Books on Apple iPad Tablet

My Books on the iPad with Stanza

The Handhelds Version and Desktop Printer Version of my texts will definitely work, out of the box, after downloading the free Stanza e-book reader application made by Lexcycle. I have just tested 5 different formats of my books, which had varying degrees of success. Stanze e-reader claims to support the epub, PDF, pdb, and DjVu formats. I couldn't get Stanza, to take the DjVu file, that I placed in the file sharing part, of the iPad apps page, in iTunes. Another annoying thing is that there is no easy way to tell which file is in which file format in Stanza, if you have more than one copy of a book in multiple formats. For my books, the Desktop Printer version (PDF/A-1A) and the Handhelds version (pdb) of my texts worked best, as they preserved all the bookmarks in my books. The Apple Mobile format (epub) also worked, but Stanza did not recognize any of the links and only the chapter level headings, so it would be hard to navigate. The Red Letter Edition (PDF) worked, but Stanza recognized none of the bookmarks or links, so it would be very hard to navigate.

The DjVu versions of my picture books work with Stanza, and seem to work best, if you download them directly from your iPad tablet. The following scenario is if you are downloading the Zip archive bundle of my DjVu e-books. It will work similarly, for any other Zip archive bundle, including files in file formats, that you need to open in Stanza. You can also download books, directly from your iPad Tablet, by clicking the hyperlink to it and waiting for it to download (note: you will see no indication of progress). Then, when you see a screen that shows an icon, with the name of the file under the icon, the size of the file under the name, and 'open in "ReadleDocs"' or whatever the name of the app that can open that type of file under the size of the file, click on the "open in ..." button. Then, click on the zip file, in the "documents" listing and the zip file will open up into a folder. Click one of the files, in the folder, click once, in the middle of the page, that opens, click on the second icon, from the right, on the top bar, then select the "open in" menu button, that will then appear, and finally click on one of the app names, that appears. If you are saving to ReaddleDocs, and opening in Stanza, then your file will have to "download" first and then click on the library icon, on the bottom. It should appear there.

Downloading to the iPad with Third Party Applications

The iPad device can handle my long PDF books, like the Red Letter e-book versions, which work great, out of the box, in the included web browser, but they may take some time to download and you cannot save them, with the included browser for viewing later offline, on the iPad (except with a third party application). You can transfer the PDFs over to the iPad via iTunes on your computer or download via the iPad web browser with a third party app like ReaddleDocs. You can even download the zip archive bundles of my PDF files and open them in Readdledocs right from the included web browser. Another way to do this is to use iUnarchive and PDF Reader Pro the same way. You can also view the Open Source Friendly version of my books with the IBM Lotus Symphony Viewer avialble for free on the Apple App Store.

You can also transfer files from iTunes on your computer to your iPad, if you first plug in your iPad, to your computer and then select "your name," followed by the word "iPad," on the left side panel of iTunes, then you click on the "Apps" tab, and finally scroll down, to where it says "file sharing". You can then click on the application listed there, that you want the files transfered to, and then drag and drop my PDF books or your other files into that listing space. You can now see the PDFs or other files on your iPad, even when you are offline.

The web page versions should work best for the iPad and, if you want to download this version, to keep on your iPad, then you can download them, via a third party application, called Offline Pages, on your iPad and you will see them, as they appear, in the included web browser, but offline (and Javascript works offline as well, so you can use all the interactive features of my web pages offline).

Buying Books on the iPad

Amazon.com has a Kindle reader , for most major computing devices, including the Mac, PC, and the Apple iDevices, like: the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. It worked for me, when I downloaded a free book, via the Amazon.com Kindle application, on the iPad. I tried downloading a free book, from the Apple iBooks application, on the iPad and it kept crashing, when I opened it, until I synced it and then I removed the book, I downloaded, from the iBook store, and it worked as before. Because of my experience and because you can only buy and see the Apple iBooks, via the iPad, I would have to recommend using the Amazon.com service, if you want to buy books, for now. You may run into the same problem, with Amazon.com's Kindle, but it won't screw up anything else. iBooks works so beautifully, with the free books I downloaded from Google and my own books that I would hate to lose the ability to use it just so I could buy a few books on it.

Barnes and Noble is now has an eReader app that is optimized for the iPad. I will try out the Barnes and Noble iPad application, soon, because I really like the way they have designed their website. It is so much simpler and easier to use than Amazon.com.

You should never enter credit card numbers, passwords, or any other information you don't want everyone else to see over a public wireless network. I would recommend getting a wireless network, in your home, with password protection, to buy things on, like the Amazon.com Kindle bookstore. All the apps on the application store can be bought, from your computer, via iTunes, so you don't need a wireless network, for that part, but many of the applications like Amazon.com's Kindle require that you buy books, from within their application, so you would need a wireless network, at home, for that.