suggestion on ebook reader app

paolog · 03-19-2013, 05:34 AM

I've a little question and i've read a lot on the forum without solve it.

I've my own ebook reader and a lot of books (bought and free).

I'd like to read them (i can leave djvus and drm protected) also on my wife's Iphone (5)

I use calibre to manage my books and I've my backup on google drive and dropbox.

I'd like to avoid the use of itunes

Which ebook reader would you suggest?

many thanks, paolo

kyteflyer · 03-19-2013, 05:56 AM

You have the books on dropbox already? No need to access itunes. You open your dropbox app, or the website, download the book and tell it to open in. It will open in iBooks, Stanza (all but defunct) ShubookSE, Apabi Reader, Bluefire, and many others. I am still using Stanza on my iPhone 4S but it wont be updated to take advantage of the larger iPhone 5 screen, so I would recommend iBooks or Bluefire at the moment. Watch for an iPhone version of Marvin, when the dev gets round to it, he's currently concentrating on the iPad version.

paolog · 03-19-2013, 06:06 AM

hi kyteflyer

I tried Stanza but crashes

I'll try the others

I tried only pdfs at the moment, they are read fine by iBooks, I assume, but when I close and reopen the book, it is simply opened at the cover page not at the page where I was since I closed.

Do I need to download somewhere in the phone (and how? I've no choice...)

thank you very much for the suggestions

paolo

Turtle91 · 03-19-2013, 07:33 AM

I'll second kyteflyer....Marvin on the iPad and bluefire (until Marvin is released) on the iPhone. That means I need to keep my books as drm-free epubs, but that is my preference anyway.

kyteflyer · 03-19-2013, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paolog

hi kyteflyer

I tried Stanza but crashes

I'll try the others

I tried only pdfs at the moment, they are read fine by iBooks, I assume, but when I close and reopen the book, it is simply opened at the cover page not at the page where I was since I closed.

Do I need to download somewhere in the phone (and how? I've no choice...)

thank you very much for the suggestions

paolo

I'm sorry Paolo, I didn't really think about PDF when I was thinking ebooks. I am recommending those above for epub, not PDF. If you want to read PDF then I think Goodreader (not free, but worth every penny) is your best option. Bluefire also reads PDF. However, I wouldnt read PDF on my phone, its too small. Why don't you convert the PDFs to epub?

You'll need to download from the App Store on the phone if you are wanting to avoid iTunes.

May I ask why you don't want to use iTunes? Is it because you don't like it, or because the phone is your wife's and you don't want to get the accounts confused? The thing is, the phone doesn't care, you still have to use the App Store to get applications.

paolog · 03-20-2013, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I'm sorry Paolo, I didn't really think about PDF when I was thinking ebooks. I am recommending those above for epub, not PDF. If you want to read PDF then I think Goodreader (not free, but worth every penny) is your best option. Bluefire also reads PDF. However, I wouldnt read PDF on my phone, its too small. Why don't you convert the PDFs to epub?

I tried for the ebook reader I have and that didn't satisfied me. The pdf I tried so far are well formatted so in iPhone is readable, even in vertical position.

I agree with you that the Iphone isn't good for that purpose.

Anyway there are only few pdf in my library, all the others are epub (most) or djvu.

Quote:

May I ask why you don't want to use iTunes? Is it because you don't like it, or because the phone is your wife's and you don't want to get the accounts confused? The thing is, the phone doesn't care, you still have to use the App Store to get applications.

it's quite simple.

I have linux boxes. On them I've xp virtualized for special progs (those that my wife has for job and exists only for win systems), so I could put iTunes there.
But since both linux boxes read directly the iPhone file system structure, i'd like to avoid to install a couple of hundreds of mb in those virtualized XP system when I can do the same job with a cut&paste via linux.

As for the apps, I got them via the appstore on the phone itself

FlorenceArt · 03-20-2013, 09:09 AM

My personal preference to read pdf and ePub is iBooks. It's not perfect but it works for me, and it keeps my iPhone and iPad in sync, at least for ePubs (I rarely read PDFs).

Not sure I would recommend GoodReader to read PDFs unless you want to annotate them (and there are better apps even for that). It's a great file manager but the interface is clunky and it's slow to display large pdf files.

I just made a test and iBooks on iPad remembers the place I was reading in a PDF. There must be an option somewhere to activate this, but it might be in iTunes. I can't see anything in the iOS settings app.

paolog · 03-20-2013, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

...

I just made a test and iBooks on iPad remembers the place I was reading in a PDF. There must be an option somewhere to activate this, but it might be in iTunes. I can't see anything in the iOS settings app.

or, may be, i read the pdf directly from the cloud instead of download it on the phone.

I'll try

paolog · 03-21-2013, 10:40 AM

solved,

I've installed Bluefire, then told from google drive to open with it (Bluefire) and things gone well

cannot do the same for iBooks since from google drive there is no such option to open with iBooks

FlorenceArt · 03-21-2013, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paolog

solved,

I've installed Bluefire, then told from google drive to open with it (Bluefire) and things gone well

cannot do the same for iBooks since from google drive there is no such option to open with iBooks

Yes there is.

paolog · 03-22-2013, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Yes there is.

I'll look better

Mook4Nook · 06-17-2013, 06:32 PM

Is there any ebook reader app that if I download an epub file (drm free) from online and I unzip the file, can I just open it or move it over to said app? Something like Aldiko for the Android which was pretty much the same process I use if I was on the computer?

I tried to download said files on my iP5 and it was saying that file cannot be opened

DaleDe · 06-17-2013, 08:15 PM

Do not unzip the ePub file. It is fine as is with the .epub extension. There are many apps for iOS. look in our wiki https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-bo...Phone_and_iPad for a list. How are you downloading the file to your iPhone?

Dale

JSWolf · 06-17-2013, 08:37 PM

You cannot use Aldiko on an iOS device. Use Bluefire Reader on an iPhone and either Bluefire or Marvin on an iPad.

Mook4Nook · 06-17-2013, 09:36 PM

It's not an ePub file yet until I unzip its normal a rar or zip file which I must unzip to get the ePub file, how do I do this on the iPhone?

03-19-2013, 05:34 AM	#1
paolog Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 37584 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Milan / Italy Device: pocketbook touch 622	suggestion on ebook reader app I've a little question and i've read a lot on the forum without solve it. I've my own ebook reader and a lot of books (bought and free). I'd like to read them (i can leave djvus and drm protected) also on my wife's Iphone (5) I use calibre to manage my books and I've my backup on google drive and dropbox. I'd like to avoid the use of itunes Which ebook reader would you suggest? many thanks, paolo

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03-19-2013, 05:56 AM	#2
kyteflyer Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 9547754 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Newcastle, Australia Device: iPhone SE2020	You have the books on dropbox already? No need to access itunes. You open your dropbox app, or the website, download the book and tell it to open in. It will open in iBooks, Stanza (all but defunct) ShubookSE, Apabi Reader, Bluefire, and many others. I am still using Stanza on my iPhone 4S but it wont be updated to take advantage of the larger iPhone 5 screen, so I would recommend iBooks or Bluefire at the moment. Watch for an iPhone version of Marvin, when the dev gets round to it, he's currently concentrating on the iPad version.

03-19-2013, 06:06 AM	#3
paolog Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 37584 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Milan / Italy Device: pocketbook touch 622	hi kyteflyer I tried Stanza but crashes I'll try the others I tried only pdfs at the moment, they are read fine by iBooks, I assume, but when I close and reopen the book, it is simply opened at the cover page not at the page where I was since I closed. Do I need to download somewhere in the phone (and how? I've no choice...) thank you very much for the suggestions paolo

03-19-2013, 07:33 AM	#4
Turtle91 A Hairy Wizard Posts: 3,093 Karma: 18727053 Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Charleston, SC today Device: iPhone 11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire	I'll second kyteflyer....Marvin on the iPad and bluefire (until Marvin is released) on the iPhone. That means I need to keep my books as drm-free epubs, but that is my preference anyway.

03-20-2013, 09:09 AM	#7
FlorenceArt High Priestess Posts: 5,761 Karma: 5042529 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Montreuil sous bois, France Device: iPad Pro 9.7, iPhone 6 Plus	My personal preference to read pdf and ePub is iBooks. It's not perfect but it works for me, and it keeps my iPhone and iPad in sync, at least for ePubs (I rarely read PDFs). Not sure I would recommend GoodReader to read PDFs unless you want to annotate them (and there are better apps even for that). It's a great file manager but the interface is clunky and it's slow to display large pdf files. I just made a test and iBooks on iPad remembers the place I was reading in a PDF. There must be an option somewhere to activate this, but it might be in iTunes. I can't see anything in the iOS settings app.

03-21-2013, 10:40 AM	#9
paolog Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 37584 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Milan / Italy Device: pocketbook touch 622	solved, I've installed Bluefire, then told from google drive to open with it (Bluefire) and things gone well cannot do the same for iBooks since from google drive there is no such option to open with iBooks

06-17-2013, 06:32 PM	#12
Mook4Nook Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Nook Simple Touch	Is there any ebook reader app that if I download an epub file (drm free) from online and I unzip the file, can I just open it or move it over to said app? Something like Aldiko for the Android which was pretty much the same process I use if I was on the computer? I tried to download said files on my iP5 and it was saying that file cannot be opened

06-17-2013, 08:15 PM	#13
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,470 Karma: 13095790 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7	Do not unzip the ePub file. It is fine as is with the .epub extension. There are many apps for iOS. look in our wiki https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-bo...Phone_and_iPad for a list. How are you downloading the file to your iPhone? Dale

06-17-2013, 08:37 PM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,891 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	You cannot use Aldiko on an iOS device. Use Bluefire Reader on an iPhone and either Bluefire or Marvin on an iPad.

06-17-2013, 09:36 PM	#15
Mook4Nook Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Nook Simple Touch	It's not an ePub file yet until I unzip its normal a rar or zip file which I must unzip to get the ePub file, how do I do this on the iPhone?

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