Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by smoke2002

so far, the one thing that I would definitely like to see is a way to sort by subject/tag.

I agree. So many sorting options in Marvin's Library now, but it's a curious omission that sorting by subjects/tags is currently not possible. Here is where Stanza shines, of course, as in all aspects of Library management -- very elegantly done there.

Maybe the ability to sort by subjects/tags will be added to Marvin when those desperately requested Library folders/shelves are added.

[Faterson]

Talking about the supposed dangers of OPDS catalogs:

http://goodereader.com/blog/electron...y-allegations/
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=204581
http://www.moondownload.com

That's some crazy stuff, if something like that can happen overnight to the best e-reader on Android. Evokes some chilling memories of Stanza's fate. I must, therefore, say again I very much share Wulf's concern that precautions should be taken that nothing like this can ever happen to Marvin. Can you imagine waking up one day only to discover that Marvin is gone? Android users at least have their alternate markets to download Moon+ Reader from, but not everyone is willing to jailbreak their iOS device.

(In fact, something similar happened half a year ago to the Korean developer of what I find to be the finest video app on iOS: AVPlayerHD. Apple found something objectionable -- software/hardware-wise, apparently -- in a September release of the app, and it took around 3 months for the developer of AVPlayerHD to reinstate it in the App Store. Good luck to the Moon+ Reader developer to get this resolved as soon as possible.)

[kguil]

Yeah. I read about it a couple of days ago. Without going into the merits of the case (because I don't know any better), I feel sorry for the developer. He seems to put his heart and soul into it.

[Faterson]

Russia is developing into a software superpower: GoodReader, PDF Expert, Moon+ Reader, FineReader, WinRAR and many others are Russian products. I'm surprised you're not Russian yourself, Kris. Это удивительно. At the same time, e-books piracy is all-pervasive in Russia -- you can get pretty much any Russian e-book you want, without paying for it. And it's hard to blame regular folks for it, with average incomes preventing them from buying e-books at standard prices.

[kguil]

One of the built in favourites in Marvin's OPDS browser is "ePubBooks.ru" (I got this from MobileRead's Wiki entry for OPDS). Anyone knows whether it is OK or risky? I'm assuming that since it has been on MR for a while, it is OK.

[Faterson]

Risky (at least potentially). I have used this Russian OPDS feed in Marvin, and it's great, a thousand times better, more professionally organized than, say, the Project Gutenberg or FeedBooks catalogs, but...

I mostly read copyright-free Russian classics like my beloved Tolstoy and Chekhov, so I'm no expert in this field, but the Moon+ Reader articles mention the writer Daria Dontsova (Дарья Донцова) as one of the allegedly injured parties in all this, and the OPDS catalog in Marvin does offer 2 of her books for download, so... I don't wish to ring any false alarms, but if you prefer to stay on the safe side, Kris, you might want to reconsider. After all, Marvin users can easily add any OPDS catalog links on their own -- it's not strictly necessary to preinstall them.

[maxjens]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Risky (at least potentially). I have used this Russian OPDS feed in Marvin, and it's great, a thousand times better, more professionally organized than, say, the Project Gutenberg or FeedBooks catalogs, but...

I mostly read copyright-free Russian classics like my beloved Tolstoy and Chekhov, so I'm no expert in this field, but the Moon+ Reader articles mention the writer Daria Dontsova (Дарья Донцова) as one of the allegedly injured parties in all this, and the OPDS catalog in Marvin does offer 2 of her books for download, so... I don't wish to ring any false alarms, but if you prefer to stay on the safe side, Kris, you might want to reconsider. After all, Marvin users can easily add any OPDS catalog links on their own -- it's not strictly necessary to preinstall them.

Good point, you can find free opds feeds here:

http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/OPDS..._OPDS_Catalogs

[kguil]

That is from where I picked some of the 'stock' OPDS favourites in Marvin.

[stwc]

Been actually using Marvin a bit more now, and I have another (hopefully small) feature request in addition to the page-turn animation plea: would be it possible to add a download queue for OPDS stuff?

One thing that was really nice, I thought, in Stanza, was that you could queue up any number of books (from your local Calibre server or whatever) rather than having to see the Downloading... UI every time. I don't use iTunes at all, so no bulk book-loading, and given the clunkiness of navigating catalogs (especially on slow servers), being able to queue up book downloads would be very nice indeed.

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by stwc

Been actually using Marvin a bit more now, and I have another (hopefully small) feature request in addition to the page-turn animation plea: would be it possible to add a download queue for OPDS stuff?

It's been worked on.

Cheers

Art

[ProfCrash]

Downloading meta data and going to add the books to Marvin again. I am loving the app. I can't wait for folders/tags/ whatever. And yes, I know they are coming

[ChristopherTD]

I am not a fan of 2 column layout in general, but the Marvin implementation is very good. Mainly because it can be tweaked till a comfortable line length is achieved in each column. I could be converted, at least in landscape mode.

[ProfCrash]

I love the two page lay out. I really love the ability to tweak the spacing and the like. It is great.

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Go for option (a) because I know how people can be. If you go for (b) and people find it not good enough, the reviews can be not good. That won't help the iPhone version of Marvin to have a lot of bad reviews.

I agree. You should be particularly concerned about the effect of negative reviews if Marvin is to be a universal app, in which case potentially discontented iPhone owners would drown out happier iPad owners.

Your most loyal customer base, composed of the individuals on this site, will not abandon Marvin over a few weeks' wait. Your priority as a creator and a businessman should be to develop a product that meets the standards for excellence that you have set for yourself, and which your current users have come to expect. Bowing to clamour for a hasty and incomplete release will likely end in dissatisfaction for everyone, including those pressuring you the most.

[kguil]

Thanks holymadness. I see your point.