On a Palm, you can turn any text etc. book into an eReader book (using Book Designer or Palm's software). I have some books in this format and would like to put them on my iPhone and read them with iPhone's eReader. Apparently, there's no way at present to access the directory where eReader stores its files on iPhone -- has anyone found a way to do this?

There should be a new version of the eReader app in a couple of weeks which will allow this. No way to do it at the moment.

Hope you are right Harry. This version seems awfully light on features compared to the palm and winmo versions. The price is right though.

You can purchase Bookshelf for $9.99 and set up a personal ShelfServer where you can access every previously purchased book in the following formats:

BookShelf current supports the following book formats with more on the way:

* Plain Text [.txt]
* HTML with images [.html]
* FictionBook2 with images [.fb2]
* PalmDoc / AportisDoc [.pdb]
* MobiPocket (unencrypted) [.pdb, .prc, .mobi]
* Plucker with images [.pdb]

Please note that at this time, BookShelf does not support PDB files which were created for the iSilo or eReader programs. Support for these formats is planned for a future release.

Steve (one of the Fictionwise owners) has commented on this a few times, and his comments are posted and linked in several posts already on these forums. Essentially, he admitted that, in response to many requests from the community, they wanted to have a functional reader available at launch, and went with a reduced feature set to make that happen. In the next few weeks (depending on Apple's approval process) they expect to release another version with more features, and a way to upload books converted at home or purchased from other stores to an online bookshelf and access them from the eReader software.

If you prefer not to wait, there are some options. I am told that Bookshelf (recommended above) is very nice, and a good deal at $10. If you are a mac user, you have a few more options. You can upload/read files using Stanza (did I hear there was a windows version coming?), which supports just about any unprotected format except eReader and I think it is free. Also, while not a dedicated ebook reader, there is File Magnet for $5 (also mac only), which reads a number of formats, and has received some good press.

Jack

You can upload/read files using Stanza (did I hear there was a windows version coming?), which supports just about any unprotected format except eReader and I think it is free.

Stanza iPhone/iPod is free. Stanza for desktop is free in its beta form... they are projecting a $15 price once it is released. They did also say they "plan" to do a windows port once the Mac version is released.

BOb

There's also a version of MobiPocket for the iPhone/Touch in the works, too. I'm waiting for that, personally, since Mobi is my preferred format.

There's also a version of MobiPocket for the iPhone/Touch in the works, too. I'm waiting for that, personally, since Mobi is my preferred format.

A huge issue with all these iPhone readers is: how do I transfer my own files ? Mobipocket is usually Windows only, I'm afraid that they won't release an application for OS X and Linux. Since you need an application that acts as a server to send your own file, this could be a potential issue for a lot of users.

A huge issue with all these iPhone readers is: how do I transfer my own files ? Mobipocket is usually Windows only, I'm afraid that they won't release an application for OS X and Linux. Since you need an application that acts as a server to send your own file, this could be a potential issue for a lot of users.

They could use the same approach that Fictionwise has announced (not deployed, yet), which is allowing people to upload content to personal bookshelf spaces on their servers. Fictionwise already has this functionality, used for their eBookwise product, so it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt it for use with the iTouch client (we need a shorthand word to cover both the iPhone and iPod Touch). Files can be loaded from pretty much any browser, so they stay fairly independent of the desktop OS, except for the converter, of course. I do wonder if they will offer conversion of uploaded files, which they also do for the eBookwise.

They have said they expect to deploy this functionality in the next week or two, which I take to mean four to six weeks for most software releases. :)

Jack

It would be interesting to see if that approach caused any issues if people started uploading illegal material. Wonder how they'd handle that?

Stanza allows you to "share" a file from your desktop to your phone. This way no other organization needs to have copies of your files. True, it is Mac only at the moment, sorry. But it's a start in the right direction.

It would be interesting to see if that approach caused any issues if people started uploading illegal material. Wonder how they'd handle that?

It is not too different from what Amazon offers for the Kindle. I could actually take the modem connection in my eBookwise and download content that I have uploaded. Since this is personal material and the process is automated I would doubt that there is much checking for illegal material. It has been working since Gemstar offered it back in the late 20th century so it is nothing new.

Dale

If it's merely a "conduit" from your PC to the iPhone then I agree, Dale. If, however, it's some kind of "bookshelf" on the web server where your books "live" then the issue of illegal content being hosted on the server might perhaps become more contentious.

If it's merely a "conduit" from your PC to the iPhone then I agree, Dale. If, however, it's some kind of "bookshelf" on the web server where your books "live" then the issue of illegal content being hosted on the server might perhaps become more contentious.

True to some extent. However, it is still open only to the individual user, not accessible by the general community. I am not sure how that differs from any webmail service that allows attachments. In fact, since it is not sent to or received from anyone else, much less operated as a file sharing service, it would be more like one of the "cloud" backup or storage services.

Jack

Certainly. I was just thinking that it might be something that those who take a, shall we say, "liberal" view of copyright laws might wish to bear in mind before using. It would be an obvious source of data for someone to scan for potential copyright infringement, perhaps, and I wouldn't want to see anyone getting into trouble over it.

As a side note. For anyone out there that wants to delve a little deeper into the inner workings of your iPhone. You can always SSH your books directly into the eReader app. You will need to jailbreak phone, but with surprisingly small amount of effort I was able to drop a few books over in eReader format.

All the files within the app are signed however, and you may have to do a little tweaking to get things to work just right.

But as mentioned above, a new version is in the works.

I have taken some screenshots of both "legal" iPhone apps: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=223796

what little tweaking?
I was able to copy the .pdb into var/mobile/7BCB..../Documents/Bookshelf and into var/mobile/7BCB..../eReader.app/Bookshelf, but the ereader.app still won't show/list the copied .pdb ebook.
is the tweaking involved terminaling and chmod-ing?

what little tweaking?
I was able to copy the .pdb into var/mobile/7BCB..../Documents/Bookshelf and into var/mobile/7BCB..../eReader.app/Bookshelf, but the ereader.app still won't show/list the copied .pdb ebook.
is the tweaking involved terminaling and chmod-ing?

I was able to get non-DRM protected .pdb files to open within eReader by renaming them with a title of a book I already downloaded through the eReader service. The new book will still come up on the bookshelf with the lagit books name, but you are able to download the original book again.

All in all this method is rather painstaking and makes things confusing.

What I finally ended up doing is using textreader which is available through Installer or Cydia. You will have to jailbreak your phone, ( though if your SSHing files over you most likely have already done that.) but using that app is the only free, easy method I have found to read all my old books.

There is Bookshelf, but that service requires you to upload books and documents to a server as well as pay for the app. Bookshelf works rather well, but sadly, at this moment there is no app that is pretty and seemless as eReader.

I'll continue playing with different methods, and if I do make any head way I will post again.

PS: I am using an older 8gb phone with 2.1 software installed. Cydia is my main source of apps.

Thx for the tips!
There's a 'bookreader' apps from cydia that will read .html. I tried it with the ebooks i purchased from fictionwise, by using convertlit to extract html from .lit. Transfering to the iphone's ebook directory is simple using iphoneexplorer (well, i have jailbroken old 8gb iphone with customised 2.01).
I put 1 book title html (and its jpgs) into 1 folder, and copy that folder to the iphone's ebook folder (not SSH, too much hassle).
Problem 1:
The iphone OS does not automatically set the file attributes to archive. it stays as read-only. When the bookreader apps open the html (yes, it would see the ebook in its list/library right away), the apps creates some sort of tracking file for last opened page, etc. Since the the folder is read-only, it can not create that file. So, after accessing and analysing the ebook/html, it gives 'error cannot create yaadaa yaddaa'.
Solution 1:
The Problem 1 can be solved with terminal apps, and using some chmode command to manually UN-read-only the ebook folder. Googleing the net helped me find details of this process. I applied it, and Voila... the ebooks i put for 'bookreader' apps is now readable..

Problem 2:
I assume the same read-only situation applies with 'ereader' ebooks (.pdb). So i did the same process, of copying and terminaling (chmod-ing) the file. Yet, while terminal shows i was succeeded, the books are not listed on the ereader library.
Solution 2:
NightWulf 'renaming' technique. I will test this when I have access again to the laptop i'm hooking my iphone (the wife's using it). Willl check what result I'd get.

thx, great forum, great technical discussion
TK

Why are you still messing with trying to SSH your books into eReader now that they offer their personal content uploading system?

But for what it's worth, there's also another way to do it if you have a computer and a wireless network.

Get some kind of simple web server application for your OS (or enable the web server your OS may already have built in). Put your pre-compiled eReader files on that web server, then do the "add" thing in eReader, choose "Another site," and enter the URL, using the LAN IP address for the computer. For instance, "192.168.2.101/my_ebook.pdb". It'll download it to your system just like any other e-book.

My avoiding the upload/download to/from personal content is that i'm still with the gprs iphone, and the gprs cost is a bit expensive here. There's no iphone yearly subscription service with teleco here, yet. Until then, guess i have to tinker with my laptop wireless setup to create a wifi connection and use the iphone to surf the web via wifi, through my adsl.

There's also a version of MobiPocket for the iPhone/Touch in the works, too. I'm waiting for that, personally, since Mobi is my preferred format.

:D That's great news, as my husband has given me an iPhone 3G for my birthday. I probably will not be reading on it much as I love my Kindle, but would like to download *something* onto it, probably some poetry. Mobipocket is also mu format of choice.:2thumbsup