iPad Anyone else NOT like reading on their iPad?

[MsAstoria]

Originally Posted by Tamara

My iPad is scheduled for delivery this week. Right now, it's at the Fedex facility in Memphis so I'm hoping that it gets here tomorrow

I get along very well with my little niece too . We're going to have a lot of fun together with the iPad. I may have to fight her for it like I do my iPhone. She loves the iPhone but she hasn't caught on yet that all "her things" on my phone are educational.

You are going to love it! I replaced my Kindle with the iPad and it was so worth it!

I perfer using landscape mode for book reading. It looks and feels like a book and just a quick tap on the side of the page turns the page. No need to swipe. Holding the iPad in portrait mode feels top heavy to me for long term reading. Also web pages look more correct and the font type is more full size in landscape.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by MsAstoria

I perfer using landscape mode for book reading. It looks and feels like a book and just a quick tap on the side of the page turns the page.

Don't you find that lines are too long when reading in landscape. There is an optimal line length in typography for a certain font size. If the line is too long for the font size your eye will have to do a lot of hunting for the start of the next line. I think the leading also comes into play here.

David Siegel(sp) used to have his Web Wonk site that talked about web site design using well know typography ratios to make your web site as readable as possible. Alas the site isn't up any more but I think the Internet archive does have it.

This is the reason that I don't maximize the browser on my wide screen monitor. Since most web sites seem to have a fluid display width I find the lines are much to long for the font sizes used... so reducing the width of my browser to about 1/2 the width makes stuff much more readable.

BOb

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Don't you find that lines are too long when reading in landscape.

Not on the iBooks app, because landscape mode displays two pages, side by side. It's just like reading a paper book.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not on the iBooks app, because landscape mode displays two pages, side by side. It's just like reading a paper book.

Ah... ok... then that probably makes the difference. Although, I'm not sure the advantage to having two short pages side by side vs a single page in portrait mode.

BOb

[volwrath]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

I think that's cool

It is the reading that counts, not the device. We are all different, so naturally we pick different mates, and devices to read our ebooks on. To me an iPad is the best, to someone else a Kindle..... Why worry about it..... Just read and enjoy, be kind and rewind.......

I agree its about the books. I do wish there was a bookmark sync, but this way i guess it keeps me sharp on my math

[kjk]

Originally Posted by MsAstoria

You are going to love it! I replaced my Kindle with the iPad and it was so worth it!

I perfer using landscape mode for book reading. It looks and feels like a book and just a quick tap on the side of the page turns the page. No need to swipe. Holding the iPad in portrait mode feels top heavy to me for long term reading. Also web pages look more correct and the font type is more full size in landscape.

I'm almost the exact opposite, Ms. Astoria! I've been using my iPad almost exclusively in portrait mode! Even with all the TV shows and movies I've transferred. The only exceptions are AirVideo (which only works in landscape), and Reeder, which feels designed for landscape to me. And Mail is actually more readable to me in landscape, I'm just to lazy to switch

It is pretty interesting how Apple and the developers have had to adapt Apps for either orientation- a lot of innovation, for sure.

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ah... ok... then that probably makes the difference. Although, I'm not sure the advantage to having two short pages side by side vs a single page in portrait mode.

BOb

I will admit that reading landscape in the iBooks app is easy, and "natural". I think it has to do with the fact that is the way we have read books our whole lives. Two facing pages..... And I can see why that is the preferred method for most.......

And I agree with pilotbob about single lines in landscape mode... it just seems too long to me, and does not fit my rhythm. So on most other reading apps I read in portrait....

[scottjl]

font sizes, spacing, margins, line lengths, it's all a personal preference.. maybe it's me, i've been reading since stone tablets, i regularly read technical documents where english is a second language and i'm happy they get sentence structure acceptable than to worry about formatting. everyone has their own preferences.

personally i prefer portrait mode, i find the 2 page landscape distracting and unnecessary. in a paper book, unless you can fold it back, you have to view two pages at once, on the ipad i prefer one larger size page as long as i can flip pages quickly enough. i tried my 600 a few weeks after using the ipad and i could feel time creep by as i waited for those screen refreshes.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Rique

Harry, I wish that were so! And I hope/think that is where we are headed. But as long as Amazon doesn't play along, can we really call ePub the standard?

We can if everyone but amazon uses it.

[Rique]

Originally Posted by kennyc

We can if everyone but amazon uses it.

Kenny,

But would we be correct about that (making that claim)? Amazon has the lion's share of the market, last time I checked.

Of course, if you are saying the market ultimately decides, I agree. Not sure the market has decided to insist on ePub.... yet.

I guess I'm part of the problem... I buy titles from Amazon due to selection, price and a decent UI in their store. The fact that I've figured out how to scrub and convert makes that even more palatable.

So when an ePub store can offer a great UI, selection, pricing and... dare I dream... freedom from DRM, then that store can create the standard, once and for all.

I have high hopes for Apple, Ibooks and their store - but they have a very long way to go - they fall short in just about every area that is important in a store.

-- Riq

[Bremen Cole]

Along with you Rique, I am part of the problem. When I buy from Kobo or Amazon, even though I strip the DRM, I am affirming the format and DRM of the store. The problem is to get the major publishers you have to buy from them, or use torrents.... And yes, I do both....

[hgwlackey]

I love reading on my iPad. I had a Kindle 2 for six months, and I read 10 books on it. I've had the iPad for a little over two months, and I'm currently on book #20. 1.5 books/month to 9 books/month--that's a big jump.

I know that a lot of people love eInk screens, but for me the lack of contrast in anything but perfect light, the having to fiddle with the book light to try to improve the contrast, and the increasing frequency of fiddling as the book light batteries waned distracted me from the reading. Don't get me wrong, when I got the Kindle, it was, for my needs, the best device on the market. I loved it--but during that time I also read hardcopy books about as often as I read Kindle books. Both formats had their pluses and minuses. Then the iPad came out, and now I'm not only not reading hardcopy books at all (if I can help it) but I'm reading more books on the iPad alone than I was reading of Kindle and hardcopy books combined

Also, last week I bought three epubs that, if the Kindle were still my ereader, I wouldn't have considered buying in anything but hardcopy: programming books (from O'Reilly, who rock hard for their DRM-free ebook offerings). For this sort of book, I need the bigger screen (solvable with a Kindle DX), and I need to be able to flip the pages back and forth without getting frustrated over the lag (NOT solvable with a Kindle DX or any other eInk reader).

I can think of little ways I'd like to see the software improved, and yeah, sure, I wouldn't complain if the iPad weighed less (though its current weight doesn't bother me either), and I'm sure I'll appreciate improved screen resolution on future models, but overall, I think today's iPad has it fairly nailed for my needs and peculiarities.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rique

Harry, I wish that were so! And I hope/think that is where we are headed. But as long as Amazon doesn't play along, can we really call ePub the standard?

ePub is the standard. The only problem is the DRM used by Apple and B&N.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ePub is the standard. The only problem is the DRM used by Apple and B&N.

Actually, the only problem with eBooks is the DRM period. If it weren't for DRM your purchases would be usable on pretty much any device. And... without DRM most publishers would sell in a format that is supported by most devices... which at this point seems to be ePub.

BOb

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Actually, the only problem with eBooks is the DRM period. If it weren't for DRM your purchases would be usable on pretty much any device. And... without DRM most publishers would sell in a format that is supported by most devices... which at this point seems to be ePub.

BOb

Very true. When the music industry got rid of DRM, the MP3 became pretty Much the standard. I long for the day it happens with books. I think it will happen, but not until a few years of growing pains....