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ereader ebooks: tip

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delta71

Newbie
I spent untold hours trying to figure out how to purchase new releases and read them on my Droid Eris. Becuase I was unable to find clear instructions, I am sharing my findings here:

Aldiko Reader on the market is attractive, but there is no easy way - that I could find - to purchase, import and read books that are protected. (if you're into running scripts and torrents and all that check this out )

Instead, cough up the $2 and buy ireader at the market. On your PC, download the free PC version of mobi pocket reader. Once installed, click HELP>ABOUT and there is your pin/key/PID that you will need to purchase the book at the store and also to open the book on your phone.

I liked this ebook store for it's selection of new releases in mobi format.

Download the book to your PC. Put it in the ireader folder on the SDCARD.

If any publishers are reading this> get with the e program! I have credit card and am willing to spend. All the stupido reading devices and their unique reading formats are bullets in your own foot. Guess we have apple's lead to thanks for that.
 
Thanks for taking the time to post this. It's EXTREMELY helpful.

It's frustrating that this operating system is still in its infancy, especially to those of us who'd grown used to mature operating systems on prior smartphones.
 
buying books that are wrapped in DRM is just encouraging that type of behavior, even if you're just going to strip it off. boycott. vote with your dollar.
 
Thank you Jeff. Did not know about ereader. Not in market yet. very helpful. able to purchase and dl straight to phone.
 
I like fbreader as it's compatible with non-DRMed mobipocket books. Just wish it also synced with the desktop mobipocket client.

Is there any type of ereader that does with with any desktop client? Not talking about purchased books, just non-DRMed ones.
 
eNons3nse said:
buying books that are wrapped in DRM is just encouraging that type of behavior, even if you're just going to strip it off. boycott. vote with your dollar.
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I completely agree! I refuse to buy ebooks with DRM.

I'm using Aldiko and it's great! But your right, there's no easy legitimate way to download new books straight from the phone.

Until they get rid of drm people are going to crack it and pirate the books. I wish they would just understand that and give us the freedom to do what we want with our ebooks like we would a paper book.
 
I've been trying the ereader app from ereader.com.

It's not bad, but I don't see myself using it much. Aldiko is more responsive and looks much nicer. Ereader teams up with ereader.com so you can buy books right from the phone, or you can buy books on the computer at ereader.com and when you open the ereader app on your phone it will automatically download them for you so you can start reading.

That is a nice feature except that, like all other ebook stores, the books are overpriced for the most part. Nothing that I've actually heard of was cheap enough for me to want to buy anything. I found one book called "Atomic Lobster" that was 1 cent for some reason and it got some good reviews so I figured I'd try it. They have a lot of free public domain books you can download as well, but Aldiko has access to those as well and does a much better job of letting you download and read them than ereader.
 
i have been using ereader for a little while. the biggest reason i dont use it is the ridiculous costs of the new releases. i can literally goto barnes and noble and buy a hardcover for less. that hardcover costs the publisher more to produce then a file.

shouldnt electronic format be significantly cheaper?? what am I missing?
for now, i torrent the epub because i refuse to pay the high costs. but rarely do i find what i need on torrent sites. plus it is illegal. or ill buy the physical book if i really like the author

the cost just blows me away.
 
jbarrett020 said:
i have been using ereader for a little while. the biggest reason i dont use it is the ridiculous costs of the new releases. i can literally goto barnes and noble and buy a hardcover for less. that hardcover costs the publisher more to produce then a file.

shouldnt electronic format be significantly cheaper?? what am I missing?
for now, i torrent the epub because i refuse to pay the high costs. but rarely do i find what i need on torrent sites. plus it is illegal. or ill buy the physical book if i really like the author

the cost just blows me away.
Click to expand...

Amen. The only reasonably priced ebooks they have are either crap or old. Any somewhat new book you look for is ridiculously overpriced. And on top of that you have hassle with entering the credit card number you used to purchase the book in order to open it and read it.

The publishers whine about pirating costing them money, but there are plenty of people, myself included, that would be willing to spend the money on ebooks. BUT not when they gouge us so badly on price. If you make the price so high that people can't afford it, OF COURSE people are going to pirate it. Make it affordable and easy to access and people will go the legal route and there will be lots of money to make.
 
I'm waiting for a Kindle app for Android. I can't believe Amazon just released one for Blackberry and not Android.
 
Taking into consideration eReader Rewards, their books are reasonable. For example your can purchase two NYT best sellers for $20... the same price you would pay on a Kindle.

I've been using eReader for years. First on a Palm, then in Windows Mobile and now on Android. I still have access to every book I've ever purchased, which is nice. Also my wife has access on her iTouch to the books I purchase on my device. Entering the credit card number is a one-time deal. DRM has simply not been a problem.

eReader's selection is more limited than Amazon's, but I have been able to get about 80% of the stuff I want. A Kindle reader would be for Android would be great.
 
Ahh, it must be nice to still be young and have good eyes. I can't imagine the pain involved in reading a book on a smartphone.

I'm looking at getting a Nook or Kindle so I can zoom the text to larger than paperback size. The standard print on books is too small for me to read comfortably anymore.
 
hempwallace said:
Ahh, it must be nice to still be young and have good eyes. I can't imagine the pain involved in reading a book on a smartphone.

I'm looking at getting a Nook or Kindle so I can zoom the text to larger than paperback size. The standard print on books is too small for me to read comfortably anymore.
Click to expand...

You may have to do like I did, break down and buy some reading glasses. :)
I've not used the others mentioned here so I can't speak to them, but Aldiko lets you change the font size. Add that to the fact that the 'book' is back-lit, I think it makes it easier to read at night than a traditional book.
That, and I like walking around with 50 or so books in my pocket. I read a LOT, so its nice to have a choice of books/authors with me.
 
Aldiko does a great job of adjusting font size and eReader lets you change the font size as well. I usually make the font size even smaller than default so I can fit more text on a page. Even at 12pt or less I can't get my hand far enough away from my face that I can't see it.
 
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