Decent EPub Reader for Windows 8.1

I've tried BookVisor from the Microsoft app store but it's buggy and crashes often. Freda+ is meh! particularly in appearance and font handling.

Can anybody recommend alternatives?

[LinuxArie]

Calibre or ePub reader addon fot Firefox

[DaleDe]

I like Book Bazaar. It supports lots of formats and has a quite good feature set. There is a wiki page here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Book_Bazaar. There is also a long list in our wiki at https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-bo...Windows_8_Apps but it is not complete yet.

Of course the regular Windows products will also work on all but the RT version.

Dale

[fekhner]

Thanks for the info and links, Dale !

Yes, thanks Dale - I just downloaded and installed - very nice. Hope the developers continue to update it - it's way better than alternatives I've tried.

[CRussel]

Nice, Dale. Thanks. I hadn't tried that one yet, but will add it now.

[lukeintas]

I will have to check out Book Bazaar. Unfortunately there are a lot of really bad ePub readers for Windows tablets. I've tried quite a few, but haven't found one yet with good touch user interface and annotation features.

ebooks.de seemed okay as a touch interface reader, but has no annotation features. And the desktop Adobe Digital Editions app has okay annotation features, but doesn't work as a touch interface app in tablet mode.

Many of the other Windows Store apps were also pretty poor in that they crashed on launch, or if they worked, poorly rendered the ePubs.

Has been really frustrating as my work has started issuing Windows 8 tablets, and I've been hoping to take advantage of the ePub format for the distribution of internal training materials.

The Readium extension to Chrome browser also seems to render reliably, but isn't a touch interface app, doesn't have annotation features, and isn't as simple for users to open books in as a dedicated app.

[dhume01]

I would think the Nook app might be a good choice; it looks like you can import your own personal ePubs and PDFs:
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en...3-a329d52bd372

[mgmueller]

No idea, how good it is.
But this was the one I stumbled over when searching for an Adobe DRM capable reader. Many might not need it, since they strip DRM. But I find it convenient enough and one of the few "real" Metro apps, though I haven't really checked out the features yet.

[fekhner]

I have been using Book Bazaar for some time now but after touch support has been recently added to the calibre viewer, the best reading set-up on windows 8.1 for me is the following right now:

1) add a tile for calibre to your start screen (optional, depending on your starting point)

2) make the buttons and fonts of calibre large enough to be easily useable through touch

3) after launching the calibre viewer, go full-screen

A big advantage to me is that there no need any longer to import epubs and mobis from calibre to your reading app or to point your reading app to the calibre library directory and to have to navigate that structure.

It is not clear to me if any of the dedicated touch screen reading apps is really a lot better than the calibre viewer ?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by fekhner

I have been using Book Bazaar for some time now but after touch support has been recently added to the calibre viewer, the best reading set-up on windows 8.1 for me is the following right now:

1) add a tile for calibre to your start screen (optional, depending on your starting point)

2) make the buttons and fonts of calibre large enough to be easily useable through touch

3) after launching the calibre viewer, go full-screen

A big advantage to me is that there no need any longer to import epubs and mobis from calibre to your reading app or to point your reading app to the calibre library directory and to have to navigate that structure.

It is not clear to me if any of the dedicated touch screen reading apps is really a lot better than the calibre viewer ?

That depends on what you want from a viewer. I like to highlight and the Calibre Viewer doesn't support that. And I like to read under different circumstances. Some with some light, and some without light. For the first, I prefer a light background with dark letters, for the second, a dark background with dark letters (not black vs white, but rather black vs gray). Couldn't find that in the Calibre Viewer either...

But, it is a very good reader in itself, I agree. If you don't want any extra things, like highlighting and multiple colour schemes, it's very good reader.

[Sweetpea]

Ok, I've tried several ereader software now, and there is none that is perfect for me...
Nook: does support embedded fonts and highlighting but doesn't have a nightmode (unless you turn off the publisher style, but you don't have the embedded font then)
eBook.de: also supports embedded fonts and highlighting but a nighmode isn't black and white! You still get blinded by the white text...
Book Bazaar: at least has a nightmode that is black and gray, but doesn't support publisher layout...

In short: they are all lacking, and I only have three wishes...

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

And I like to read under different circumstances. Some with some light, and some without light. For the first, I prefer a light background with dark letters, for the second, a dark background with dark letters (not black vs white, but rather black vs gray). Couldn't find that in the Calibre Viewer either...

This won't help with highlighting, but I just thought I'd post to say that you can save different colour themes for the calibre Viewer. I'm a Win7 user, but I would hope the features also work on Win8.

• Open the Viewer and click the Prefs button.
• On the General tab, go to the Colors and Backgrounds button to choose your background/foreground colours.
• Then go to the Theming tab and Save your current settings with a meaningful name.
• Repeat as often as required.
• Use the Theming - Load option when you want to swap between themes

.

[Sweetpea]

Hmm, hadn't seen that one yet... Must be because I never read on my PC and this is my first windows tablet

Only one drawback: the scrollbar on the right... It won't change colour

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Only one drawback: the scrollbar on the right... It won't change colour

No, but I'm able to make the right-hand scrollbar disappear by unchecking the 'Show scrollbar in full screen mode' on the General - Full screen options page. You have to read in fullscreen mode for it to work but there's also an option to set 'Max text width in fullscreen'. Toggling the Show/Hide Controls makes the top and left-hand distractions disappear.