Will iPad as ereader work for me?

[BookJunkieLI]

I know that I can't make a final decision to buy until I actually hold one in my hand but being as the closest Apple store is 30 minutes from me I figured someone here would be able to answer some of my major concerns before I make the trek this weekend.

First, I'm not an Apple or a Mac user. All of my computers are PCs running Windows XP or 7. Will the iPad be compatible with my PC? 'Cause if I can't upload files to it from my PC then it's just a very expensive paperweight for me. And preferably without having to 'email' it to myself and then downloading them to it. This is quite frankly the dumbest feature on the Kindle I have ever seen.

Second, assuming the first hasn't made everything else moot, what file formats will it read? The bulk of what I read is in html or rtf format, some PDFs, and if I have to I can convert to ePub using Calibre.

Third, please, please, please tell me it has some sort of file management system? Folders, categories, I don't care so long as there is some way to organize my 8,000+ story files. Scrolling through an extremely long alphabetical list of files is a pain in the hind end and my hand. LOL

Those are my three major concerns at the moment. Things like holdability and readability I'll wait on until I hold one in my hand as I know that what I find comfortable might not be what somebody else finds comfortable. I adored my REB-1100, love my 1150, hated the PRS-700 with a burning passion, and I currently tolerate my Nook but I suffer far more eye strain with it then I do my 1150. Unfortunately my 1150 is dying. I dare not remove the SmartMedia card for fear of it not being recognized again.

And one stupid question, Wi-Fi means that I need to be near a wireless network while the Wi-Fi+3G means that it uses a cellphone signal, essentially, to connect to the interent, correct?

Thanks for the help.

Beth

[scottjl]

hi..

well.. i recommend you read some of the threads posted here, most of your questions have already been answered.. but in brief.

1. yes, it syncs with itunes.

2. iBooks reads epub. kindle reads its format. goodreader reads PDF files. there are other applications which read these and other formats.

3. no folders. directories. no file management. .epub files can be managed in itunes and synced to iBooks. all other applications have their own file management methods. many apps will import via itunes, but some have additional methods as well (such as wifi)

yes. wifi means a wireless network. 3g means cellular network. you won't be able to sync wirelessly. you need to plug in (via the supplied usb cable) to sync with itunes.

is it the right device for you? i'd say go check one out at the apple store. 30 minutes isn't that far of a drive. but from what you've expressed in your message, i'm not entirely sure it's the device for you. sorry.

[BookJunkieLI]

Thanks for the reply.

File management is a really big issue for me as the whole point of an ereader, for me, is to be able to store all or at least the bulk of my books on it and be able to find them easily. I shouldn't have to scroll through page after page to find the book I'm looking for especially if I don't have a specific title in mind but a genre or an author and then I decide on the book.

And I do get that the iPad is not just an ereader but it's feature that Apple is pushing and I just don't see the point of having something that can't be organized in multiple ways. But that's just me.

Thanks again,

Beth

[JSWolf]

iBook is not fully ePub compliant and thus, you will lose some of the ePub experience when reading some ePub.

[BookJunkieLI]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

iBook is not fully ePub compliant and thus, you will lose some of the ePub experience when reading some ePub.

That doesn't bother me. I'm currently only using ePub because the Nook requires it. Ninety percent of my files are in RTF and I'd be perfectly happy not having to convert them into another format to read them.

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

Thanks for the reply.

File management is a really big issue for me as the whole point of an ereader, for me, is to be able to store all or at least the bulk of my books on it and be able to find them easily. I shouldn't have to scroll through page after page to find the book I'm looking for especially if I don't have a specific title in mind but a genre or an author and then I decide on the book.

And I do get that the iPad is not just an ereader but it's feature that Apple is pushing and I just don't see the point of having something that can't be organized in multiple ways. But that's just me.

Thanks again,

Beth

If it's anything like the iPod Touch, you can easily do a search, which would find the books you're after.

iTunes have lots of different applications for lots of book formats, like Kindle for Mobi, Stanza for ePub, etc. etc.

[johnnaryry]

The iPad will also handle iSilo files, since they have now updated the iPhone version of their reader to be iPad compatible. Books can either be uploaded via iTunes, or downloaded from the web. Also GoodReader is an excellent PDF reader, which also allows local file uploading via iTunes.

[tklaus]

Originally Posted by BookJunkieLI

Third, please, please, please tell me it has some sort of file management system? Folders, categories, I don't care so long as there is some way to organize my 8,000+ story files. Scrolling through an extremely long alphabetical list of files is a pain in the hind end and my hand. LOL

While the iPad lacks a global file management system that all apps can see & use, I think the GoodReader app will meet your needs. GoodReader supports all of the formats you mentioned (RTF, HTML, and PDF among many others), plus it offers great file management features. You can create any folder hierarchy you like and move files around. My favorite feature is the ability to mount the GoodReader file system as a network drive on my PC. This allows me to use the PC to create the file structure I want and just drag-n-drop the books I want into this file structure. This approach allows me to avoid using iTunes for transferring books all together (you can use iTunes to transfer books to GoodReader, but only to GoodReaders root directory. Once there though, you can move them on the iPad to whatever folder you want).

For more info on GoodReader, check out http://www.goodreader.net/goodreader.html

[discourse]

Far too many hoops to jump through to get this device to do what any other computing device will let me do easily. Essentially people need to wait for a publicly released jailbreak that will allow them access to certain parts of the device that Apple want to keep hidden.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

iBook is not fully ePub compliant and thus, you will lose some of the ePub experience when reading some ePub.

What do you mean by epub experience? I've had some epubs that look great on various devices and others that don't and I don't think it was the fault of the devices.

Personally, I just wish that people had better spelling in epubs. I'm reading one now where murdered has been misspelled mirrdered in half a dozen places. This to me says the author has not invested the time in having a second set of eyes proofread his work.

[Ciaran]

ePub has worked as good on the iPad for me as it does on the two readers I have on Android. One thing to note is I don't see a way for the Kindle application to read files from iTunes or anything but download it from my library on Amazon. On my real Kindle I can copy my own files over directly. The iBooks application allows ePub so I have imported my non-kindle books there.

Another thing to note is a hardware kindle can't do what you want also in managing large amounts of books. Sorting by author, title, or recent does not help when you are trying to sort by collections or other things. So far the iPad with iBooks and the Kindle application is as good as my Kindle and its nice to see things in color with fast page turns. Its heavier but the extra things it does like movies, comics, games, applications, make it much better for me. I am giving my kindle to the wife

[leebase]

I doubt you would want to manage such a large collection of books on an iPad. Use your windows computer to do your book management and just load the books you are reading or are likely to use as reference.

I have hundreds of ebooks but only put a handful on my iPad. Same with my music collection.

I use calibre on windows to manage my ebook collection.

Nonny

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lene1949

If it's anything like the iPod Touch, you can easily do a search, which would find the books you're after.

iTunes have lots of different applications for lots of book formats, like Kindle for Mobi, Stanza for ePub, etc. etc.

Due to the screen size, a lot of the apps for the iPod Touch will be pixel doubled and in that case, text will be fuzzy and not nice to read. You should have reading apps designed specifically for the iPad so the text is not so bad. But even if the app is iPad ready like iBook, you can still get nasty looking fonts on it because the choice of 5 fonts Apple gives you are not all that wonderful with some worse then others.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Tamara

What do you mean by epub experience? I've had some epubs that look great on various devices and others that don't and I don't think it was the fault of the devices.

Personally, I just wish that people had better spelling in epubs. I'm reading one now where murdered has been misspelled mirrdered in half a dozen places. This to me says the author has not invested the time in having a second set of eyes proofread his work.

Try reading Zelda's edition of Three Men in a Boat. It was nicely designed and looks quite good. But on an iPad, you will lose some of that niceness due to iBook not handling embedded fonts. So it will not look like it should. There is no app yet on the iPad (that I know of) that will allow you to read Three Men in a Boat the way Zelda intended it to be read.

Apple needs to fix iBook and fix it now. because I do think that once people plunk down the cash for a larger screen reader, they won't then also plunk down the cash for an iPad whereas they may have gone for the iPad had there been a really nice ePub app at the time of purchase of the larger screen reader that's now replaced the buying of an iPad (that does make sense if you read that over a few times).

[Rique]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

even if the app is iPad ready like iBook, you can still get nasty looking fonts on it because the choice of 5 fonts Apple gives you are not all that wonderful with some worse then others.

That has not been my experience so far with my wife's iPad - which has 25 epubs on it now. I do admit that is a small sample size...

-- Riq