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Best Ebook Reader app?

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macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 7, 2007
31
0
Edinburgh-Scotland-UK
Hey guys, I need some help!

About to start Uni and have loads of E-books instead of textbooks.

What iPad app is the best for ebooks?
The app has to come with some sort of wireless transfer option, i.e. ftp or http.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
Em
 
what format are your ebooks?

what do you want to do with them?

popular apps include: ibooks, kindle, and goodreader
 
Hey, thanks for the reply :)

They will be pdf format ebooks, and i just want to be able to go through them with easy/simple controls but would also have the ability to highlight/write notes on them.

I just had a look at goodreader, and it looks good, but i would like to know if there are any other apps out there which are just as good even better.

Thanks very much :)
 
Embed said:
Hey, thanks for the reply :)

They will be pdf format ebooks, and i just want to be able to go through them with easy/simple controls but would also have the ability to highlight/write notes on them.

I just had a look at goodreader, and it looks good, but i would like to know if there are any other apps out there which are just as good even better.

Thanks very much :)
Click to expand...

i think goodreader is the best one on the market right now for pdfs. i have used it for several months now and i am thrilled with its functionality. i have heard good things about pdf expert. at about twice the price, though, i am not tempted to try it myself.

if you use goodreader, i highly recommend downloading goodreader usb for osx, because it will enable you to bypass itunes and move files around through drag and drop.
 
Bumping this up because I'd like some suggestions as well. I'm on 4.1 so can't install iBooks. Stanza no longer works. :/ Most of my ebooks are in epub format. Any suggestions?
 
maus said:
Bumping this up because I'd like some suggestions as well. I'm on 4.1 so can't install iBooks. Stanza no longer works. :/ Most of my ebooks are in epub format. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

You can use epub to pdf converter.
 
I warmly recommend PDF Expert and iAnnotate for pdf-files. They are both great for reading and annotating academic literature.
 
I think Stanza is the best e-book reader because it has a lot of options. In my case Stanza still works, but if it stops being compatible, I hope we can find a replacement.

iBooks it's nice enough but it has some annoying settings. For example the huge margins

73670729.jpg


while in Stanza is completely adjustable. You can make it even smaller then in the next picture if you want to maximize the reading surface

23995068.jpg


In iBook the margins stays big even if you increase the fonts a lot

48795621.jpg


compare it to Stanza :
78142118.jpg


And also notice how if you want - you can make Stanza full-screen without clock and other distractions.
 
For books I think the best app for overall reading experience is iBooks. Kindle has more content.

As far as PDFs go, I used GoodReader and iAnnotate at uni. They're very similar but would leapfrog each other with each update, though both support Dropbox sync so it wasn't a big deal switching between the two. Check them out and see what works for you.

Edit: I had an iPad during my final two years at uni and it was definitely convenient. Having all your essays, lecture notes, materials and other associated documents with you all the time (largely on the iPad, but on Dropbox so also accessible on iPhone) is a huge advantage. I studied law so had to buy print copies of text/statute/case books, but all cases and journal articles were PDFs in GoodReader/iAnnotate for easy reference during supervisions.
 
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