[6charlong]

Originally Posted by leebase

Haven't tried the kobo reader. The iBook app is great. I've not bought a single book from Apple but merely loaded my Baen Free Library pubs and they work fine. If you want to read your kobo books in the iBook app, you could liberate them from their drm.

I agree. I have several non-DRMed books in the iBook app and they work well. As to ripping the DRM, I've considered it. iPad almost insists on doing it, but the law seems to me to make that illegal in the US where I live. That law is so poorly written that people can't be certain what it says, which is poor governance really...but that's a different discussion. Suffice it to say, that since I believe wholeheartedly in the rule of law I'm taking a conservative approach.

The kindle app works great as well. I can switch between reading on my iPad and reading on my iPhone and the kindle app keeps them sync'd.

I haven't used that one because I dislike closed DRM. Until the Apple devices came along you could only read secure Mobi books on readers that allowed no secure books except Mobi, so I don't have a Mobi library. I have Sony readers and Astak readers and neither of them is capable of doing secure Mobi.

My feeling is that books are different than music, games, etc. in one important way: I do not want anyone to be put in control over what books people are allowed to write or read. That means there have to be multiple sources to buy books and closed DRM systems like the Amazon model--which B&N seems to be trying to copy--move us two steps closer to putting someone in control of what I will be able to read. While I don't fear Amazon or B&N under their current management, I don't want to see publishing head in that direction.

There is also the matter of the inconvenience of having to keep track of what book was published by which press and which book store you bought this or that book from and which book reader to get out for the book you want to read.