iPad as e-reader?

[trsnrtr]

I've read ~25 books from iBooks, Kindle, and Nook and I prefer the look and feel of the iBooks. However, the Kindle app has a better selection and seems to sync between my Touch and iPad more reliably. I also find them somewhat cheaper.

To be honest, I've only used Nook a couple times, but it looks fine, too.

 

[japanime]

I don't think our libraries will "disappear" if Apple discontinues the iBookstore. All of the books sold in the iBookstore are in ePub format, which is supported by a large number of e-reader devices and applications. Those ePubs are stored on your iPad, and backed up to your computer when syncing with iTunes.

 

[Readdlemate]

I use Kindle and Readdle, the iBooks store isn't very good. Readdle is where I store my ebooks in folders.

iBooks lacks folders, Pages lacks folders, and currently iPad apps lack folders. I sense a pattern...

Exactly, if you need to organize your books (files) into folders ReaddleDocs for iPad does it well. Additionally, it allows you to make notes and highlight text in PDFs.

 

[Night Spring]

I don't think our libraries will "disappear" if Apple discontinues the iBookstore. All of the books sold in the iBookstore are in ePub format, which is supported by a large number of e-reader devices and applications. Those ePubs are stored on your iPad, and backed up to your computer when syncing with iTunes.

True, but they are DRM'ed, so they won't work on non-Apple e-reading devices unless someone figures out how to break the DRM. Now, the Kindle's DRM *has* been broken, so it's possible to buy ebooks from Amazon and de-DRM them, then convert to epub and read them in iBooks. The process is a bit of a hassle though, so I find myself converting perhaps half of the books I buy from Amazon to epub. Basically, if it takes longer than one sitting to read, or I decide I want to revisit it after the initial reading, then I convert to epub.

 

[JulianL]

I use Kobo and then crack the DRM and use it in iBooks. Kobo uses the epub format. You can do this with Amazon and others too, just you need to convert it to epub and sometimes it doesn't look exactly the same. It works, but sometimes things look a bit off.

That can work both ways. I cracked the DRM on all my favourite and unread B&N books, converted them to ePub (using Calibre) and put them into iBooks. One of the books was the first part of a two volume series and I enjoyed it so I bought the second volume as a native iBook directly from the iBook store. The formatting on the book that I purchased directly from the iBook store was sub-standard but the formatting on the B&N book that I had converted myself was perfect.

To Apple's credit, I filed a support incident and they refunded my money without any questions or quibbling.

- Julian