New Ipod Touch User Discovers Textonphone.com

[ny10522]

Hi everyone. I have been lurking on this board for many weeks researching everything I could about the latest ereader devices. I'm planning a trip to Mexico in a few months and needed something that could store books as well as help me learn Spanish. I have lots of Spanish dialogue mp3s, scanned pages from Spanish texts and pdf documents that I would like to take. Needed dictionary support as well as a way to access books abroad.

Finally decided on the Ipod Touch. Bought the new 32G unit that includes a speaker. Immediately download the free apps Ereader and Stanza as well as desktop versions for my XP desktop. The Touch is fantastic and more than meets my expectations for language learning, but uploading free books from Gutenberg etc. to the Touch has been problematic. Then I discovered Textonphone.com and really found what I was looking for! The site has over 25,000 FREE books for immediate browsing via the Safari browser. You can easily and quickly download 100 pages of each book at a time for reading offline. It's also possible to upload books and text. The text can be changed and formatted. Pages are cached so page turning is immediate. I also found it easier on the eyes than Stanza. Books can also be shared among users although I haven't tried that out yet. Best of all, textonphone currently has over 200 Spanish Language titles including elementary Spanish readers and a full Spanish grammar text. For dictionary support I currently quickly switch to the free app WeDict although other paid dictionaries are also available. It's not perfect of course. There is a "jump" to page function but no individual chapter support. I would really like to be able to touch on a word and have an immediate dictionary definition.

The nice thing about the Touch is that besides being an excellent ereader and mp3 player it can do SO MUCH more via the inexpensive and free apps that keep improving daily. Mobipocket Reader has announced future support for the Touch so that may become another useful app.

I want to thank this forum for being such a great resource! Its the first place I check for updates on what's available.

[axel77]

The display dude, the display. While it might be nice for a little lookup, I don't see myself even close starring for hours at an iPod display instead of tradidional paper. Personally I find even eInk to be on the close site yet not to be that comfortable to look at as real paper.

[ny10522]

Well, since there is no perfect ereader at the moment, its a question of compromise. I throw the Touch in a pocket and forget about it...until its needed. Perfect portability. Try to do that with an Iliad or Kindle. As for the screen, yes Eink is better, but the Touch is more than adequate for an hour or two of reading on the go.

Here is a link to a youtube video that shows how readable textonscreen is for the Ipod:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWd8J8C3Gaw

[Randall679]

I agree ... the iTouch is an awesome portable reader ... easily the successor to the Franklin ... and turned landscape mode, it is very easy to read ... also the zoom in and out at the wave of a finger is great.

I use the iTouch a lot on trips ... public transport ... but not for reading on planes.

For little reads, it is great, but over a movie length, it can be hard on these tired old eyes.

the Ink readers do have the upper hand on screen size, resolution and battery time ... no power needed to maintain the image, apparently.

I know when Apple brings out their paper thin reader based on the Air screen next year, we will all have the bext of both worlds.

[bill_mchale]

Well there is an application, BookZ, that is designed specifically for uploading and reading PG books unto the iPhone and the iTouch.

Personally I don't think Booksontext is going to replace Stanza and bookz for me as a method of reading books. I am not crazy about having to sign in to an app to read a book, and it also generally means that I need to make sure I am near a wifi hotspot when I reach the end of the cached section of a book. Generally, I keep the wifi off on my iTouch except when I am using it.

As for Stanza being hard to read? I haven't found so. You just need to play with it until you find some settings you like.

The iTouch is a really cool gizmo, and I enjoy reading on it.. but it is still a bit cramped. Give me a version with a 6" screen and I will be a very happy camper.



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Bill

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Randall679

I know when Apple brings out their paper thin reader based on the Air screen next year, we will all have the bext of both worlds.

Is this something you've read somewhere or something you hope? Since Jobs doesn't think people read, it would be strange to design a product for a market he feels doesn't exist.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Is this something you've read somewhere or something you hope? Since Jobs doesn't think people read, it would be strange to design a product for a market he feels doesn't exist.

He might be forced to reconsider that position. Teleread has reported (IIRC) that more than 100,000 people have downloaded ereader applications and more than 300,000 have paid for books to be downloaded to their iphone. Now mind you, that is small compared to the mp3 market, but when you consider that all of this has happened in the last couple of months and without a marketing campaign on apple's part.

Now mind you, I very much doubt that Apple will release a dedicated ebook reader. It makes little sense for them to. I think what is far more likely is a 5-7" system that is essentially a media player (Yes the iPod Touch can do that now, but really, it is a little small for watching TV on), but with all of the iPod Touch functionality (maybe even a bit more, closer to a macbook). Lord knows that given that form factor and a reasonable price, I might be willing to forgo a dedicated reader for one of those with Stanza or ereader installed (Then again, I am don't seem to suffer the negative effects that some do here from back lighting).

--
Bill

[Randall679]

I found a pretty good app for my iTouch ... AirSharing ... you can put almost any kind of doc on there either through your browser or Bonjour ... it assigns a URL to your iTouch. It was free for a while, but worth it even if you have to pay.

Maybe Jobs will create the Pod Reader and revolutionise the market as they did with the portable music market and the phone market. It's all smerging ... maybe it will simple be an A5 iTouch ... I'd buy that ...

Yes, I was making it up.