I use both MS reader and palm reader. Both ha

[welwyngc]

I use both MS reader and palm reader.

Both have their strengths and ..

I just heard that Palm will soon add the capability for when a word is highlighted to also SEARCH, which is not one of the choices now and a bit of a hassle with the TPC.

I love the ADD INK COMMENT feature in MS Reader.

I think that palm is the most pro-active in making regular improvements to their ebook reader SW.

It seems that the Adobe ebook reader is languishing - last updated late 2001!

[Big Lar]

I for one wish there was more innovation in this space. I love the idea behind reading on my Tablet. I frequently carry around at least 3 different reading materials at any one time: a magazine, a reference book and a book for pleasure reading. I've love to replace ALL of these items with the one other item I'm always carring with me, my Tablet PC.

I also enjoy reading on my Tablet. I just wish ALL mainstream magazines and books were available on the platform. Also, I'm a little surprised at the pricing for eBooks. New eBooks on Amazon.com cost about the same as new hardbacks! This is absurd. The publishing company has zero manufacturing costs associated with an eBook. Shouldn't they give me some sort of a break (at least paperback book cost) on the price?!? Seems like they should to me.

I think the publishing industry really doesn't want to allow eBooks to take off. You'd think they'd make more money in the long run, and be able to get to market faster with eBooks, but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't know enough about the industry.

What can we as consumers do to bring me closer to abandoning my print editions altogether?

--Lar

[Big Lar]

I for one wish there was more innovation in this space. I love the idea behind reading on my Tablet. I frequently carry around at least 3 different reading materials at any one time: a magazine, a reference book and a book for pleasure reading. I've love to replace ALL of these items with the one other item I'm always carring with me, my Tablet PC.

I also enjoy reading on my Tablet. I just wish ALL mainstream magazines and books were available on the platform. Also, I'm a little surprised at the pricing for eBooks. New eBooks on Amazon.com cost about the same as new hardbacks! This is absurd. The publishing company has zero manufacturing costs associated with an eBook. Shouldn't they give me some sort of a break (at least paperback book cost) on the price?!? Seems like they should to me.

I think the publishing industry really doesn't want to allow eBooks to take off. You'd think they'd make more money in the long run, and be able to get to market faster with eBooks, but maybe I'm wrong. I just don't know enough about the industry.

What can we as consumers do to bring me closer to abandoning my print editions altogether?

--Lar

[wraith808]

Well, I pretty much had started to supplement my regular book purchases with eBooks, until I ran across a problem...

I purchased eBooks on my laptop. Then a year later, I purchased my tablet, and wanted to read my eBooks on it. Well, they have to be activated, so could not be read on the tablet. So I told the nice people at MS and Amazon the problem and what i wanted to do. (the link to the book was dead by now). They pretty much told me that I'd have to rebuy the book.

Caveat Emptor is the only reply to that, I suppose...

[wraith808]

Well, I pretty much had started to supplement my regular book purchases with eBooks, until I ran across a problem...

I purchased eBooks on my laptop. Then a year later, I purchased my tablet, and wanted to read my eBooks on it. Well, they have to be activated, so could not be read on the tablet. So I told the nice people at MS and Amazon the problem and what i wanted to do. (the link to the book was dead by now). They pretty much told me that I'd have to rebuy the book.

Caveat Emptor is the only reply to that, I suppose...

[welwyngc]

Yes I agree - the various DRM structures can be a pain.

MS Reader now allows upto 8 activations.

If you did download an MSR ebook and have a copy, you can simply copy it over to your new PC - as long as you use the same activation code it will work

Palm Reader has a much better system and simply requires the purchasing credit card number to activate an ebook.

[welwyngc]

Yes I agree - the various DRM structures can be a pain.

MS Reader now allows upto 8 activations.

If you did download an MSR ebook and have a copy, you can simply copy it over to your new PC - as long as you use the same activation code it will work

Palm Reader has a much better system and simply requires the purchasing credit card number to activate an ebook.

[richardl]

I think all of the infrastructure features of Adobe eBook Reader have been integrated into Acrobat Reader 5.1, but the user interface and experience is quite different. (I wish Acrobat Reader's full screen mode had controls like their eBook reader.)

I am guessing that this is the result of a change in direction for Adobe away from the eBook Reader based on Glassbook to Acrobat Reader and away from eBooks as an end in-and-of themselves toward eBooks as a technological capability of Acrobat applicications. The market for general publishing of eBooks a la Amazon.com seems to have fizzled. (Have you ever actually bought any eBooks? I haven't.) It makes sense for Adobe to leverage Acrobat Reader which seems to be going like gangbusters.

[richardl]

I think all of the infrastructure features of Adobe eBook Reader have been integrated into Acrobat Reader 5.1, but the user interface and experience is quite different. (I wish Acrobat Reader's full screen mode had controls like their eBook reader.)

I am guessing that this is the result of a change in direction for Adobe away from the eBook Reader based on Glassbook to Acrobat Reader and away from eBooks as an end in-and-of themselves toward eBooks as a technological capability of Acrobat applicications. The market for general publishing of eBooks a la Amazon.com seems to have fizzled. (Have you ever actually bought any eBooks? I haven't.) It makes sense for Adobe to leverage Acrobat Reader which seems to be going like gangbusters.

[wraith808]

Well, I had changed my hotmail e-mail address, also... so that was part of the problem. At least there was only one expensive book that I was out of.

[wraith808]

Well, I had changed my hotmail e-mail address, also... so that was part of the problem. At least there was only one expensive book that I was out of.

[lark]

Does anyone subscribe to a newspaper or magazine for their tablet? I was thinking of downloading Zinio Reader, and getting a daily paper on the TPC. I purchased 2 ebooks a few years ago, but thought the selection at that time was pretty limited. Will Zinio also read ebooks, or do I also need an ebook reader?

[lark]

Does anyone subscribe to a newspaper or magazine for their tablet? I was thinking of downloading Zinio Reader, and getting a daily paper on the TPC. I purchased 2 ebooks a few years ago, but thought the selection at that time was pretty limited. Will Zinio also read ebooks, or do I also need an ebook reader?

[Gromit]

AFAIK, Zinio is magazines only.

I have 3 subscriptions through Zinio (1 was a freebie). I'm really behind on reading them though. I thought I would use it more than I have, but I guess I don't have that much down time. It has come in handy when I wasn't around a wireless connection and needed to kill some time.

Newspaper subs would be nice.

[Gromit]

AFAIK, Zinio is magazines only.

I have 3 subscriptions through Zinio (1 was a freebie). I'm really behind on reading them though. I thought I would use it more than I have, but I guess I don't have that much down time. It has come in handy when I wasn't around a wireless connection and needed to kill some time.

Newspaper subs would be nice.

[Big Lar]

Lark,

For eBook reading, you'll want to download Microsoft Reader and Adobe Acrobat eBook Readers. They are both free, and should handle 99% of the available eBook formats out there. I'm not sure why magazines aren't coming out in these more standardized eBook formats.

I've looked at Zinio, but it seemed slow, bloated and buggy. Perhaps they've addressed these issues with updates. I love the of getting magazines in an eBook form. I just don't know why another reader/browser is needed. Why not just publish them in PDF or LIT?

--Lar

[Big Lar]

Lark,

For eBook reading, you'll want to download Microsoft Reader and Adobe Acrobat eBook Readers. They are both free, and should handle 99% of the available eBook formats out there. I'm not sure why magazines aren't coming out in these more standardized eBook formats.

I've looked at Zinio, but it seemed slow, bloated and buggy. Perhaps they've addressed these issues with updates. I love the of getting magazines in an eBook form. I just don't know why another reader/browser is needed. Why not just publish them in PDF or LIT?

--Lar

[imranq2]

believe zinio uses pdf for rendering. they added code for checking and downloading magazines on top.

my issue is that i can't get pdfs to use cleartype so they come out looking jagged.

-imran

[imranq2]

believe zinio uses pdf for rendering. they added code for checking and downloading magazines on top.

my issue is that i can't get pdfs to use cleartype so they come out looking jagged.

-imran

[Spencer]

I agree there Lar. There are several magazines I like to read in digital format, which LIT format works just fine for. Zinio is a nice idea to add some of the "real life" effects in there, but a bad job of implementing and not really worth having a seperate application for.

[Spencer]

I agree there Lar. There are several magazines I like to read in digital format, which LIT format works just fine for. Zinio is a nice idea to add some of the "real life" effects in there, but a bad job of implementing and not really worth having a seperate application for.

[lark]

What is LIT format? I did download Zinio, and got a free issue of Biz Week. I agree, that Zinio is very slow, and the insert cards are annoying. I would like to get a magazine subscription, in another format, but the selection of magazines seems so limited. I have looked at The Newsstand, Inc., but did not see any mags I would like to get. Any suggestions on another site to browse?

[lark]

What is LIT format? I did download Zinio, and got a free issue of Biz Week. I agree, that Zinio is very slow, and the insert cards are annoying. I would like to get a magazine subscription, in another format, but the selection of magazines seems so limited. I have looked at The Newsstand, Inc., but did not see any mags I would like to get. Any suggestions on another site to browse?

[wraith808]

lit format is the format for MSReader documents.

[wraith808]

lit format is the format for MSReader documents.

[bloom]

Try www.newsstand.com

You can get a great selection of daily newspapers. The prices are the same as subscription prices for the paper edition. The individual daily editions cost the same as the newsstand.

I'm trying a month subscription to 2 papers. I will tell you it is the first time I felt that my HP 10.4" screen was a disadvantage, rather than a plus (I wanted a smaller size screen).

The amount of time you spend zooming in and zooming out so you are able to actually read it, is a little much. It uses Adobe Reader as a viewer. I think it is a little faster than Zino and doesn't spend so much time on cute page turning effects.

A couple benefits. Obviously no ink on your fingers. It's lighter than carrying 3 or 4 newspapers. AND all the pictures and even ads are in color, which is nice.

Today's only day 1. I'll post future impressions as I try to use it over the next month.

[bloom]

Try www.newsstand.com

You can get a great selection of daily newspapers. The prices are the same as subscription prices for the paper edition. The individual daily editions cost the same as the newsstand.

I'm trying a month subscription to 2 papers. I will tell you it is the first time I felt that my HP 10.4" screen was a disadvantage, rather than a plus (I wanted a smaller size screen).

The amount of time you spend zooming in and zooming out so you are able to actually read it, is a little much. It uses Adobe Reader as a viewer. I think it is a little faster than Zino and doesn't spend so much time on cute page turning effects.

A couple benefits. Obviously no ink on your fingers. It's lighter than carrying 3 or 4 newspapers. AND all the pictures and even ads are in color, which is nice.

Today's only day 1. I'll post future impressions as I try to use it over the next month.

[Rod]

quote:Originally posted by bloom

Try www.newsstand.com

...

A couple benefits. Obviously no ink on your fingers. It's lighter than carrying 3 or 4 newspapers. AND all the pictures and even ads are in color, which is nice.

...

You forgot the third fourth and fifth benefits -:

3. being able to get these newspapers at all! I can only get a few of them here in New Zealand,

4. those that I do get are days or even weeks out of date.

5. Plus I have to travel by car into a crowded city to get 'em.

[Rod]

quote:Originally posted by bloom

Try www.newsstand.com

...

A couple benefits. Obviously no ink on your fingers. It's lighter than carrying 3 or 4 newspapers. AND all the pictures and even ads are in color, which is nice.

...

You forgot the third fourth and fifth benefits -:

3. being able to get these newspapers at all! I can only get a few of them here in New Zealand,

4. those that I do get are days or even weeks out of date.

5. Plus I have to travel by car into a crowded city to get 'em.

[Big Lar]

I wonder if the NYTimes crossword puzzle is interractive? Did they implement it as a form in Acrobat so you can fill it out and score it inside the document? Now that would rock!

--Lar

[Big Lar]

I wonder if the NYTimes crossword puzzle is interractive? Did they implement it as a form in Acrobat so you can fill it out and score it inside the document? Now that would rock!

--Lar

[wraith808]

Actually, if you print it into Journal, you can write on it interactively with Journal. I do this with the USA Today crosswords.

[wraith808]

Actually, if you print it into Journal, you can write on it interactively with Journal. I do this with the USA Today crosswords.

[Gareth Sargeant]

Lar (or anyone else),

I read a while back that there was a TPC Powertoy for crosswords on the MS site that was taken down because it was too buggy. Do you know anything about it? Did you use it. It is the perfect type of pen application.

Gareth

[Gareth Sargeant]

Lar (or anyone else),

I read a while back that there was a TPC Powertoy for crosswords on the MS site that was taken down because it was too buggy. Do you know anything about it? Did you use it. It is the perfect type of pen application.

Gareth

[wraith808]

I used something like that... but it wasn't an MS powertoy. AcrossLite is the name of it... and it hooks into the same type of files that USA Today uses.

http://www.litsoft.com/

Just get the crossword puzzle, then print it into journal.

[wraith808]

I used something like that... but it wasn't an MS powertoy. AcrossLite is the name of it... and it hooks into the same type of files that USA Today uses.

http://www.litsoft.com/

Just get the crossword puzzle, then print it into journal.