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Two simple questions
1. What is your favorite E-Book reading app
2. Why is it your favorite?
I am going on vacation in a couple weeks and would love to take some books with me, with out having to carry books with me lol. A good library of free books is appreciated, but I am not opposed to paying a reasonable price for good books.
Device(s): Moto Atrix [lovin']
Nexus One [Lost]
LG Vu [Lost]
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Adiko (free)
All the reviews have said this is the best :P I haven't tried any other e-reader, this one does what I want it. The home screen is like a book shelf, where on the first shelf contains all of your recent books. Second shelf is for your book collection. Third shelf is to download books. One feature I like is that when you're reading the book, you have an option to turn the light low in the reader itself.
Not sure if you know, but you can download 'Classic' novels for free.
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Aldiko is the best.. I tried several others.. FBreader was a close second but Aldiko won me over. The best part about it is... it just works.. importing books is easy.. the bookshelf makes it easy to locate books (I currently have over 500 books on my bookshelf. ) you can download books, it has 7 sources preloaded with the ability to add custom sources. you can sort you bookshelf based on authors, favorites custom tags, or search with ease.. like most good readers, it has a day/night setting which switches from white background with black text to a black background with white text. Personally, I prefer night mode at all times.
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Remember its better to be caught with your Kilt up instead of your pants down. Get your Utilikilt today!
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I like Laputa. It has great books when you can get the Android Market to acknowledge them. I have FB also. I tried Aldiko but wasn't that impressed by it.
It is probably the same one you are talking about (actually called E-Reader www.ereader.com).
Download eReader for Android will get you a link for direct download. I've used ereader.com for a while, but switched to Kindle on my iphone when it came out for two reasons, selection and price.
I still have an account for ereader and have gone back to that for now until Kindle comes. My main gripe for ereader.com is I tend to like to read "trilogies" or multi-book stories, typically scifi. And on more than one occasion ereader had book 1 and 3 but not 2... May or may not be their "fault" but I was able to download that book 2 via amazon/Kindle... I think I have the entire Star Trek S.C.E series in my online bookshelf there :-)
Last edited by Dmtalon; June 20th, 2010 at 07:59 PM.
Aldiko's great, where do you guys recommend downloading ebooks? One's that don't appear on the actual sources.
The Baen Free Library is great, especially for SFF fans. Their non-free books are also very reasonably priced, and none have DRM, sparing the customer the minor tedium of removing it if format conversion is needed .
I've begun converting my entire ebook library to read with Aldiko. I'd already gotten everything into .rtf format to read with PalmFiction, and Calibre handles the .rtf to .epub conversion nicely.
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copy them to your SD card.. to the ebook/import folder.. then in Aldiko hit menu>import it'll search that one folder and import any ePub books. (once imported, you can safely delete them from the import folder since they get copied to the ebooks folder)
for any books not in ePub format... get Calibre.. works great at converting almost any format to ePub
Does either Aldiko or e-reader.com have the ability to show a dictionary explanation for a word (like the Kindle or the iPad)? I just tried the new Kobo Reader, and it does not appear to have that feature.
Aldiko has a dictionary that can be called up from within a book, but it appears to require you to type the word to be looked up. Dunno about Ereader - their Palm app has a dictionary, but I already deleted the Android version from my phone so can't check.
"...copy them to your SD card.. to the ebook/import folder.. then in Aldiko hit menu>import it'll search that one folder and import any ePub books.."
I installed Aldiko on my Desire but it did not create a folder on my sd card ebook/import so I added the folder ebooks and sub folder import to the root of the sd card then added an *epub file from Project Gutenberg.
Opened Aldiko > Menu > import > and it says No book found.
Aldiko does list two books it has, presume downloaded with installation (The Invisible Man and The Art of War).
Can anyone please advise how to get Aldiko to access my book?
"...copy them to your SD card.. to the ebook/import folder.. then in Aldiko hit menu>import it'll search that one folder and import any ePub books.."
I installed Aldiko on my Desire but it did not create a folder on my sd card ebook/import so I added the folder ebooks and sub folder import to the root of the sd card then added an *epub file from Project Gutenberg.
On my N1, the folder is /eBooks/import, and it works importing from there. Give that a try.
Download sites such as the one mentioned earlier have an obvious potential to circumvent copyright. As such, linking to them is against forum rules.
Slug, I'm curious, which download site were you referring to? I went over this thread again, and all the sites I see mentioned are legitimate sources of ebooks.
Baen Free Library? Only offers books published by Baen, no user submitted works. Everything there is properly licensed by the publisher, because Baen is the publisher.
eReader? One of the earliest, if not the earliest, legitimate sites for purchasing ebooks, dating back to the early Palm days. Every title on their site is properly licensed from the publisher, or is copyright free.
Gutenberg? Everything on their site is out of copyright.
I see no sites listed or mentioned that even allow for the opportunity to post an illegitimate work, so I'm wondering to which were you referring? Or was there a link to someplace that has since been removed?
I just don't want to see people being scared away from legitimate sources for legal ebooks.
Slug, I'm curious, which download site were you referring to? I went over this thread again, and all the sites I see mentioned are legitimate sources of ebooks.
Baen Free Library? Only offers books published by Baen, no user submitted works. Everything there is properly licensed by the publisher, because Baen is the publisher.
eReader? One of the earliest, if not the earliest, legitimate sites for purchasing ebooks, dating back to the early Palm days. Every title on their site is properly licensed from the publisher, or is copyright free.
Gutenberg? Everything on their site is out of copyright.
I see no sites listed or mentioned that even allow for the opportunity to post an illegitimate work, so I'm wondering to which were you referring? Or was there a link to someplace that has since been removed?
I just don't want to see people being scared away from legitimate sources for legal ebooks.
Cheers.
I believe they've just been removed already and you missed seeing them.
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Aldiko is great. I use Calibre on my desktop to convert standard ebooks from whatever format I have them in there to epub and then just drop them into the import folder inside my ebooks folder on my SD card and then hit IMPORT in Aldiko and voila! It imports my books and I am all set. I also like that I can choose how I navigate through my book and set bookmarks so that I pick up where I stopped. It is a very user friendly book reader.
Aldiko is great. I use Calibre on my desktop to convert standard ebooks from whatever format I have them in there to epub and then just drop them into the import folder inside my ebooks folder on my SD card and then hit IMPORT in Aldiko and voila! It imports my books and I am all set. I also like that I can choose how I navigate through my book and set bookmarks so that I pick up where I stopped. It is a very user friendly book reader.
This isn't a dig at you by any means... But what a pain in the butt... How is that acceptable to have to run 4 steps to get a book on your phone...
Obviously, its better than doing without, but what a hassle. I'm gonna stick with ereader.com, where I can just browse their site, buy a book and then grab it from my phone.
I'm anxiously waiting the Kindle app too...
P.S. I still have a bunch of .lit files from MS Reader and my HP Jornada 568 days :-) At least we're making progress from those days...
P.S.S These old media companies need to go away or get with the program
There are a lot of books that are free to download from Aldiko's site and you can also purchase a lot of books already in epub format and download those directly to your phone. I take the steps as I have a huge selection already on my computer so I see no reason to purchase books twice.
There are a lot of books that are free to download from Aldiko's site and you can also purchase a lot of books already in epub format and download those directly to your phone. I take the steps as I have a huge selection already on my computer so I see no reason to purchase books twice.
No, like I said... I understand completely, I just think its still a pain that there are so many formats and/or proprietary readers etc... The paperback is a pretty standard format and has done pretty well for itself :-)
Guess I got spoiled when I started reading books on my laptop and then on my phone. My eyesight is really bad and large print books are really heavy to drag around, not to mention, LARGE. I like being able to adjust the size of the print so I can see without eye strain but still not carry around a hefty tome. Not to mention, now I can carry a variety to meet my moods.
I agree about all the different formats though. I convert everything into .lit for my laptop and, if I need to finish a book on the go, epub. I delete any other formats as I like to keep things simple.
And as for the paperback. I don't see it being around so much 20 years from now. Booksellers do better selling ebooks as you can't trade those in and you can't share them with your friends. Well, you aren't supposed to be able to. And they cost as much as a paperback but with no brick and mortar store required, no warehouse, no staff to stock them, no insurance required in case of fire, etc.
I do recommend Calibre for anyone who needs to convert a book. It is open source and very easy to use. A simple click and you are done. Drag the newly converted book to your card and you are in business. Takes about a minute. I can live with that.
The Baen Free Library is great, especially for SFF fans. Their non-free books are also very reasonably priced, and none have DRM, sparing the customer the minor tedium of removing it if format conversion is needed
Thanks so much for recommending this site. I am an avid SF reader and the free books there will keep me occupied for a long time. I've already read many of them, but I'm old and can barely remember what I read last week, much less what I read years ago, so it's like all new stuff for me.
It took me a while to figure out how to set it up in Aldiko, had to click on the Iphone button to find the right link. Just for other's info, here's the URL to add Baen Free Books as a custom catalog in Aldiko: Baen WebScription Catalog
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I just wish these apps would simulate a real page turning effect, like stanza on the iPhone. Other than that I'm pretty happy with ebook reading on android.
Ereader for Droid incredible and anything other than iphone
Getjar is an open source app company. they just raised another 11million and after reading about them I went and got Kobo, an ereader that works on my droid incredible and they have a HUGE library of free and pay books. I was furious with not being able to get kindle and tried all the DRM stripping and calibre and python to get my kindle books to work on droid. well, not I just won't have to shop with amazon or B&N for that matter....Highly recommend taking a look-see at getjar
Thanks so much for recommending this site...It took me a while to figure out how to set it up in Aldiko, had to click on the Iphone button to find the right link. Just for other's info, here's the URL to add Baen Free Books as a custom catalog in Aldiko: Baen WebScription Catalog
I should thank you - I didn't realize it could be set up as a catalog in Aldiko. That saves so much work...
Only thing missing from Aldiko IMO is the clock and/or battery status at the top. I like reading in the dark late at night, the clock is something I'd love to see up there.
Only thing missing from Aldiko IMO is the clock and/or battery status at the top. I like reading in the dark late at night, the clock is something I'd love to see up there.
Not sure if you want to consider another app, but FBReader does allow the option to display the status bar while reading.
I have reinstalled my 2GB original SD card, rather than my Sandisk 32GB card, in case that makes any difference to how Aldiko works.
Installed Aldiko again and this time \ebook\import was created on the 2GB card.
I then added to \ebook\import\pg164.epub; this is Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea from Project Gutenburg.
Aldiko said no books to import. So used Aldiko to find this book; the book was downloaded to \Jules Verne\20,000 Leagues Under The Sea\ various files. I removed pg164.epub from \ebook\import\
Aldiko > menu > import did not find any book.
So I moved Jules Verne\20,000 Leagues Under The Sea\ various files. to \ebook\import\
So questions:-
Was the reason that \ebook\import\was not created on my 32GB anything to do with the cards size?
[snip]
Installed Aldiko again and this time \ebook\import was created on the 2GB card.
I then added to \ebook\import\pg164.epub; this is Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea from Project Gutenburg.
Well, I'm just trying to eliminate all possibilities, but is that a typo in the directory name you gave above? 'Cause it's supposed to be 'eBooks', plural, not 'ebook', singular.
Just for fun I changed the directory on my SD card to ebook (singular), and Aldiko failed to find any of my books. (Aldiko will tell you it needs to be 'eBooks', but my own testing indicates capitalizing the 'B' doesn't matter; it still finds it in 'ebooks'.)
I have reinstalled my 2GB original SD card, rather than my Sandisk 32GB card, in case that makes any difference to how Aldiko works.
Installed Aldiko again and this time \ebook\import was created on the 2GB card.
I then added to \ebook\import\pg164.epub; this is Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea from Project Gutenburg.
I see PG lists that epub as "experimental"...wonder if that has anything to do with it...
You can d/l the same book directly to Aldiko using the top link in the "Aldiko Online Catalog" - it even has a cover. Not that that's much help on your other books...
Also, have you tried Calibre? You can add your file to your Calibre library, assign proper metadata, and send it to your SD card via USB cable. I have occasionally found that things imported better going that route, although I'm not sure why.
Last edited by wayrad; June 25th, 2010 at 04:22 PM.
I use Ireader as it can read books in Palm format without conversion. I have a very large library of Palm books so all I had to do is copy them to my microsd card.
I use Calibre and Amber lit converter when needed.
Well, I'm just trying to eliminate all possibilities, but is that a typo in the directory name you gave above? 'Cause it's supposed to be 'eBooks', plural, not 'ebook', singular.
Just for fun I changed the directory on my SD card to ebook (singular), and Aldiko failed to find any of my books. (Aldiko will tell you it needs to be 'eBooks', but my own testing indicates capitalizing the 'B' doesn't matter; it still finds it in 'ebooks'.)
Yes was typo both SD cards have the folder eBooks.
I see PG lists that epub as "experimental"...wonder if that has anything to do with it...
You can d/l the same book directly to Aldiko using the top link in the "Aldiko Online Catalog" - it even has a cover. Not that that's much help on your other books...
Also, have you tried Calibre? You can add your file to your Calibre library, assign proper metadata, and send it to your SD card via USB cable. I have occasionally found that things imported better going that route, although I'm not sure why.
This is how I downloaded; see "...So used Aldiko to find this book; the book was downloaded to \Jules Verne\20,000 Leagues Under The Sea\ various files..."
I see PG lists that epub as "experimental"...wonder if that has anything to do with it...
You can d/l the same book directly to Aldiko using the top
This is how I downloaded; see "...So used Aldiko to find this book; the book was downloaded to \Jules Verne\20,000 Leagues Under The Sea\ various files..."
In my understanding, you have to put a file with .epub ending in eBooks/import, not a folder.
Harry
Edit: ... sorry, didn't see its Aldiko import by itself
best e-book reader?
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instead of a retort.
