Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnementh
So let me get this right.
They expect us to pay for an app that only allows you to read books from project Gothenburg and none of your own. Pray tell me why this is better than stanza, ereader or any of the other free reader apps for the iphone which can also read all the project Gothenburg books and your own?
Just curious  |
Okay, I'll give you my reasons for thinking that Eucalyptus is worth buying, even at the relatively stiff price of ten bucks, and despite the "limitation" of Project Gutenberg's library.
First, you have to be someone who reads books that are out of copyright - the classics, like Dickens & Austen, of course, but also more modern books, generally pre-WWII. If that's not your bag, don't get this App.
But if you are into the older books, this App has an ease of use factor that is astonishing. For instance, I am a big fan of Samuel Johnson, and there are a whole lot of his books on Project Gutenberg. It took me less than 30 seconds to pop up every book on PG written by the Doctor.
Each book has a card associated with it, similar to the old paper card catalog cards that libraries used to have. Tap the book, get the card. The card contains whatever info PG has about the book. On the card is a download button. I now tap the download button...less than three minutes later, I have the book ready to read: Johnson's Rambler Essays, vol. 2. And it's a fat book - over 2000 "pages" as compared to Treasure Island, which has 870. I tap the book icon at the bottom of the page, and go to the book itself. As the App is processing the pages I can start reading.
All the books download are stored in a directory that is pretty much identical to the contacts list on the iPhone. It scrolls at the flick of your thumb.
Reading a book is simple - flick your thumb on the page. The font can be resized using a pinch motion. If the book has a contents page, it can be brought up via an icon.
In essence, this App functions like a Kindle App for Project Gutenberg. Yes, you can get the same books via Stanza - but you have to download to your computer, transfer to Stanza, convert to ePub, connect your iPhone (or Touch) to your wireless network, &c &c. Meanwhile, Eucalyptus connects anytime, anywhere, and you have your book in a couple of minutes.
Right now, Stanza has more bells & whistles - choice of fonts, and a better page turn facsimile. I expect Eucalyptus to improve - additional fonts, sepia options - all the usual.
From my using both Stanza & Eucalyptus for PG books, and from reading comments from other users, it seems pretty clear that in many instances, Stanza does not format the books as well as Eucalyptus - and further, that Eucalyptus routinely formats the books beautifully.
There are 28,000 books on PG. If you read ten of them, it's a buck a book. But as I said, you have to like reading older books. Maybe someone at B&N will recognize the opportunity to grab this eReader to use as a base for their own eReader, but short of that, Eucalyptus will probably stick to being the best and easiest to use PG eReader on the iPhone.