How to: turn your iPhone or iPad into the ultimate book reading tool
As it stands, straight out of the box, Apple's iPad is a decent reading tool -- but it could be far better. Join AppleInsider for an examination of some apps and services we've been using for a while to really make the device a universal, digital book reader.
Apple's iBooks and Book Store are very good. In fact, so good, that for some, it may be everything. The iBooks app functions as a rudimentary Epub and PDF reader, with deep integration into Apple's book store -- so for simplicity it can't be beat.
iBooks, in all its glory
If you want to stick entirely with Apple's ecosystem, you can stop reading now. However, there are a few apps that we like that you can add either free or inexpensively to use other stores, read all the magazines you want, and open just about any media file you want.
What iBooks is to the Apple bookstore, the Kindle app is to Amazon's offerings. While the offerings store to store are about the same, truth be told, the sales on Amazon's stores have been a bit better over time.
Plus, Amazon has Kindle Unlimited, a $9.99 a month service that allows a good portion of Amazon's library to be read without purchasing the book. Apple doesn't have anything like that, so if you're a devout reader, Amazon is the place to go.
Also from Amazon, comic fans can use Comixology Unlimited, either as a reader or as a subscription service. It's not the best reader we've seen -- which we'll talk about a bit later -- but it is the only game in town if you're using the $5.99 a month all-you-can-read service.
Amazon Prime subscribers have other options with discrete Video and Music apps -- but those are other pieces.
For a more full-fledged reader app, we recommend GoodReader. It's been around basically forever -- we bought it before the iBookstore really took off, and we don't regret the purchase.
PDF annotation with the ability to read the notes on a different device, PDF export, file synchronization, local area network access, cloud access, a genuine file structure with folders, and all features of other apps that one might normally expect to have to shell out for in a series of in-app purchases are all included in the base purchase of GoodReader.
GoodReader costs $5, requires iOS 6.0 or newer, and occupies 64.3MB of storage space.
While the free version allows for a wide range of transfer options, including through iTunes, Dropbox, Google Drive, and a wide array of other storage lockers, a "pro" upgrade for $3 allows users to access a local area network and download them from file shares.
The app has all the niceties that a modern comic reader would want. Manga fans have a right-to-left reading mode; Single-page and two-page viewing modes can be enabled for comics with art spanning more than one page; parental controls can be enabled or disabled for specific comics, locking the more questionable materials from prying little eyes.
No app is ever utterly perfect at what it does, but the aforementioned gorilla in ComiXology could learn a thing or two from the outstanding Chunky Comic Reader.
The Texture app is free, with two tiers of subscription. A $9.99 per month tier gives a choice from over 200 monthly titles, with a $14.99 giving you the monthly titles, plus some weekly ones, like People, Entertainment Weekly, Time and others.
We've been subscribers since launch, and continue to be very pleased about the selection. Plus, if you subscribe to more than just a handful of dead-tree based magazines, Texture is cheaper.
Apple's iBooks and Book Store are very good. In fact, so good, that for some, it may be everything. The iBooks app functions as a rudimentary Epub and PDF reader, with deep integration into Apple's book store -- so for simplicity it can't be beat.
iBooks, in all its glory
If you want to stick entirely with Apple's ecosystem, you can stop reading now. However, there are a few apps that we like that you can add either free or inexpensively to use other stores, read all the magazines you want, and open just about any media file you want.
Gorilla in the room - Amazon
Amazon and Apple haven't always been the best of friends. But, Amazon has always made sure that ebook purchases from the Kindle library have been accessible on the iPhone and iPad.What iBooks is to the Apple bookstore, the Kindle app is to Amazon's offerings. While the offerings store to store are about the same, truth be told, the sales on Amazon's stores have been a bit better over time.
Plus, Amazon has Kindle Unlimited, a $9.99 a month service that allows a good portion of Amazon's library to be read without purchasing the book. Apple doesn't have anything like that, so if you're a devout reader, Amazon is the place to go.
Also from Amazon, comic fans can use Comixology Unlimited, either as a reader or as a subscription service. It's not the best reader we've seen -- which we'll talk about a bit later -- but it is the only game in town if you're using the $5.99 a month all-you-can-read service.
Amazon Prime subscribers have other options with discrete Video and Music apps -- but those are other pieces.
PDF consumption beyond iBooks
Not everything is available on Amazon, or Apple's iBooks Store. Plus, the PDF reader in the iBooks app is only slightly better than nothing.For a more full-fledged reader app, we recommend GoodReader. It's been around basically forever -- we bought it before the iBookstore really took off, and we don't regret the purchase.
PDF annotation with the ability to read the notes on a different device, PDF export, file synchronization, local area network access, cloud access, a genuine file structure with folders, and all features of other apps that one might normally expect to have to shell out for in a series of in-app purchases are all included in the base purchase of GoodReader.
GoodReader costs $5, requires iOS 6.0 or newer, and occupies 64.3MB of storage space.
No more longboxes, with Chunky Comic Reader
Chunky Comic Reader purports to "take the friction out of reading comics on your iPad," and in our experience, it does. The iPad-only app has a bunch of reader-friendly features -- with upscaling, contrast adjustment, and background comic downloading to make the reading experience a bit more pleasant for readers not bound to the ComiXology ecosystem.
While the free version allows for a wide range of transfer options, including through iTunes, Dropbox, Google Drive, and a wide array of other storage lockers, a "pro" upgrade for $3 allows users to access a local area network and download them from file shares.
The app has all the niceties that a modern comic reader would want. Manga fans have a right-to-left reading mode; Single-page and two-page viewing modes can be enabled for comics with art spanning more than one page; parental controls can be enabled or disabled for specific comics, locking the more questionable materials from prying little eyes.
No app is ever utterly perfect at what it does, but the aforementioned gorilla in ComiXology could learn a thing or two from the outstanding Chunky Comic Reader.
Magazines don't need to come in your mailbox
Sure, you can subscribe to magazines piecemeal on Amazon, but there is also an all-you-can-read option in Texture. Once called Next Issue, the digital subscription service cuts down on the "pile of shame" that's probably lurking in your living room -- and moves it to your iPad or iPhone.
The Texture app is free, with two tiers of subscription. A $9.99 per month tier gives a choice from over 200 monthly titles, with a $14.99 giving you the monthly titles, plus some weekly ones, like People, Entertainment Weekly, Time and others.
We've been subscribers since launch, and continue to be very pleased about the selection. Plus, if you subscribe to more than just a handful of dead-tree based magazines, Texture is cheaper.
Comments
Amazon only have stores in the largest european countries, which mean you can't read books in your local language. Sideloading of local books are treated as 'personal documents', and its getting worse with every new edition of the reader - it is Amazons boiling frog approach to keep users in their garden. No Mac support for side loaded books.
But they have the Kindle which is great. You can even do full text search in your library, and annotate over two pages.
I would mention Google Play Books too. It has improved over the last year, and looks quite nice. 1000 side loaded books are allowed and they are treated as equal citizens. But the web client is bad.
Bluefire reader
(a few others readers for ePubs as well)
And GoodReader, landscape mode with facing pages enabled = PDF heaven.
We're spoiled for choice.
FYI: switch to black background/white text. It's much easier on the eyes...
https://www.ziniounlimited.com/
Works OK for me (once they got their iOS app stable.
Libraries are an excellent source of digital lending material, mine here near DC are excellent.
We didn't address them here, as it is very much hit and miss depending on where you live, and what system the library has chosen for DRM.
http://www.appstafarian.com/marvin.html
http://www.appstafarian.com/marvinsxs.html
But can't find it the last few years... Did I make this up
Like the days before the iPod, the technology was there but scattered all over the place and the market was a collection of failing publishers trying to survive the new technologies. It just needs a Steve Jobs to bring it all together into a cohesive, usable environment/system.
Having said that, I like how iBooks has become a home to all my ePub books. Unlike Amazon, Apple lets me buy books from their own bookstore and add ePub books I purchased elsewhere. The non-Apple ePub books do not synch smoothly from my desktop to the iPad* however. Eventually it'll appear in iBooks, but never instantly.
As to reading apps in general. No one, and that is including Amazon and Apple, has nailed down the reading experience, yet. We're still a long way off of what an ebook could be. An issue I have with electronic books is that their content is very ephemeral. I always end up making wireframe structures to make the content stick.
>:x
(*) I have a Wifi-only iPad.
EDIT: Layout
Agree with the comment about GoodReader, it is a great PDF app, especially for annotation (plus its crop feature is the best), but these days I now use PDF Expert, simply because it has a desktop application and it will share documents between the apps seamlessly, which if you're into annotation, can be incredibly powerful.
Audiobooks are such a great way to consume books, it's just so strange there aren't more people reading this way. Everyone with a set of headphones and a pocket device they normally use to listen to music, could be enjoying some great fun in audiobooks. Most of us thoroughly enjoyed having books read to us when we were children, it's the same concept in audiobooks and it's such a nice break from music (podcasts are great too).