Do any of you know what happened to the developer? And what are y'all doing here?

[MusPuto]

Hi everybody, I love Marvin and haven't found another iOS epub reader I like better, which is why I've been bummed that no updates have been forthcoming for over a year. (I'd love iCloud syncing of notes/highlights, Files app support, etc.)

Updates to Marvin 3, & the Appstafarrian twitter account, as well as activity by dev on this forum have been nonexistent since about the same time over a year ago. Does anyone know what happened to him?

I was surprised to find recent posts in this forum given all that. I know Marvin is still functional without recent updates. But you all are still invested even though it's abandonware??

[Turtle91]

As you say...it is still functional and I haven't found another iOS reader I like better. Kris, the developer, is still out there just not responding on this forum.

[pwalker8]

I suspect that he got tired of some of the more pedantic members harping about how awful Marvin was because it didn't do some obscure feature the way that they thought it should be done. I suspect that for the most part, it's very hard to make money in this particular niche, so most non mainstream book reading software (i.e. not Books or Kindle) will eventually be abandoned. It's too bad because I really like Marvin, but I plan to keep using it until it doesn't work anymore.

[MartyTX]

I bought an iPad Mini-4 because my Mini-1 can't run the newer versions of iOS required by many apps.

So ... what to do with an "antiquated" Mini? It is my dedicated Marvin eReader. Hopefully, my Mini-1 and Marvin will last "forever", or at least outlive me!

Marvin 3 is not perfect, but IMHO it is still the best ePub reader available.

@MusPuto: As you know, M3 has MANY features that are not easy for some new users to find. So, I check out the posts to see if I can help out a newbie. Probably many M3 users do the same.

[pwalker8]

To answer the second question, I post in this forum just to discuss what I like about Marvin, things that I would like and my current set up. I use Calibre on my mac, and Calibre Companion in connection with Marvin on my iDevices. While CC for android is under ongoing development, I don't think that CC for ios is. I think the developers who ported it all got jobs and moved on.

My hope is the Kris will come back at some point and update Marvin. He's done it in the past after a long layoff. I would love it if he eventually did come up with a sync with Calibre so we get two way syncing and accurate read/percent finished stats back. But I suspect that's wishful thinking.

[MusPuto]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

As you say...it is still functional

Yes it’s functional but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t use updating. iCloud syncing of notes and highlights, for example, are an obvious improvement and something I believe he said he was planning, quite a while ago.

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Kris, the developer, is still out there just not responding on this forum.

It’s not just here, but he’s stopped communicating through other avenues too, and all from about the same time. That’s his right; I’m not claiming otherwise. I was just curious what happened. That’s all.

[MusPuto]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I suspect that for the most part, it's very hard to make money in this particular niche, so most non mainstream book reading software (i.e. not Books or Kindle) will eventually be abandoned.

He could go the subscription route. I was as annoyed as many when subscriptions became a thing, but I now happily pay a few reasonable yearly subs for apps I truly appreciate (my notes and pdf reader apps). I’d be overjoyed to add Marvin to the list.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by MusPuto

He could go the subscription route. I was as annoyed as many when subscriptions became a thing, but I now happily pay a few reasonable yearly subs for apps I truly appreciate (my notes and pdf reader apps). I’d be overjoyed to add Marvin to the list.

I don't know that there are enough users who would pay a subscription to make it worthwhile.

I suspect that the subscription model will turn out to be something that kills the golden goose. Those subscriptions add up quickly and a large part of the success of the app store is that it's not a big deal to spend $2 to $5 on an app. I suspect that people will be less willing to keep paying year after year unless there is a good reason to. I do have a few apps that run on a subscription, but they are for apps that provide new data consistently - weather, a few sports apps, news apps.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I don't know that there are enough users who would pay a subscription to make it worthwhile.

I suspect that the subscription model will turn out to be something that kills the golden goose. Those subscriptions add up quickly and a large part of the success of the app store is that it's not a big deal to spend $2 to $5 on an app. I suspect that people will be less willing to keep paying year after year unless there is a good reason to. I do have a few apps that run on a subscription, but they are for apps that provide new data consistently - weather, a few sports apps, news apps.

Agreed. Subscription is too iffy. What happens to the app if the developer shutters the service because there were too few subscribers?

I'd rather pay more one-time, upfront for a fully functional app than an ongoing monthly or annual charge.

[jgt1942]

Sorry to see that Marvin is dying! I used it several years ago and just started to setup Marvin 3 (the paid version) up on my Wife's iPad but will now look for another solution.

[Valkrider]

Originally Posted by jgt1942

Sorry to see that Marvin is dying! I used it several years ago and just started to setup Marvin 3 (the paid version) up on my Wife's iPad but will now look for another solution.

It still works fine, there is no reason not to install it particularly if you like it.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by Valkrider

It still works fine, there is no reason not to install it particularly if you like it.

Caveat, probably doesn't look good on newer resolution (e.g. iPad Pro 11, iPhone Xr, iPhone Xs Max).

That would totally bug me. One of the reasons I started actively searching for a Stanza alternative was because it didn't play nice with iPad and 4" iPhones.

[Clark G. Flipper]

Marvin does have some rendering problems; e.g. in some of my ebooks text extends beyond the left margin. There are workarounds by fiddling with display options, but with bug fixes out of sight this is a nuisance.

[Turtle91]

That particular "bug" is more likely a combination of the user turning off hyphenation and having a font size too large for a single word to fit on the given screen - usually seen on titles (like "Acknowledgements"), or <h> tags with non-breaking spaces, or when the CSS itself is forcing the text off screen. I brought that up to Kris when we were beta testing Marvin 2. Marvin does an excellent job of fixing poorly coded ebooks, but it isn't all powerful.

[Spfamy1]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Caveat, probably doesn't look good on newer resolution (e.g. iPad Pro 11, iPhone Xr, iPhone Xs Max).

That would totally bug me. One of the reasons I started actively searching for a Stanza alternative was because it didn't play nice with iPad and 4" iPhones.

I posted a question on this matter about the iPad newer release 11 inch model 2019 etc. Someone replied that Marvin still works fine in that size. That was my concern before deciding whether or not to purchase the new iPad model.