Do you have an ereader?

[SadieKate]

Probably won't work on library books because they are drm protected.... but I'll check it out

I must be missing something but . . .

Overdrive has ePub format and B&N Nook software is available for the iPod.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook...uch/379002320/

Additionally, Overdrive says you can use ePub with this software
http://www.overdrive.com/software/omc/

[limewave]

I just started checking books out on the library on my kindle too. Free books is a nice thing.

[smilingcat]

liking my color droid tablet with 7" screen similar size to the fire but for a lot less, I'm uber happy.

Reading Kindle books, reading pdf books... I just need a manual on kindle so I can use some of the features like bookmarking and some note taking??

Not much into reading regular newspaper just don't have time. Gave up on NYT, Barrons, Wall Street Journal years ago. Lately, reading Reuters, Bloomberg... and occasionally Der Spiegel.

[ny biker]

Reviving an old thread.

As documented elsewhere, I bought a Kindle Fire HDX which up and died shortly after the warrenty expired. I recently replaced it with a Samsung Galaxy tablet, specifically the Tab S2. Now I have tons of stuff to read for work, books about database development. There are some that I can download for free in epub format, so I figured I would download them to the tablet. Last night I attempted to research the various ebook-reader apps that are available. I downloaded FB Reader and will probably also try Moon +.

But I think I am just not smart enough for all this. I can't figure out how to use FB reader for anything other than the free copy of Jane Eyre that they offered on their start page. I'm just staring at it, clicking things that don't help me at all.

I was planning to buy a programming book which is more than 1000 pages long. After reading comments on various threads here about real textbooks being more useful than e-textbooks, I figured I'd buy a combination real book plus ebook, which the publisher can save to a Dropbox account. Then I can read the real book at home but have access to the ebook from other locations. Except this plan only works if I can figure out how to actually read the damn thing on a tablet or pc.

And I just spent about an hour trying to figure out which micro SD card to buy to add memory to the new tablet. I just wanted to know which type to get so I don't end up getting something that's not compatible. First I had trouble finding the manual on the Samsung website because the model number on the tablet is only 6 characters but they expect you to choose from a list where all the model numbers are more like 12 characters long. So I finally find the right manual and it gives pretty much no information at all, just "micro SD or micro SDHC." So I do an online chat with someone at Samsung who has to transfer me to someone else who doesn't really help me. So I decide to contact tech support at the store where I bought the tablet, but I need a reference number from the receipt for that but can't find the receipt because I don't know where I put it after I returned the first one I bought and got another one because the first one didn't work. I finally find the receipt and contact them and they say I can buy pretty much anything, SD or SDHC or SDXC and don't worry about the class because anything will work. So I am going to bring the tablet to their store and buy one and put the card in the tablet right there so if it doesn't work I can return it immediately. But really this just seems more complicated than it has to be.

Meanwhile I'm trying to find out the filesize of the ebook version of the book that's more than 1000 pages long, but that was no where on the publisher's website so I had to email them. Oh and I looked at a sample of the Nook version of the book, and the layout on the code samples is all messed up, which makes the book useless. So the Nook version is not an option, and I'm not risking the Kindle version either. Which brings me to the epub version, but I can't figure out how the apps work.

Sigh.

[Catrin]

The native file type for Nook books is epub, so if it is messed up in your Nook software it likely will be messed up anyway. If you purchased the ebook directly from the publisher there may, or may not, be DRM issues - but if that was a problem then I would expect you to have had an error message directly related to that.

You may have better luck with the Calibre software - I use that to convert ebooks (without DRM protection) between my various ebook format where possible. You can use it to read ebooks, so give it a shot. BTW, I've a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 that I use to read my Nook books these days since my Nook died and I moved on to the Kindle Paperwhite. I think sometimes there are problems with large, complex texts that a publisher has made available on epub because they don't stop to consider some the the special elements needed for an ebook environment. I mean the ability to change font size, border size, how the text flows, etc. This is why it can be dicey to convert a PDF to e-book formats as well.

Hopefully some of that helped at least a little, I share your pain on this.

[ny biker]

Thanks!

I looked for a Calibre app last night but couldn't find it. I saw a few apps that appeared to be utilities for Calibre but didn't really know what they were.

Somehow I managed to get Moon+ to open one of the free epub books i downloaded today, though i don't remember how i did it. (Yes this is an appropriate time to wonder how someone so hopeless with hardware and apps could ever do software programming. I can't explain it. ) So I guess I will use Moon+ as my ereader, at least for now. I still have some Kindle books to read, so I'll use the Kindle app for that. For future non-technical books I might use Nook just because I'm still annoyed at Amazon.

Re: the Nook version of the long book I plan to buy, I looked at a sample on the Barnes and Noble site, where I saw the layout problem. Then I looked at an ebook sample on the publisher's site, and it was fine. If I buy from the publisher (O'Reilly ), I get it in several formats and they will update my copy when they make corrections. As near as I can tell, if I buy a Nook book from B&N I don't get any updates and if i don't like it then I'm SOL. So it seems worthwhile to buy from the publisher.

For my next trick, I need to open a Dropbox account. Let's hope that at least will be easy.

[Catrin]

Thanks!

I looked for a Calibre app last night but couldn't find it. I saw a few apps that appeared to be utilities for Calibre but didn't really know what they were.

Somehow I managed to get Moon+ to open one of the free epub books i downloaded today, though i don't remember how i did it. (Yes this is an appropriate time to wonder how someone so hopeless with hardware and apps could ever do software programming. I can't explain it. ) So I guess I will use Moon+ as my ereader, at least for now. I still have some Kindle books to read, so I'll use the Kindle app for that. For future non-technical books I might use Nook just because I'm still annoyed at Amazon.

Re: the Nook version of the long book I plan to buy, I looked at a sample on the Barnes and Noble site, where I saw the layout problem. Then I looked at an ebook sample on the publisher's site, and it was fine. If I buy from the publisher (O'Reilly ), I get it in several formats and they will update my copy when they make corrections. As near as I can tell, if I buy a Nook book from B&N I don't get any updates and if i don't like it then I'm SOL. So it seems worthwhile to buy from the publisher.

For my next trick, I need to open a Dropbox account. Let's hope that at least will be easy.

The utilities you noticed for Calibre are usually related to moving an ebook from specific formats to others - some of the 3rd party utilities will remove DRM protection. Now that I think about it, I'm unsure if there IS an Android version of Calibre, I will have to look into that. I use it on my Windows machine the very rare times I've needed it. I've a large number of very old ebooks from a source that no longer is in business so I have to use Calibre to convert them to my ebook reader of choice.

O'Reilly has a good reputation for supporting their e-books, that is certainly the best direction for you given the technical nature of your texts. Neither B&N or Amazon will update the text when corrections are issued - at least I don't think so. Glad that you've found what sounds like your solution!