eReader on iPhone -- adding books not purchased

[talaivan]

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?

[HarryT]

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.

[flumbo]

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

[da_jane]

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.

[Jack B Nimble]

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

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Jack B Nimble

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

[HarryT]

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.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

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

[HarryT]

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

[badgoodDeb]

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.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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

[HarryT]

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.

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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

[HarryT]

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.