[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[kguil]

I honestly didn't mean that.

[Faterson]

I see nothing wrong with in-app purchases, even if it was for buying features. And I'm surprised Kris now wants to keep Marvin free, whereas he originally wanted to sell it. Of course it's great news for book lovers, but it almost seems unfair towards Kris, given all the hard work he put into Marvin, bringing us more quality and enjoyment within a few weeks than some of the world's largest mega-corporations with thousands of employees were able to do in years.

Here's a funny story... a friend of mine wrote me yesterday he created a new verb in the Slovak language, marvinizovať (meaning to marvinise). He said he was so excited about us finally getting, in Marvin, a competent EPUB reader for iPads, that he's now spontaneously and enthusiastically started to convert some of his old PDF files into EPUBs, just for the pleasure of being able to read them in Marvin.

[kguil]

The reality of app economics (the way I see it) is that is unlikely that you can build a company/product on the few dollars per sale unless you're moving tens or hundreds of thousands of copies regularly. I'm thinking of other ways to sustain Marvin without charging for the app per se.

The themes IAP would just exist for loyal users to donate something small to cover some basic running costs and, in turn, get a tiny bit extra.

Personally, I have an aversion to free apps where every button click results in an IAP nag. Marvin will never be like that. No ads either.

If at any point, I decide to make money off the app itself, I'll just charge for it.

[eVeNtInE]

Originally Posted by kguil

@eVeNtInE The version after 1.2 will support something even better than translate and Wiktionary. You'll be able to create your own button with custom behaviour including access to external dictionary apps if they have a custom URL scheme (more on this later).

Wonderful. Any idea at what point we might be seeing those versions come out?

[hrosvit]

Originally Posted by kguil

Library folders will be coming soon.

Great news! I have been lurking on this thread and using Marvin almost exclusively for the last several weeks, and this is the single thing that I can honestly say I wish for.

Thank you for a spectacular app.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by kguil

The reality of app economics (the way I see it) is that is unlikely that you can build a company/product on the few dollars per sale unless you're moving tens or hundreds of thousands of copies regularly. I'm thinking of other ways to sustain Marvin without charging for the app per se.

The themes IAP would just exist for loyal users to donate something small to cover some basic running costs and, in turn, get a tiny bit extra.

Personally, I have an aversion to free apps where every button click results in an IAP nag. Marvin will never be like that. No ads either.

If at any point, I decide to make money off the app itself, I'll just charge for it.

Sounds good to me. I don't care about themes, but I'll pay for them when you set them up as a way to donate for all your hard work.

[DaleDe]

I would argue that, in this case, an IAP is better than having two apps, a purchase one and a lite version. the problem with the two app method is that the eBooks cannot be shared between the two versions so if you later purchase an app and then try and get rid of the lite version you will lose all the eBooks you downloaded.

Dale

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

the problem with the two app method is that the eBooks cannot be shared between the two versions so if you later purchase an app and then try and get rid of the lite version you will lose all the eBooks you downloaded.

Not necessarily, but I agree with you that IAP seems preferable over the lite & full dichotomy.

Here on MobileRead I've been recommending neu.Annotate for marking up PDF files, and I can even more recommend the fantastic neu.Notes app for handwritten notes, from the same developers. These apps operate on the lite/full system, but that doesn't mean you will lose any of your files (including PDF books) when you move from light to full versions. The two apps allow you to back up all content with a single tap of your finger, and you can then easily import that content into the full app version after you purchase it. The IAP method of upgrades is a lot simpler, though.

As to when those translation features in Marvin will be available... let's not put undue pressure on Kris. He has done a monumental amount of work ever since the first Marvin version came out in early December. Any other, less modest developer would have numbered the upcoming release Version 2, not Version 1.2. Judging by his posts, Kris's holiday season was in-token only. Apple and Amazon needed years to achieve ten times less, in iBooks and the Kindle app, than Marvin achieved in a single month. If we need to wait months before the translation features in Marvin become available, so be it. In the meantime, you might want to check out eBookMobi, a Vietnamese e-reader app that incorporates free StarDict translation dictionaries but otherwise, obviously, is no competition for Marvin.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Not necessarily, but I agree with you that IAP seems preferable over the lite & full dichotomy.

Not necessarily? I would like to know how. I recently got the paid version of smart basic and previously had smart basic lite. How do I get the programs I wrote in smart basic lite moved over to smart basic? The author says there is no way to do this. Good app by the way.

Dale

[orion2001]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Not necessarily? I would like to know how. I recently got the paid version of smart basic and previously had smart basic lite. How do I get the programs I wrote in smart basic lite moved over to smart basic? The author says there is no way to do this. Good app by the way.

Dale

I think it isn't possible unless the program author actually implements a method to export and import a backup of programs. I'm sure it is possible by the app author to do so but he may not have the time, resources or inclination to do so. It is one of my big gripes about IOS in general. The complete lack of a unified file system and a way to get at files so you can take control of your own data.

[Faterson]

I explained that above, Dale. When you install neu.Notes light and create any number of files, you can then at any time create a backup of the entire app content with a single tap of your finger right inside neu.Notes light. This will create a backup file with the .backup extension in the neu.Notes directory. Then you can purchase the full version of neu.Notes, and restore all your content from the light version there. Nothing gets lost, I can assure you -- even if you have dozens of files or PDF books inside neu.Notes or neu.Annotate.

It's up to the app developer to devise a backup and restore mechanism, if any. Obviously the smart basic developer you mention hasn't devised a backup and restore mechanism, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Anyway, this is off-topic, because Kris said there would be no lite and full versions of Marvin, and neither will there be IAP upgrades for functionality, only for bells & whistles.

PS: ninja'd by orion2001

[k_gm]

Hello Kris,

A week ago I found this discussion thread and immediately decided to try out Marvin. And I’m really impressed!
Nice user interface, fast, feature rich and many new useful features are coming.

I used the app the last few days and played around with all the features. Until now I only found 3 problems:

1.)
I often read technical book, for example the Pro Git book (you can download an epub copy here: http://git-scm.com/book ). But I had a problem with the search function. When I search for “bare”, I must press the search button over twenty times until the word is found. I guess that the problem is, that Marvin only searches one chapter and this book has many chapters.

Could you enhance the search? For example, automatically continue the search in the next chapters until the word is found or stop the search, if the word does not exist.

2.)
Deep View
If I use this function in the “Pro Git book” it finds tons of hex numbers, other numbers like 0-9, 4-2, ½, 12K, gw3r3, iss91 …
Probably the “Deep View” feature is not so useful for technical documents, but anyway, at least a "number" and a “hex number” filter may be useful?

3.)
Deep View – Pin articles feature
Another nice feature of Marvin is the capability to add articles about the book, Pin more articles and so on. Trying “Pin more articles” Google found another PDF and, by mistake, I pinned this PDF to Deep View – but then Marvin crashed immediately! When I then restart Marvin and try to open Deep View in this book again, Marvin crashes again. I had to delete the book from Marvin and load a new copy of the book.


But so far Marvin is very promising and I’m looking forward to the new version. Keep up the good work!

regards,
Klaus

[kguil]

@k_gm. Searches will definitely be made better. I'm not happy with them either.

I know this sounds like a copout but DPV is not designed for technical works. It is tuned for "literary" works. I've also had requests from academics to improve it for technical material. I'll definitely be improving it at some point.

Filtering out numbers/hex is a good idea for the interim.

Terribly sorry about the crash. Would it be possible for you to email me privately and help me reproduce this problem? I'd love to have it fixed before the next update.

@Faterson. I had looked at StarDict. The way I understand it, it is a defunct project and there are copyright claims on the material. I stand to be corrected.

@Synamon. Thanks. That is exactly the point of the themes. They are not necessary or actually useful, just a very optional way to contribute something. Everything else and new stuff will remain as is. To be perfectly honest, now that they are there (for me) I like changing them every now and then - I'm a glutton for customisation.

@hrosvit. Thanks.

@eVeNtInE. The plan, in theory, is this:

- In 2 weeks (test results and Apple gods permitting) 1.2 will be out.
- I will publish the roadmap for 1.3 (collections/folders are already in the list).
- I'll ask whether there are still any features that people would consider critical and wouldn't use Marvin otherwise.
- Within reason, I'll try and accomodate (DRM is not on the radar).
- 1.3 will be out end-of-Jan/mid-Feb at the earliest.
- I'll scale the rate of iPad development down and dedicate most of my development time to the iPhone version.

[Turtle91]

Kris,
First off THANK YOU!! I have been dealing with my old iphone reader app for the last couple of years and it has driven me nuts because it doesn't have the functionality and display that I wanted...with one exception...it could store the books in folders/sub-folders so I could organize my books by author and series/series#....now I can get away from that app and use this one that will display things the way I have been creating them to be displayed!

--sorting on meta-data....brilliant!

I was just posting on another thread how I was looking for something that will do exactly as you have done! My iPad is at home...just an iPhone with me...but I can't wait to get home and start using Marvin.

I have one feature request that my wife and I have been looking for....some kind of parental controls??? It doesn't need to be very complex...maybe the ability to put a simple password in Marvin, and select books that cannot be opened without first entering the password?? If/when the icloud sync becomes a reality then those files would not be able to sync or transfer to another device without entering the password. My children use the same iPad and we don't want them to have access to books with themes/content that they aren't ready for.

Oh....and when you have absolutely nothing better to do....any plans to put this on a windows platform??


Cheers!

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Oh....and when you have absolutely nothing better to do....any plans to put this on a windows platform??

You mean the "metro" Windows or the "old" one? I think an Android version should definitely have priority over Windows. And iPhone comes before Android.