Stanza Replacement: Who has one, and what is it?

[kyteflyer]

I'm trying to read Red Mars in iBooks and I'm finding the formatting absolutley awful. HUGE margins. I wish Apple would make iBooks more configurable Also finding that because the books is so big, iBooks is struggling to keep up with it. It takes ages just to open to a point where I can read. Mind you, Stanza is having the same problem, but I have reverted to Stanza for that particular book (and I guess for the remaining two of the trilogy).

I'm wondering if its more to do with the OS than with the application... but am disinclined to downgrade today just to find out.

[mkelley]

Actually, as a result of this thread I downloaded the latest Stanza and it does work with my iPad so I'm back to it.

As to the previous poster -- it may or may not be true that Stanza will never be updated, but I wouldn't count it completely out. 5.1 may not break Stanza -- it might take a complete update to something like a 6.x to do so, and that may not happen for a year or more. Who knows that advances in eReaders there will be by then?

The unfortunate thing is that Stanza has options that NO other reader does -- the ability to adjust indent, distance between paragraphs and line spacing all at the same time... no reader even offers anything like that (that I know of) let alone the superb collections. I played around with my wife's Fire and the highly touted Android app, Aldiko, is a poor substitute.

I don't see eReaders getting better, though -- has anyone seen Kindle offer MORE formatting features, even on Kindles? It appears that most folks are just happy with accepting the defaults (which for me are completely unacceptable).

[dixieknits]

I use Bluefire, Kindle and Barnes and Noble on Iphone..Don't read pdfs on it.

[yegon]

Originally Posted by mkelley

It appears that most folks are just happy with accepting the defaults (which for me are completely unacceptable).

I'm the same. Not too keen on the iPad iBooks app, but the iPhone version is abysmal. No finer example of style over content (or in this case, function) and Apple at it's arrogant, unmoving worst*. Total misuse of the screen.

*I say that as a big Apple fan - not fanboy, there's a big difference.

[RobertJSawyer]

Originally Posted by mkelley

The unfortunate thing is that Stanza has options that NO other reader does -- the ability to adjust indent, distance between paragraphs and line spacing all at the same time... no reader even offers anything like that (that I know of) ...

Try Shubook -- it has all of these options, and they can be set on a per-book or global basis: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/shubook/id385897279?mt=8

[RobertJSawyer]

What upsets me about the latest -- and apparently last -- update for Stanza is that support for eReader.com's DRM (formerly Palm Reader; the DRM system used by Fictionwise for commercial titles) has been dropped from the program. And the actual eReader app from Barnes & Noble has disappeared from the Canadian iTunes store (and, I presume, the other iTunes stores, too).

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

What upsets me about the latest -- and apparently last -- update for Stanza is that support for eReader.com's DRM (formerly Palm Reader; the DRM system used by Fictionwise for commercial titles) has been dropped from the program. And the actual eReader app from Barnes & Noble has disappeared from the Canadian iTunes store (and, I presume, the other iTunes stores, too).

I wasn't going to downgrade again, but I did. I'm back to Stanza 3.1 and its not struggling at all with Red Mars.

eReader has been gone from the store for a while. I still have it and I put it back on my phone but it is so old it doesnt know about sideloading, and the books stores are no longer available, it seems. I tried to get it to connect to fictionwise but could not. I suppose the one good thing... if you *can* get it to talk to book stores... is that it works in iOS5.x, which calls into question the coding for all the others. Clearly the ereader code is basic and simple and is not broken with updates. The breakage is at store level.

If you go to the software section on ereader.com itself you'll see that there are no longer any entries for iOS at all.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by mkelley

I played around with my wife's Fire and the highly touted Android app, Aldiko, is a poor substitute.

I've gone with FBreader and Moon+ Reader Pro on Android... Mantano gets a good rap, but I didnt like it that much. The free Aldiko used to be pretty much the only ereader on Android so it gained popularity by default. I never liked it that much, but at least you could add your own sources. Thats something you have to pay for, now, it seems. I've never tried the paid version.

[vonCZ]

other: iBooks

[trevgriff]

Originally Posted by vonCZ

other: iBooks

Agree

[mkelley]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Try Shubook -- it has all of these options, and they can be set on a per-book or global basis: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/shubook/id385897279?mt=8

But you can't arrange books in your own collections, which is vital for me (it apparently does allow you to sort by various options, but I don't need sorting, I need collections).

I'll just stick with Stanza -- as I said, it does all I need and works just fine (I might never upgrade my iPad IOS again anyway and I still suspect it will work as long as we don't go to version 6.x).

[ghodur]

I have iBooks, Kindle, and I actually paid for Eucalyptus. I'm so wrapped up in my new Kindle that I'm not using the phone much right now.

[neonbible]

Kindle app all the way. Simple and fast and can sync books across pretty much all current devices.

I use it to sync my books across iPhone, iPod, PC, Mac and Kindle. I can pretty much read whereever I am.

[Musashi]

My choices: Kobo and iBooks.

[kas23]

We are on the eve of the release of ios 6. I expect Stanza is going to die again this time...for good. So sad, actually.

So, have people come up or discovered any Stanza replacements over the last year? My vote is for Shubooks, but even it isn't Stanza worthy.