Comments on: Dribs and Drabs: iPhone e-books, Safari, Mobipocket images, geek books, Cybook http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/31/dribs-and-drabs-iphone-mobipocket-images-geek-books-cybook/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:13:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Ken Gilmer http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/31/dribs-and-drabs-iphone-mobipocket-images-geek-books-cybook/#comment-501708 Ken Gilmer Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:20:45 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6896#comment-501708 Robert: I think web browsers will win because they pervasive and typically (hopefully?) optimized for readability on various mobile devices. Paul: IRT your first point, http://scrollbox.org allows ebooks to be downloaded as bookmarks to iPhone and other devices. Another site is manybooks.net that allows content to be downloaded as a bookmark. I agree that saving where you left off is important, and that current browser solutions are not satisfactory. thanks ken Robert:

I think web browsers will win because they pervasive and typically (hopefully?) optimized for readability on various mobile devices.

Paul:

IRT your first point, http://scrollbox.org allows ebooks to be downloaded as bookmarks to iPhone and other devices. Another site is manybooks.net that allows content to be downloaded as a bookmark. I agree that saving where you left off is important, and that current browser solutions are not satisfactory.

thanks
ken

]]> By: Paul Biba http://www.teleread.org/blog/2007/07/31/dribs-and-drabs-iphone-mobipocket-images-geek-books-cybook/#comment-481865 Paul Biba Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:44:47 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=6896#comment-481865 Having played around will all the current iPhone ebook "solutions", including the one mentioned here, I'm afraid none of them will really fit the bill for a serious ebook reader. There are two major problems: 1. Lack of local storage. If the book is stored on a server then the reader is pretty much out of luck in areas of poor cell or wifi coverage. 2. Inconvenience. Reading a book in a browser doesn't work well because you can't bookmark your page. Several times I've had Safari quit on me and then had to re-open the book and scroll through 250 pages to get to my place. Storing the ebook as part of the url solves the local storage problem, but doesn't solve this one. Without a dedicated reader and local storage I have come to the reluctant conclusion that the iPhone is not a suitable ebook reader in its current incarnation. Having played around will all the current iPhone ebook “solutions”, including the one mentioned here, I’m afraid none of them will really fit the bill for a serious ebook reader. There are two major problems:

1. Lack of local storage. If the book is stored on a server then the reader is pretty much out of luck in areas of poor cell or wifi coverage.

2. Inconvenience. Reading a book in a browser doesn’t work well because you can’t bookmark your page. Several times I’ve had Safari quit on me and then had to re-open the book and scroll through 250 pages to get to my place. Storing the ebook as part of the url solves the local storage problem, but doesn’t solve this one.

Without a dedicated reader and local storage I have come to the reluctant conclusion that the iPhone is not a suitable ebook reader in its current incarnation.

]]>