I'm just curious. I was really looking forward to iBooks when I got my iPad. My iPod Touch is too old to run it, so up until now I've been using Stanza, and sometimes the Kindle app. I really want to like iBooks because when I do get a new pocketable mobile device, either an iPod Touch or an iPhone, the syncing feature seems like it's going to be great. But right now I only have one iBooks-capable device, so I was really hoping to like iBooks all on its own, just because it's so pretty.
But:
- The pretty is not really necessary when I'm reading. I don't need to pretend I have a book in my hands.
- The pretty gets ugly fast when I reverse the color schemes. Unless I'm reading in bright light, I prefer light text on a dark background, especially when I'm in bed and my wife is sleeping. Stanza is highly customizable in that area. iBooks does not seem to have many options and it leaves the top bar in place and in it's original color.
- iBooks needs to be connected to iTunes or else you have to buy books from their bookstore. Stanza can get books over wifi, over any internet connection, and from a variety of on-line retailers and free sources.
Although, and I could be wrong about this, it seems like iBooks may have better dictionary integration, too. Is that true? Because that is a nice feature.
So what's the verdict? Is iBooks the loser that I think it is? Or is it mostly winning people over? Or is the sync feature worth all the other drawbacks when you have multiple devices (because I think it might be)? Have lots of other folks dumped Stanza for iBooks? Or is Stanza still the king of the eReaders? Or should I be looking at something else?