Quote:
Originally Posted by carpetmojo
Im lorst.....as usual.  |
I would like it if it was really easy to load ePubs onto an eReader. From what I've read it can be a bit of a pain in the butt, and it seems to involve having to connect your reader to your computer to transfer the files via USB cable.
One solution people use is to copy their ePub files to DropBox- a Cloud file sharing service. DropBox makes files available to you either through an program that you run on your computing device so that those files just show up in a folder, but it also allows you to access them from any computer using a web browser. They take advantage of the web browser feature by going to the DropBox website, logging in, and then downloading their ePubs from that directly to their ebook reader.
What I'm suggesting is that we skip the process of going to the Web Browser to download the books and integrate DropBox software directly into the eBook reader itself. That way when you copy your eBooks to your dropbox folder it will be immediately (well, almost) available to you on your eBook reader. You won't have to go and download it first from the eReader's web page. Most eReaders are based on some variant of Linux, and a Linux DropBox client already exists, so that should be pretty easy to do.
Then I take it a step further. I propose that we (whomever we are) write custom software for the T1 to monitor the folder on the T1 that DropBox (installed on the T1) places files into. Whenever this program (called a daemon) sees a new file in that folder it will automatically process it and add it to the eReader's library. That way, whenever you put new ePubs into your dropbox, they'll automatically be added to your eReader (well, the next time you turn it on and connect it to a wireless internet connection).
The last step is that you could then use this set up with InstaPaper to grab news articles, web pages, etc. and save the ePub's that it produces to your DropBox folder. And Voila, you've got an easy to use custom newsreader. You don't need to pay for an expensive New York Times eReader edition- this will do it for you. Find some articles you want to read on your way home from work? Click, click, click- and they'll be waiting for you for your commute home.