Stanza issues and help request

[Shykat]

Hi,

I used to use Stanza on my iPod Touch a long time ago and loved the program. For a while I moved to the Android market but now have a new iPhone and loaded Stanza.

It worked great but, as I added more and more ebooks, they no longer appear in the order I added them which is my preference. Is there any way that I can get the ebooks to appear in the order I load them??

Next question: How do I delete an ebook from Stanza? I seem to have totally forgotten how to do that.

I've tried for the last 2 days, to get onto the Stanza home page but it appears to be offlline. Their Facebook page also is not accessible. Any ideas??

Do any of you know of an ebook reader for the iPhone that uses EPUB and will keep my ebooks in the order I add them? This is important to me since I load a bunch at a time and have them in order due to some being books in a series. I like to read book 1 then take a break and read a different book then back to read book 2 in the series. That's just my preference.

Any and all help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[edbro]

I don't know how to change the sort order. I'm not sure you can. To delete books simple press the edit button in upper right of library view.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Shykat

I've tried for the last 2 days, to get onto the Stanza home page but it appears to be offlline. Their Facebook page also is not accessible. Any ideas??

Amazon bought Lexcycle more than 18 months ago, and they dumped the domain, the site and all support for Stanza last november. There will be no further updates to the application. Make sure you keep a backup if thats what you want to use.

Do any of you know of an ebook reader for the iPhone that uses EPUB and will keep my ebooks in the order I add them? This is important to me since I load a bunch at a time and have them in order due to some being books in a series. I like to read book 1 then take a break and read a different book then back to read book 2 in the series. That's just my preference.

Any and all help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Understand what you are saying about the order of books. My best suggestion would be to make liberal use of calibre to manage your ebook collection. In this way you will be able to group by series etc and edit the metadata which determines some of what you need. I don't think you will get an all in one solution.

A search of forums reveals many threads relating to Stanza

[Shykat]

Bummer that Amazon bought Stanza as I do like it. I wonder if they didn't like the competition. ::

Just in case, I guess I had better continue searching for a good ebook reader.

What are everyone's opinions on the Kindle reader? The iBook reader? Bluefire reader?

Calibre made is super easy to add ebooks to Stanza without having to be tethered. I haven't tried iBook yet but have Bluefire loaded and admittedly, it was easy to transfer ebooks onto it while using iTunes but my iPhone had to be tethered.

[kyteflyer]

I've not been able to drop Stanza on the iPhone - I like it way too much, but on the iPad I now tend to use either iBooks or Apabi reader in landscape mode. Apabi is particularly elegant in its reading mode (not so much in the library mode). Bluefire is coming along nicely. I've pretty much given up on finding any ebook reader which matches stanza, feature for feature, or surpasses it, so I tend to store my ebooks in my Dropbox, and use the Open In feature to access them and get them to my reader of choice. I suspect that with iOS6, Stanza will no longer work (though we might get lucky) and an alternative will have to be used.

[Shykat]

Yes, the worry over the pending upgrade to iOS6 and Stanza which is why I'm looking at others.

Is Apabi available for the iPhone?

I think one of the major features that I look for is that I load my ebooks into the reader in the order I want to read them and I like for the oldest book to be on the bottom of the list so I can move upward through the library to read the books.

Storing my ebooks in Dropbox is a possibility but I actually have Sugarsync. Does that work, too? How do you get the books from either Dropbox or Sugarsync into the ebook reading program? When you click on it actually load it into the reader? Which ebook readers work this way?

LOL Sorry for all the questions but it's the best way to learn

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Shykat

Yes, the worry over the pending upgrade to iOS6 and Stanza which is why I'm looking at others.

Is Apabi available for the iPhone?

I think one of the major features that I look for is that I load my ebooks into the reader in the order I want to read them and I like for the oldest book to be on the bottom of the list so I can move upward through the library to read the books.

Storing my ebooks in Dropbox is a possibility but I actually have Sugarsync. Does that work, too? How do you get the books from either Dropbox or Sugarsync into the ebook reading program? When you click on it actually load it into the reader? Which ebook readers work this way?

LOL Sorry for all the questions but it's the best way to learn

Read my post in your Apabi thread

[frozennorth]

I think one of the major features that I look for is that I load my ebooks into the reader in the order I want to read them and I like for the oldest book to be on the bottom of the list so I can move upward through the library to read the books.

Ibooks has this feature. What I like best about ibooks is that it lists total page count and which page your on and it even shows how many pages are left in a chapter. It can also display the phone status bar which I know is another of your requests. The margins are on the big side but I've gotten used to that.

I use dropbox or the html catalog from calibre2opds to transfer books to the app which saves me from syncing via itunes. Oh and should you get an ipad the ibooks app will sync your bookmarks automatically so you can easily pick up where you left off on the other device. This works for non-drm books also.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I've pretty much given up on finding any ebook reader which matches stanza, feature for feature, or surpasses it

*sigh* Same here. Given Stanza is already pretty old software-wise and has pretty much had the same features since its release, I'm confused as to why the current crop of reader apps still can't match its feature set.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

*sigh* Same here. Given Stanza is already pretty old software-wise and has pretty much had the same features since its release, I'm confused as to why the current crop of reader apps still can't match its feature set.

I think its more a matter of won't, rather than can't. Also there may be some issues with regard to Amazon now owning it, and perhaps some of the features, if turning up in other apps, may draw lawsuits? Amazon would not give a rats a$$ that we want the features, or that they arent providing them. If they got wind that someone was producing something which is essentially a Stanza clone (and I wish someone would, just to test the waters) they would likely take them to the cleaners. Too much of a risk, I suspect.

In the meantime I am contemplating forking out for a developer licence, in order to have a go, myself. Contemplating, mind you... I have no background in coding, so theres a very very steep learning curve ahead. But I am sick to death of not being able to get what I want. Stanza spoilt me. Totally. The only other apps I find even remotely acceptable (apart from ibooks and apabi) are on android.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I think its more a matter of won't, rather than can't. Also there may be some issues with regard to Amazon now owning it, and perhaps some of the features, if turning up in other apps, may draw lawsuits? Amazon would not give a rats a$$ that we want the features, or that they arent providing them. If they got wind that someone was producing something which is essentially a Stanza clone (and I wish someone would, just to test the waters) they would likely take them to the cleaners. Too much of a risk, I suspect.

Tried searching for patents that Lexcycle owns and couldn't find any. Found 3 patents that reference Lexcycle, LLC but none that are owned by Lexcycle themselves. Alas, Amazon has way too many patents to search through. OPDS and EPUB are open standards. Stanza isn't the first reader to allow background and layout customization. Trying hard to think of a reason for lawsuits but I'm really not finding any (unless an app is an outright clone).

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

Stanza spoilt me. Totally. The only other apps I find even remotely acceptable (apart from ibooks and apabi) are on android.

This. Mantano Reader (for Android) comes close and in some areas, even works better than Stanza. Unfortunately, the finding the device part has been difficult. Why the heck are the LCDs on most Android smartphones so darned bright?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

This. Mantano Reader (for Android) comes close and in some areas, even works better than Stanza. Unfortunately, the finding the device part has been difficult. Why the heck are the LCDs on most Android smartphones so darned bright?

I use ScreenDim on a Nook Color to reduce the brightness when reading at night.

[JSWolf]

I suggest you find a new reading app to use as I suspect Stanza will break under iOS 6.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I suggest you find a new reading app to use as I suspect Stanza will break under iOS 6.

Bound to. I've been trying to get one or two people I know who are beta testing iOS6 to download it and let me know... but they arent interested so have to wait. I'll upgrade my iPad, I don't use Stanza on that. If it doesnt work, I'll not upgrade the 3GS (mind you right now I can't think of any good reason to do the upgrade on that... it doesnt get any of the goodies).

I think, in the end, I'll be making the switch to iBooks. Can't fight city hall, and at least I know that will keep working.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

This. Mantano Reader (for Android) comes close and in some areas, even works better than Stanza. Unfortunately, the finding the device part has been difficult. Why the heck are the LCDs on most Android smartphones so darned bright?

For me, its either fbReader, or Moon+ Reader Pro. Both allow side slide for dimming, like Stanza does. Just one of the nice things. I currently have a Huawei Sonic, and an Acer Liquid Metal, the latter has better resolution. But I still prefer stanza and thats a fact