Noobie Ebook questions

[aduteau]

Now with the iPad I am thinking of finally taking the plunge for Ebooks.
I have never used a Ebook reader before so I dont know if Ebooks have different file format ( extensions )...

With iBooks ... will it be able to open any Ebooks on the market .. or only books from the iBook store ?

Also I am Canadian .. and from what I am hearing .. the iBook app or store wont be available to us when the iPad launches here up north ...

Is it the app or the store that wont be available ?
If its the app ... what can I use to read eBooks on the iPad ???
... low rez iphone app ? ...

Thanks for showing me the ropes on this subject guys !

 

[TheCheapGeek]

The iPad will use encrypted ePub formatted ebooks. ePub Ebooks with varying types of encryption are use on most ebook readers besides the kindle. You can load any unencrypted ePub ebook onto the iPad via iTunes and read them in the iBooks App.

There will most likely be a Barns and Noble app and a Kindle app, so you will be able to buy and read books in thoes apps from their bookstores, but these books won show up in the iBooks app.

 

[r0k]

Now with the iPad I am thinking of finally taking the plunge for Ebooks.
I have never used a Ebook reader before so I dont know if Ebooks have different file format ( extensions )...

With iBooks ... will it be able to open any Ebooks on the market .. or only books from the iBook store ?

Also I am Canadian .. and from what I am hearing .. the iBook app or store wont be available to us when the iPad launches here up north ...

Is it the app or the store that wont be available ?
If its the app ... what can I use to read eBooks on the iPad ???
... low rez iphone app ? ...

Thanks for showing me the ropes on this subject guys !

Whether you have a Mac or a PC you can get started with ebooks now. Download the Kindle app and pick up some free ebooks from manybooks.net and try reading them on your computer. If you are a Linux user, there are some ebook readers available as well but I won't list them here unless somebody asks. I use the "Low res" Kindle app on my iPod Touch. I also use Kindle for PC and Kindle for OS X (the one that just became available a few days ago). On the iPod Touch, there is a font available that I think is way too small for my liking. If I simply ran the iPhone/iPod Touch version of the Kindle app on the iPad, I'm pretty sure I'd like that tiny font a lot better. So there will be no wait on "day one" if you decide to pick up an iPad.

I have never owned a Kindle but I do have an amazon.com account. I simply downloaded Kindle for iPod Touch and registered it with my amazon.com account and now any book I buy online in Kindle format show up on my iPod Touch whenever I'm in range of free wifi. Also all my Kindle readers sync. If I read 300 pages on my 'touch then pick up again on the PC or Mac, it asks me if I want to jump to the spot I was reading on the other reader. Of course this only works if my 'touch was in range of wifi the last time I was reading. There is no multitasking on iPhone OS so you have to have the Kindle app active in range of wifi for the place you left off reading to show up on your other devices.

I have given some thought to getting the Kindle over the iPad only to get the free 3G wireless. It only works for downloading books and WAP (low quality) web browsing but it's free. I think the cost of the device takes care of data usage for downloading books, etc. But the iPad is also very tempting even if I opt for the wifi version and only get to use the network features when I'm near a hotspot. Sony reader just dropped their price to $169. Competition is good. Apple is shaking things up, alright. Whether you wind up with Kindle, iBooks or another ebook format, whether on iPad or something else, why not get started with Kindle software so you can give ebooks a try now?

hope this helps...

 

[Logos327]

It seems it will (sadly) be the app:

From the iBooks page:

*iBooks is available only in the U.S.

This seems kind of dumb as we will be able to put our own DRM-free epub books on the iPad as Apple has said. One would think iBooks would be the app to read them and the button to rotate to the store could just be inactive for non-US residents, but it looks like they are not allowing the whole app all together.

This is done by having the app only appear in the U.S. version of the app store, and sheds some light on why Apple decided to not include it when the product ships.

 

[aduteau]

Whether you have a Mac or a PC you can get started with ebooks now. Download the Kindle app and pick up some free ebooks from manybooks.net and try reading them on your computer. If you are a Linux user, there are some ebook readers available as well but I won't list them here unless somebody asks. I use the "Low res" Kindle app on my iPod Touch. I also use Kindle for PC and Kindle for OS X (the one that just became available a few days ago). On the iPod Touch, there is a font available that I think is way too small for my liking. If I simply ran the iPhone/iPod Touch version of the Kindle app on the iPad, I'm pretty sure I'd like that tiny font a lot better. So there will be no wait on "day one" if you decide to pick up an iPad.

I have never owned a Kindle but I do have an amazon.com account. I simply downloaded Kindle for iPod Touch and registered it with my amazon.com account and now any book I buy online in Kindle format show up on my iPod Touch whenever I'm in range of free wifi. Also all my Kindle readers sync. If I read 300 pages on my 'touch then pick up again on the PC or Mac, it asks me if I want to jump to the spot I was reading on the other reader. Of course this only works if my 'touch was in range of wifi the last time I was reading. There is no multitasking on iPhone OS so you have to have the Kindle app active in range of wifi for the place you left off reading to show up on your other devices.

I have given some thought to getting the Kindle over the iPad only to get the free 3G wireless. It only works for downloading books and WAP (low quality) web browsing but it's free. I think the cost of the device takes care of data usage for downloading books, etc. But the iPad is also very tempting even if I opt for the wifi version and only get to use the network features when I'm near a hotspot. Sony reader just dropped their price to $169. Competition is good. Apple is shaking things up, alright. Whether you wind up with Kindle, iBooks or another ebook format, whether on iPad or something else, why not get started with Kindle software so you can give ebooks a try now?

hope this helps...

Indeed it does help !
I will try out the new kindle for Mac OSX and give eBooks a run !
And ... seems for us Canadians that iBooks app wont be out on day one ... so no iBook app to sync tru iTunes ... ... I sure hope that kindle or Barns get their app out soon for Ipad so I can read my eBooks !

 

[aduteau]

It seems it will (sadly) be the app:

From the iBooks page:



This seems kind of dumb as we will be able to put our own DRM-free epub books on the iPad as Apple has said. One would think iBooks would be the app to read them and the button to rotate to the store could just be inactive for non-US residents, but it looks like they are not allowing the whole app all together.

This is done by having the app only appear in the U.S. version of the app store, and sheds some light on why Apple decided to not include it when the product ships.

Did they mention what we would use to read ebooks if iBooks was not coming out ?

 

[wyneken]

Did they mention what we would use to read ebooks if iBooks was not coming out ?

I should think one of the existing iPhone apps, like Stanza, will work very well when updated for the iPad.

Stanza is pretty cool also in that you can easily search within the app for public-domain ebooks from places like Gutenberg.org, download them immediately, and start reading on the spot.

I assume iBooks will have this kind of functionality, with perhaps a cooler Apple interface and some unexpected new features.