having a large number of books always available on my devcie, especially on holiday. I don't like the way my choice has been limited more and more over the past year!
If you have your books in simple text formats (ie txt, rtf, doc, html), alreader should be perfect for you.
the format which is winning the ebook format wars is .epub and there is areader out there for that particular format...Freda
blackheart2925 said:
the format which is winning the ebook format wars is .epub and there is areader out there for that particular format...Freda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that- it's a very good start. It is only for non-encrypted ePub files though, and unfortunatley the vast majority of commercial titles are encrypted
NeilM said:
Thanks for that- it's a very good start. It is only for non-encrypted ePub files though, and unfortunatley the vast majority of commercial titles are encrypted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are tools on the internet that can be used for decrypting DRM-protected EPUBS (a Google search on INEPT will lead you in the right direction). Depending where you live, it may or may not be legal for you to download and use them though
Jim
I use Micrsoft Reader and Mobipocket. First because I have a big archive with books in .lit format, and the second one because I can convert lots of formats in books who works for it and I like this program allot. one problem if I can call it a problem is lack of updates for it. For example to make progress bar from bottom of page bigger or to make some animation with page flip (now I see iPad have implemented that). It may seem like some graphics nonsense but I think this are very important because of psychological effect (feeling good reading a book but filing good about it from start of the program) at the end of day you read a book to relax and feel good (technical or any educational books come usual in .pdf format so are not included in discussion). and I think because of power and size of screen HD2 deserve better graphics. Don't forget that iPhone had big success because of better graphics with a OS witch odder ways it was waaaaay inferior to WM, just because of that psychological effect created by very well designed graphics.
Grab a copy of freda (search here on xda). It's the best free epub reader out there. There'll be a new version released soon by Jim.
I do like Freda, but it's not finger friendly. Particularly the Library View. You need fingers like a small bushbaby to select a particular book.
Best I've tried up to now though.
I used Palm to read ebooks since lots of years ago, when I moved to WM I still using the same aplication: iSilo
iSilo consist in two aplications... one in WM wich you use to read and another on the pc wich you use to encode the files to iSilo format (pdb). You can encode lots of file formats including plain txt and html (with images) or grab complete websites.
I love iSilo cause a 5 megabytes pdf can be just a 200k pdb file and got autoscroll with is a feature I love to read books (ipad don't have that)
Alpha4 said:
I do like Freda, but it's not finger friendly. Particularly the Library View. You need fingers like a small bushbaby to select a particular book.
Best I've tried up to now though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you've popped some feedback on the freda thread. Jim is always looking for improvements so comments from the user base will drive this!
Yep I will fix that display to make the lines a bit bigger. Actually, I've been thinking about implementing a setting to let the user control the font-size and line spacing used for controls (because some people don't mind poking the screen with a fingernail, whereas others really want to use finger-tips - but there is a trade-off in that the larger the controls, the fewer lines will fit the screen).
Anyhow, I had been thinking the setting should have values called 'small/medium/large', but it's clear that what I need is 'bushbaby/human/gorilla'
Thanks for using Freda.
Jim
what about flip page animation like in SPB Shell v.2 or iPad? Is that posible to implement?
Jim Chapman said:
Yep I will fix that display to make the lines a bit bigger. Actually, I've been thinking about implementing a setting to let the user control the font-size and line spacing used for controls (because some people don't mind poking the screen with a fingernail, whereas others really want to use finger-tips - but there is a trade-off in that the larger the controls, the fewer lines will fit the screen).
Anyhow, I had been thinking the setting should have values called 'small/medium/large', but it's clear that what I need is 'bushbaby/human/gorilla'
Thanks for using Freda.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Jim, sounds good. One point I will make is that the HD2 has a capacitive touch screen and, as you no doubt know, a fingernail won't register a touch at all. Almost any other body part is fine though .
I look forward to the next version of Freda.
carbunaru said:
what about flip page animation like in SPB Shell v.2 or iPad? Is that posible to implement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freda has a rather simplistic animation which appears when you scroll up/down, or slide pages left/right. It would be nice to more sophisticated animation approach (like Stanza for instance), which shows the page contents distorted and shaded as they turn. I may implement that at some stage, but it would be complicated because I'd have to use the DirectDraw Sprite APIs, rather than the regular .NetCF GDI APIs - and that (a) would involve a fair amount of re-writing (b) might create portability problems.
Thanks for your interest in Freda,
Jim
Thanks for answer. I think a program with this kind of features will became no one on market because the trent (made by Apple) is for people to looking to "looks" of progams and not their utility.
Just my opinion.
I began to do the majority of my pleasure reading (commercial non-fiction books were in very short supply back then) on my Palm m500 back in 2003, and now I do the vast majority of all my reading on handhelds. The biggest advantage back then was never having to choose what book to carry around with me -- I could take my entire library on an SD card. The next biggest advantage was the backlight -- I experienced a dramatic reduction in eyestrain for night reading. I now purchase 2 or 3 paper books a year, and 30-40 ebooks a year.
I think e-ink is the most over-rated screen tech in existence. Once Pixel Qi ends up in a decent tablet, I might get one of those. But spending $200 on a device that is so limited, can't have a real backlight (ah the "joys" of having to lug around a friggin booklight) for night reading, and most of the cost is in the screen is insane. Especially when you can get most of the same benefits out of a cheap LCD (adding only some reflective layer tech) while preserving other media tasks like video. Until then, my TP2 is my primary reading device.
Book form
I hadn't anticipated this little advantage before I bought a TP2, but I'm becoming attached to it. When reading, I typically hold it in what I now consider to be book form (a little Nintendo DS terminology). Keyboard out, screen slightly tilted, index finger in gap between back of screen and base of device, leaving my thumb to rest right on the device's arrow keys, software used to keep the screen in portrait mode even though the kb is out.
For me, this particular form means easy page-turning and one handed reading while laying down before I go to sleep. Previously I tried assigning the volume slider for page turning, but found it not entirely comfortable. I assigned one of the lower face keys to page turn, but that wasn't any more comfortable than screen tapping (errant screen taps in both my reading applications also potentially bring up menus, which I find annoying).
If you have software that allows you to rotate the screen 180* or 90* (as Rhodium Keyboard Controller allows you to do manually), you can switch to the left hand if you like as well. You'd need to assign another key for page-turning on the opposite end of the keyboard, but RKC will allow you to assign letters to "up" and "down" for that application only, so it wouldn't affect usage outside your preferred reader application.
Software:
I've been using eReader (owned by B&N, managed by fictionwise, formerly palm digital media and peanut press) for 7 years, as that was my initial source of books. But when I switch to windows mobile, I hated the changes they made to their application and how much space WinMo's top and bottom bars took up (especially in widescreen mode). I instantly began requesting feature changes to it, but I doubt they'll ever get anywhere. WinMo isn't the hottest platform and they originally dev'd this one years and years ago.
I used Freda almost exclusively until upgrading to XDAndroid. Originally I just got it for some free sources like the baen free library, that use epub since Freda is one of only two epub readers on the market. But the full screen mode is so fantastic I've decided to go all in.
Now I use Moon+ reader, which still allows me to go fullscreen, choose a black background with green text, lock the screen in portrait and has a wide variety of other customization options. I do believe the TP2 is the best ereader using Android.
Color scheme
One thing I sort of liked about eReader for WinMo was that it allowed you to use textures as a background. They had pre-made marble and papery background images you could use. But when I start using Freda and had access to the full screen mode, I began experimenting with other plainer themes. I accidentally tried a black background with a sharp green text, and suddenly it was like I was reading on my old m500 again.
The advantages to this, especially for night time reading in fullscreen mode, are that 1) I've got a lot less white or whitish light pouring into my eyes making them uncomfortable 2) I can achieve better visibility for low light reading with a lower backlight level meaning I get longer battery life and 3) I'm comfortable reading smaller fonts with this particular setup than I was with lighter backgrounds (though I don't entirely understand why), meaning less frequent page turning.
You can do this with any reader, but doing so in the winmo ereader app kinda sucked some of the advantages out of it because there's no fullscreen mode, so I still had white light pouring off the top and bottom bars.
Extras
I use GSPlayer while I read, mainly because it has a sleep timer (I'll probably upgrade to microfi-nitrogen someday). So at night, I do my reading, then just as my eyes are feeling tired enough to sleep, I flip over to GSP and turn off the display, and then fall asleep to the relaxing mp3 of my choice. My TP2 is the last thing I use at night, and with G-Alarm, it's also the first thing I use in the morning. On XDAndroid, Mortplayer fills in for GSP.
What about you?
Do you eread with your TP2? How much and when? What's your software, book source, preferred colors and fonts? Widescreen, portrait, do you use book form? Do you page turn with keys or screen taps?
eReading is one of my primary mobile computing tasks, and has been for years. I think the TP2 is about the perfect mobile device for it at the moment (about the only thing better would be a TP2 + an HD2 sized screen... with Pixel Qi), but I haven't noticed a ton of people here talking about it. I'd love to hear from other big ereaders on their methods.
Mobipocket Reader is what I use. I touch the screen for turning pages.
iSilo all the way
I've been using iSilo from the beginning --all the way back from when they use WinCE? ok.. maybe Windows Mobile 2003 or something like that.
Best thing with iSilo is
1) Reader is free (you can use the free with limited functions, but does not hinder reading 'books')
2) iSiloX convert is free (convert any *.txt, *.htm, etc to iSilo format). There are various converters to convert your *.doc or *.pdf or what have you to *.txt to convert with iSilo.
3) iSilo has a very small foot print as compared to similar *.txt or *.doc files.
4) Easily configurable on all aspects from fonts/colors (foreground, background) to various keys to turn the page. When I switched to the Rhodium, I used the lower 50% or the screen to turn the page and the top to scroll up (back).
5) Easily install the iSilo.exe executable on the SD card and has catalogue-ing features.
Lastly, they've got iSilo versions for the Blackberry, Palm, Android and the iPhone (should you need it).
But don't take my word for it: http://isilo.com/
PS. Been reading ebooks on the PocketPC platform before even Kindle came out. Why spend $200+ on a standalone ebook reader, I could never figure out.
Opps, forgot to mention conversion. calibre is the ultimate tool in ebook conversion and organization. I don't think isilo is one of its many formats, but for anyone looking to do conversions to growing formats like epub, it's fantastic.
Thanks Fortunz for starting this thread, ive been considering using my TP2 to read, but not really known what progs to use etc..i'll try some out now
Cheers
free books
Some free (legal) book sources: baen free library (commercial authors, mostly scifi and fantasy who release the 1st book or so in their series hoping you'll get hook and buy later versions -- I recommend David Weber), manybooks (downloads gutenburg project texts in many formats), smashwords (a lot of indies, not all free), http://www.feedbooks.com/, and you can also find a lot of indie authors freely distributing some of their work at mobileread et al.
osrix25 said:
Thanks Fortunz for starting this thread, ive been considering using my TP2 to read, but not really known what progs to use etc..i'll try some out now
Cheers
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It's really a fantastic device for reading. Let me know how you like it.
fortunz said:
Some free (legal) book sources: baen free library (commercial authors, mostly scifi and fantasy who release the 1st book or so in their series hoping you'll get hook and buy later versions -- I recommend David Weber), manybooks (downloads gutenburg project texts in many formats), smashwords (a lot of indies, not all free), http://www.feedbooks.com/, and you can also find a lot of indie authors freely distributing some of their work at mobileread et al.
It's really a fantastic device for reading. Let me know how you like it.
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Thanks for the links. I use MobiPocket Reader, and I agree, the TP2 (Tilt2) is an excellent device for reading.
personally I use microsoft Reader, I have a ginormous .lit collection. hundreds of titles to choose from, if not thousands, good features as well.
fortunz said:
Opps, forgot to mention conversion. calibre is the ultimate tool in ebook conversion and organization. I don't think isilo is one of its many formats, but for anyone looking to do conversions to growing formats like epub, it's fantastic.
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What format do you convert your ebooks to for use with ereader with this program?
Which reader can read PDB extension books rather than Isilo?
The calibre program he posted can but i'm lost on what to convert it to.
Overproof said:
The calibre program he posted can but i'm lost on what to convert it to.
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Overproof said:
What format do you convert your ebooks to for use with ereader with this program?
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If you have ebooks in a non-pdb format that you want to read in eReader for WinMo, you convert them to .pdb. After you choose to convert books there's a little dropdown in the upper right-hand corner for output format. If I misunderstood your question, please do post back.
meromar said:
Which reader can read PDB extension books rather than Isilo?
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Mobireader and haalireader can both read pdb files. Haalireader was very good but hasn't been updated for some time and really needs a dpad to control it. It was great on my Diamond but Mobireader is better on the TP2
Thanks!!!
Oh man, this is great! I've been looking for a decent ebook reader forever. I use to use MS Reader back in the QVGA days, but it is really not optimized for large, high-res screens like the TP2. And every other program was made 5+ years ago, has crappy Windows-3.1-esque visuals, and has a UI meant to be used only with a stylus.
Freda is AWESOME!!! Finally something as good Stanza on my iPod (or at least close). Thank you so much for sharing!
I have a huge collection of books in .lit format so have been forced to use MS Reader. Alas, it hasn't been updated in years and is showing its age.
My biggest gripe with Reader is that on my Tilt 2 I can't touch the tiny little page-turning arrows with my finger, so have to either use my stylus or open the keyboard and read in landscape mode and use the arrow keys.
Thanks to an earlier poster, I found calibre. I'm going to use that to convert my .lit library to a different format so I can use a different e-reader.
jlmwrite said:
I have a huge collection of books in .lit format so have been forced to use MS Reader. Alas, it hasn't been updated in years and is showing its age.
My biggest gripe with Reader is that on my Tilt 2 I can't touch the tiny little page-turning arrows with my finger, so have to either use my stylus or open the keyboard and read in landscape mode and use the arrow keys.
Thanks to an earlier poster, I found calibre. I'm going to use that to convert my .lit library to a different format so I can use a different e-reader.
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Same here. I'm at work and couldn't wait to try this out, so a little googling also turned up this site: www.2epub.com.
It's an online converter that will do conversions between .lit, epub, etc. I'll probably install Calibre on my home computer, but that site was helpful in a pinch.
fortunz said:
If you have ebooks in a non-pdb format that you want to read in eReader for WinMo, you convert them to .pdb. After you choose to convert books there's a little dropdown in the upper right-hand corner for output format. If I misunderstood your question, please do post back.
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Let me try this out and see, thanks in advance!
bedoig said:
Freda is AWESOME!!! Finally something as good Stanza on my iPod (or at least close). Thank you so much for sharing!
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I love Freda too. It's written by a guy who was very unsatisfied with current reader options, much like you and I. Personally, I only use it in full screen mode and page change with the arrow keys, but between screen tapping and making the soft buttons page turners, it's very friendly to a variety of users with different UI preferences.
He just emailed me a new version to test, so I expect sometime soon there will be some extra features to enjoy.
jlmwrite said:
Thanks to an earlier poster, I found calibre. I'm going to use that to convert my .lit library to a different format so I can use a different e-reader.
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Calibre is wonderful, not only for conversions but also for organization of large book collections, which I have.
Be forewarned though, it doesn't typically handle DRM, so if your .lits are DRM'd, you might have to deDRM (there are a lot of projects to handle that, and you can take their output and have calibre put it in your format of choice) them before you convert them.
I have been using uBook http://www.gowerpoint.com/ for years. First on my Ipaq, then Axim x51v and now on my TP2. I has improved greatly to a great touch screen eReader that supports all kinds of standard file formats HTML, PDF, TXT and any of these can be in ZIP files.
jlmwrite said:
I have a huge collection of books in .lit format so have been forced to use MS Reader. Alas, it hasn't been updated in years and is showing its age.
My biggest gripe with Reader is that on my Tilt 2 I can't touch the tiny little page-turning arrows with my finger, so have to either use my stylus or open the keyboard and read in landscape mode and use the arrow keys.
Thanks to an earlier poster, I found calibre. I'm going to use that to convert my .lit library to a different format so I can use a different e-reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use a zoom bar hack in Advanced Configuration, you can flip pages with the zoom bar. If you have AC on your TP2, go to menu > more settings > smarttouch, then add Microsoft Reader to the supported applications list. The hardest part is getting the right wheel sensitivity so that when you scroll you only flip one page. I'd tell you what the best number is but I just flashed my ROM and I forgot the correct setting But once you figure it out, it gives you a nice lil page turning feel to your ebooks.