Stanza in iOS5... dead...

[Latinandgreek]

I like using Cloudreader on my iPad. I don't know if they have the same app available for iPhones.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by 1611mac

You don't need iTunes. Just fire up Calibre, turn on the content server, and your Calibre Library will appear as a WiFI catalog in the Book Catalogs section. You can then view your Calibre library in MegaReader by Tags, Source, Author, Title, Newest, etc and download your selection of WiFi. Mine worked first time. I had to do nothing.

For the moment, I do. Calibre and 99% of my library is on another computer and hard drive. Drag and drop, for now, is *exactly* what I need. In addition, I fail to see why everyone insists on calibre being used. Yes, Its a *very* useful tool, but until I find the app that is the one I want to replace Stanza, I want to have the option to drag and drop because I am NOT going to transfer my entire Calibre library over yet, anyway. A simple drag and drop solves my immediate issues, which is to test each app separately with one or two books, just to see how they work. I have eliminated several in just a couple of hours by this method.

Megareader does need to have this option.

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

For the moment, I do. Calibre and 99% of my library is on another computer and hard drive. Drag and drop, for now, is *exactly* what I need. In addition, I fail to see why everyone insists on calibre being used. Yes, Its a *very* useful tool, but until I find the app that is the one I want to replace Stanza, I want to have the option to drag and drop because I am NOT going to transfer my entire Calibre library over yet, anyway. A simple drag and drop solves my immediate issues, which is to test each app separately with one or two books, just to see how they work. I have eliminated several in just a couple of hours by this method.

Megareader does need to have this option.

I'm sorry. I don't understand why a "drag and drop" in iTunes is any easier than clicking a "Download" button in MegaReader. With the Calibre server running on your computer you can sit anywhere within WiFi range and download any of your books, one of them, or any number of them. What am I missing?

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by 1611mac

What am I missing?

I thought I made it clear that my calibre library is on another computer on another hard drive (perhaps I should have stated that it was in another location and I cannot access it just yet, but by implication, that too should hafve been clear) and I do not have access at the moment.

I am not planning to duplicate the library here and am not prepared to spend the time doing so, JUST so I can use megareader with it, when all I want to do is test out which reader will be best. By the time I have done that, I will be in a position to get to the other computer (ie return home) and deal with it.

I have not yet decided which reader I will be finally using. Stop trying to push me into doing something I do not want to do, when all I am asking is that the dev consider adding itunes access to the app.

[1611mac]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I thought I made it clear that [B]

[clip]Stop trying to push me into doing something I do not want to do, when all I am asking is that the dev consider adding itunes access to the app.

Pardon me. I was not trying to get you to do anything. I was trying to help someone whom I thought didn't know that the MegaReader app would connect to the Calibre server. Excuse me for trying to help someone. Have a good day of reading.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by 1611mac

Pardon me. I was not trying to get you to do anything. I was trying to help someone whom I thought didn't know that the MegaReader app would connect to the Calibre server. Excuse me for trying to help someone. Have a good day of reading.

Don't feel like that. I misinterpreted your intent and apologise for that. I think its a good thing to have multiple options for getting books onto (and off) the device. We are so retricted with ibooks, I found Stanza to be a breath of fresh air.

The other advantage of that sharing list of course is the ability to save the books out to your computer again, if something should happen to the computer copies (as happened to me once, when my hard drive died, taking the lot along with them) ... and yes, I know.. calibre.

[Wyndham]

Originally Posted by rhari79

The feature i would miss most in Stanza is the Black pdf background(inverted) in night mode.
for eg., goodreader allows the screen brightness to be dimmed. the background is still white.

Does anyone know if this feature is available in other readers?

i2Reader has a wide range of display options, which includes WOB - in fact you can customise to any colour (e.g. light yellow on a dark blue background, etc). You have to go into preferences to make the change (not a single tap like Stanza, but at least it's there).

UPDATE: I have since found that formatting options are quickly available as follows: Tap once, and then tap on the up arrow (inverted V) at the bottom of the screen. Here you can adjust brightness and font size. Tap twice, and you can select from a range of previously defined display options.

It is a paid for eReader (£2.99), but after testing all the others I could find, and rejecting them, this is my Stanza replacement. It's not perfect and I am currently chasing the developer to fix a few things, but personally, I find it stands heads and shoulders above the others - and I paid for a few, like MegaReader, and was disappointed with all of them.

UPDATE I have now given up on i2Reader as they are not answering any emails and Apple refuse to do anything about it (the lack of support), so I am issuing a WARNING to stay away from i2Reader.

By contrast, I have discovered that the developer of MegaReader is actively working on meeting the requests of Stanza fans - see http://bit.ly/vCMqQi

[Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Philantrop

i2reader might be nice but:
- There's no way to turn off its absolutely grotesquely horrible localisation.
- The authentication dialogue for my Calibre server keeps popping up even though I already authenticated seconds ago.
- Credentials aren't saved, thus, I have to type in my >20 chars password all the time.
- The price (EUR 3,99 at the time of writing) is indeed too high.

I've started using i2Reader as my chosen Stanza replacement and agree there are some things which need fixing and I am currently chasing the developer about them.

Have you reported the authentication issue mentioned (and I guess the localisation matter too), and have you had a response?

Also, what is this localisation issue you mention - I've somehow missed this...?

UPDATE I have now given up on i2Reader as they are not answering any emails and Apple refuse to do anything about it (the lack of support), so I am issuing a WARNING to stay away from i2Reader.

By contrast, I have discovered that the developer of MegaReader is actively working on meeting the requests of Stanza fans - see http://bit.ly/vCMqQi

[Wyndham]

Originally Posted by junkml

So I2Reader can connect to Calibre's content server?

Are there any other readers in the AppStore that can connect to the Calibre content server?

I like the BlueFire app, but hate that I can't set up a connection to Calibre. That functionality of Stanza is probably one of my favorites.

and

Originally Posted by nookkatz

I don't know if this will help, but I keep my Calibre library in Dropbox and use the Dropbox app on my iPod Touch to access the books. I can open the files in the Bluefire app with no trouble. I don't have an iPad, but things ought to work the same way on the iPad.

I hope I don't come across too much as an i2Reader fan, but having spent a lot of time evaluating other eReaders, it has become my Stanza replacement - even though there are a few niggling issues.

One good feature, is that it has a wide range of ways of getting books, including directly to Calibre's content server - (see attachment for a screenshot). I also use DropBox and am experimenting with Calibre2OPDS.

I can't get this to work properly yet, but at least I can view the catalogue which has the benefit of letting me see the Series information in addition to other details about the eBooks.

UPDATE: Calibre2OPDS kindly set me straight and I am now able to connect to my catalogue in the Sky and download eBooks as desired.

UPDATE I have now given up on i2Reader as they are not answering any emails and Apple refuse to do anything about it (the lack of support), so I am issuing a WARNING to stay away from i2Reader.

By contrast, I have discovered that the developer of MegaReader is actively working on meeting the requests of Stanza fans - see http://bit.ly/vCMqQi

[foosion]

Calibre wifi connections:

MegaReader: initially this didn't work for me, then started working

Bluefire (much easier in practice than when written out):
- start the Cailbre server
- note your IP address and the port Calibre uses, e.g., 192.168.1.10:8080
- open Safari on your iphone, ipad, touch
- type in the IP address and port
- you can now browse the Calibre catalog
- click on a book you want to download
- click open in, click Bluefire

[Wyndham]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

I've messed with I2Reader, and it can connect to the Calibre content server, but only download one book at a time that I could figure out.

I had a few thousands of books on Stanza, and could download a couple hundred books at a time in batches of 50. (mark the page to download, get get another page, mark the page to download....)

I'm really frustrated with loading books one at a time through Calibre or the web sites. People have whole libraries they want to carry around, who has time to piddle with one book at a time?

I've tried loading I2Reader through itunes, and it loads more books, but then I get the error that it can't save the file library because it's out of memory. Which I figure is an iTunes problem. So sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I haven't been able to find what size triggers the memory problem.

So I've lost all my sorting abilities for my library, my bulk loading, and my font size and color choices when I lost Stanza. None of the others seems to even come close any more.

Bummed out, because I don't trust Dropbox or any of the cloud services to store my stuff. I just don't see it as dependable in the long run. I paid for all that extra gig on my devices, and I want to use it!

Hi DuskyRose - I sympathise with your frustration, but I have a small 'solution' which you may find useful.

I found today, that after dragging and droopping a book onto i2Reader in the apps sectiion of iTunes, subsequent books did not sync to i2Reader - similar to your problem although I did not get the out of memory error. On a whim, I left iTunes open, but unplugged the USB cable, and then reconnected. Immediately i2Reader imported all the books that had been sitting in iTunes (and not synced).

Hope this helps.

A suggestion. I have set up Calibre2OPDS (on DropBox) and use the Catalogue to decide which book to read next - it can display books by series, or Author and in other useful ways - and of course shows the book's summary as well.

I share your reservations about putting personal stuff in the 'cloud', but have decided to take a chance. This may alleviate the lack of sorting that you miss friom Stanza....

[Philantrop]

Originally Posted by Wyndham

Have you reported the authentication issue mentioned (and I guess the localisation matter too), and have you had a response?

Yes, I've emailed the company about both issues (the localisation issue being a completely, utterly, devastatingly bad German UI translation) but never got a response.

[rxmom03]

Originally Posted by evanbernstein

You can see on the thread on getsatisfaction above how the developer, Patrick, is responding quickly to missing features. He has already told me that on the short list are:
- an option for paragraph indention
- an option for paragraph between paragraphs

He also wants to implement:
- sliding up and down for brightness. His response "This seems to be the most popular request. I never knew it was so important!". I don't know how hard/easy it is, so it might not be the short-short list.

Thanks for that info! I checked this out and wrote to him about one little thing I will miss from Stanza. I have been able (in Stanza) to adjust my setting where I could go forward in my book by touching either the left or right side (and going back by sliding left to right). That way it doesn't matter which hand I hold my phone in--I can go to the next page easily. He told me he had many requests for that also (at least I'm not the only one) and would be putting that in also! So I am very excited--I have not found another reader with enough options for navigation to be able to do that.

Mary

[1611mac]

The more I use MegaReader the more I like it. It's connection to the Calibre server works flawlessly for me and I love it's many options.

It is about the only app that allows me to define my favorite reading sans serif font which is Arial (it has 31 different fonts available.) You can define unlimited colors for background and text. (It has 19 color presets, but I have a custom dark blue background with light gray text as I read mostly in darkened environments.)

You can define any number of columns for portrait view as well as landscape view.

Other settings are: Margin Width, Line Spacing, Right Justify (on or off), four types of page transitions, lock rotation, and "let sleep" on or off.

For me, currently, (and I reserve the right to change my mind) it comes down to Bluefire and MegaReader and MegaReader wins because of it's wider array of options and it's seamless Calibre Server integration.

[ki5ck]

I'm using Kobo, and it's growing on me. I'd like finer control of font size. I think I stopped using megareader because it didn't support publisher formatting, although I may be thinking of another. They're all beginning to blur together.