Database Users

[Q] What are the eReader options?

I just picked up a refurbed NC to add to my Android stable. Haven't done anything with it yet. I kind of like the stock ereader app in comparison with the Nook app that is on the Android Market. However, I do plan on rooting it and adding apps at a minimum.
My questions are:
1. Has anyone figured out how to get the stock ereader working on any of the custom ROMs?
2. If I want to retain the stock ereader and add capabilities to the device, do I only have two options (1. root stock, 2. dual boot)?
3. What are you guys doing for your ereading? How do you like the stock ereader in comparison with the alternatives? Has that influenced what you've done with the device? What are the best ereading apps?
I'd appreciate any feedback.

1. No; probably won't ever happen from what I've read.
2. Yes
3. I'm using FBReader and liking it. Never tried the stock reader. There are two or three other readers that are popular around here.

I may not fully understand the question...
My Nook Color is rooted with manual nooter, followed by an overclocked kernel.
The stock reader app works just fine, just like stock. All the stock features work just fine including B&N shopping and purchasing.
I did have some issue with program space, but once I moved all the android apps (Not the B&N apps!) to SD, space was freed up and all B&N apps installed and update just fine.
I have no reason to install any other reading application. The built in stock reader works great.

framitz said:
I may not fully understand the question...
My Nook Color is rooted with manual nooter, followed by an overclocked kernel.
The stock reader app works just fine, just like stock. All the stock features work just fine including B&N shopping and purchasing.
I did have some issue with program space, but once I moved all the android apps (Not the B&N apps!) to SD, space was freed up and all B&N apps installed and update just fine.
I have no reason to install any other reading application. The built in stock reader works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is asking about if you use a different rom the stock reader is only available on BN roms
I use either kindle app, nook app for magazines, and generic ones for epub and other such types. the stock one is nice but if you want to really expand the tablet it is a loss i was fine with.

Currently use FBreader for non-DRM'ed, Kindle for any Amazon purchases. Nook app is too buggy to use at the moment. Bluefire reader, which I really like on the iPad and iPod Touch, is only out for iOS atm but is supposed to be released for android in June -- I'm hoping it can read all DRM'ed books the way the iOS app can.

I'm using Moon+ reader
I am using the Moon+ reader and really like it. Biggest problem is lack of documentation (which I'm thinking of writing). Still needs some improvements, with book indexing, but has lots of nice features - automatic & locked screen orientation, finger slide for bright/dim settings, standard "squeeze" to change font size - tap & swipe & scroll paging - audio reading of books (like amazon, but voice not quite as good). It is very configurable - including fonts, backgrounds, margins, line spacing.
I already had all my books on the emmc card (sorry, I am running CM7 root off of my SD card) from my standard nook book and had no problems pointing Moon+ to look in the right location for my library.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I've found Aldiko superior to NC stock both for reading and browsing my epub titles. It also handles pdf, but not as well as ezPDF. For me, it strikes the best balance between ease of use and customization. Call me nuts, but I find cinnamon-on-mustard with the barest margin the most readable arrangement in any light.

I rooted and overclocked a new NC with 1.2 pre-installed, with no change in ROM so far. Rooting broke the ereader as well as the preloaded 'shop' app. Fortunately, books downloaded before the rooting procedure can still be read on the ereader, but nothing else. A couple side-loaded versions of the nook ereader app also do not work, and I haven't found any posts where anybody has gotten theirs working after root.
I use primarily the kindle app, but need an ereader that allows you to borrow ebooks from the public library.

mjf0000000 said:
I use primarily the kindle app, but need an ereader that allows you to borrow ebooks from the public library.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Overdrive is generally the library-borrowing app of choice, though I haven't used it myself.

Thanks taosaur, i'll try it

As taosaur mentioned, Ezpdf reader is the best pdf ebook reader. I generally only use it due to my heavy pdf collection (sorry epub fans). However, for certain books that have been "scanned" in or are heavy on pictures, I find that Adobe Reader is best for those; it's hardware accelerated.

Another vote for moon reader, very good program. The kindle app works pretty good too. Ezpdf reader is about the best pdf reader out there.

[Q] best way to convert .pdf ebooks to .epub for reading in aldiko or asus library...

I have a seemjngly endless collection of ebooks in .pdf format that i have been trying forever to convert to the .pub format for easy reading, and also (please forgive me for this and don't flame) in the style of I books on the I pad (which the Asus reader does very well, with the page turning animations and all)
My problem is this... when I use calibre to convert the .pdf document to the .epub format, certain characters like apostraphies or even quotation marks end up turning out like a square with an x in it... almost as though there was a problem transcoding the document. The page turn animation is all there, but the formatting has been lost and is nothing like the source material at all...
If anyone else has run into this at all, please share with me your solutions for getting the desired result. Alot of these books were digital downloads from either the publisher of the books I own, or strategy guides from either ign or Brady games...
Thanks for all the help that, hopefully, I am about to receive.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App

I am reading my .pdf files in Polaris Office. Found it the best experience, even though two big issues: no jump to page, no pdf bookmarks (got to re-create my own). But the zoom, fonts, smooth page transitions are great.
I do not have a good program to convert .pdf to .epub. I found when I tried to read .epub I created myself the Asus TF programs complain about some potential security issues and will not work.

I've tried several, but there's one which really stands out from the crowd. Calibre can convert from a wide variety of formats, it can do batch converts, and is quite intelligent about the way it reformats the text to fit the destination device. I had some trouble originally which came down to problems with the Asus reader application, but on the Honeycomb 3.1 build they are perfect. I have converted literally thousands of books (suprisingly quickly too) and am loving it. You can get it at calibre-ebook.com. Hope this helps.......

Give this one a try...
http://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-epub

If you guys haven't tried it out yet, eZPDF Reader is by far the best PDF reader on Android. Supports page cache (thank the lord), super cool page turn animations, speedy overall performance, really nice user interface/page selector thats always available.
It was free about a month ago off Amazon appstore.

Sounds like you need Calibre... it should take care of all your converting needs.
calibre-ebook.com/
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Manga Watcher work?

Okay my Nook Color got ruined over the weekend due to a flood in the basement. The only thing I ever used it for was reading Manga using Manga Watcher. Does anyone with a Nook Touch run or have tried to run Manga Watcher? I found a previous post about it not working but that was when the rooting of the Touch just occurred.

I've been using android comic viewer. I've tested several others, but this one worked the best so far. I can try manga watcher later on and tell you.

Okay thanks.

Cargo54,
I've downloaded mangawatcher from market without any problem (free version), and ran it. When I tried to download some manga, no one of them came. I don't know if the problem is that I'm not located in the US, or the problem is the app in the nook.
Couldn't get it to work any better.

Okay thank you.

I use Perfect Viewer for reading manga, it's totally customizable, you can rotate the screen by clicking on one corner, etc, and it works very well, I recommend it. For downloading manga I use Mango, because it has Submanga's support, which is a spanish web

I've been using Mango to read my manga. It works fine. I did a video that shows it briefly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnfqD1lqL9g
Mango is shown around the 4 minute mark

Thanks everyone. I will probably use perfect reader, and use mango to download. I just had paid for manga watcher and liked its whole setup.

Are Aldiko and other ePub apps available?

Are Aldiko and other ePub apps that are in the regular Amazon App Store still available on the Kindle Fire(actually in the store, I'm aware it can be sideloaded)?

Aldiko is in the app store but doesn't show as compatible with the Fire. I'm sure if you had the apk you'd be fine.
As far as available non-sideloading epub apps, there's a commercial app called Mantano but it's $7.49. Good reviews though.
And of course you could always just convert your stuff using Calibre for free.

I've installed MoonReader+ via the Android Pit app. I'd guess the free version would load also.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk

I have a followup question on ePubs (I did not want to open up a new thread).
Using Calibre is not an option. I need to get ePubs to be easily accessible on the Fire without rooting (sideloading is an option). This is for someone who basically has no technical skills whatsoever and it needs to be ... ready for the cliched phrase?..."easy as pie".
I can do the setup/sideloading, but they need to be able to go on websites, download the ePub, know where it is, and hopefully in either an app or a file manager one-click and its opened.
They aren't books, they are small documents.
I tried to sideload Aldiko, and yes it does open ePubs, BUT you have to manually import them each time. (It would be ideal if there is an app that automatically scans your internal storage and just "puts" the ePub file out in the open to select -- kind of likeezPDF does with pdf's).
I am really trying to get this to work for them because they are an Apple family and will most likely will turn to an iPad.... (alternatively, I may recommend the Nook Tablet which I believe natively supports pdf).
If there is a stable ROM that doesn't required constant updates/maintenance, I MIGHT be willing to consider that if it means having access to the Android Market and making the ePub thing alot easier.
Any feedback appreciated here!

moon reader opens directly - but the handling is a little bit complicated
take a look by yourself - it's on the market

Eddog4DROID, an easy thing I'd recommend is getting the 'Overdrive Media Console' app from the market, free (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.overdrive.mobile.android.mediaconsole).
If you borrow books from any public library in ePub format, they download directly through that app.
Also, if you have any ePub format files on your SD card (like your own books) you can probably save them on the Overdrive folder and open them (not sure though, haven't tried).
Here's a FAQ about the app in case you want to give it a try (http://www.overdrive.com/Software/OMC/faq.aspx).
Let us know how it goes if you try it.

Eddog4DROID said:
I tried to sideload Aldiko, and yes it does open ePubs, BUT you have to manually import them each time. (It would be ideal if there is an app that automatically scans your internal storage and just "puts" the ePub file out in the open to select -- kind of likeezPDF does with pdf's).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
get mantano reader https://market.android.com/search?q=mantano&c=apps
haven't really tried the Trial but I paid for the full software and I love it. Every book you have on fire (even pdf) will be sorted by author, Title, Series etc. in the Mantano Reader. It has also TTS so it reads your books for you if you want.

Aldiko does work for stock Fire. I use it all the time for reading scientific papers. For whatever reason, I had to grab the APK directly from their website; backing up the APK I had on my Droid X didn't work.
My first post, and I was able to supply an answer rather than ask a noob question.

Aldiko was very sluggish on my Fire, I went back to using the Kindle app from the Market. If the books I have/get are in epub format I either use Calibre to convert them or one of the free online converters.

Can Aldiko be setup the ePubs are automatically imported and shows up when the app starts?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium

Can Aldiko be setup the ePubs are automatically imported and shows up when the app starts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so far as i know - NO
correct me if i'm wrong

Not sure Overdrive is what I need. These are custom ePubs that are not books from Libraries. Thanks for the feedback though.
Again, just want to download ePubs from a website and have a quick way to open them.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium

as i said some posts ago: moon reader - nothing for you ?

Wow. Moon Reader. I over looked it but work great! Going with that one. It freezes up sometimes but well see... thanks again
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt

FB reader for the win.. you will have to dl apk and side load. But from what I have seen on other devices this is the fastest and most reliable epub reader ive seen.
also a note Though I have not used this on the KF yet. I did notice some notes in the latest patch that are kindle related... so the dev has KF in mind..
I have ALDIKO on my kf.. its my usual go to reader though I think its sloppy and sluggish it does have a nice overal design. and I dont mind the import feature.. '

I like kobo myself
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

Mantano Reader

I'm gonna get a Nook ST (root it right away) in the next few days and I currently use Mantano Reader on my phone. Just wondered if the Nook works ok when you scroll through your library of books ?. I have around 800 books so just wondered if it was a tedious process to scroll through your list of books due to the nature of the e-ink tech ?.

mug2k said:
I'm gonna get a Nook ST (root it right away) in the next few days and I currently use Mantano Reader on my phone. Just wondered if the Nook works ok when you scroll through your library of books ?. I have around 800 books so just wondered if it was a tedious process to scroll through your list of books due to the nature of the e-ink tech ?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scrolling works fine. A flick up or down seems to paginate just fine, at least in the limited testing I've done. No whizzing by too fast to see or similar. There is a bit of flicker as Mantano draws the book covers. I use the large icon view, so it's not terribly distracting, but using other modes with more icons will make this more noticeable.
I only keep about 50 books on my NST. I do subscribe to Mantano's cloud service. One problem I have noticed is that a sync operation will cause the NST to download every book cover again from their cloud service. This doesn't happen on my other Mantano devices (Droid 2, NOOK Color/CM10 and Samsung Galaxy Tab), so I assume it's an Android 2.1 eclair issue.
Do be aware that Mantano recently updated their reader app. The latest versions are not compatible with 2.1. The version of Mantano Reader Premium that I'm running is 2.2.12, and it hasn't updated in a while. This is the old "green" version. Out of curiousity, I tried Mantano Reader Essentials. While it is compatible with Android 2.1, it's not very usable, as they've updated that program with the new red screen and very pale interface elements.
Overall, Mantano Reader Premium 2.2.12 works very well on my NST. I've completely converted away from B&N's software for library and reading functions, and use Mantano exclusively.

bobstro said:
Scrolling works fine. A flick up or down seems to paginate just fine, at least in the limited testing I've done. No whizzing by too fast to see or similar. There is a bit of flicker as Mantano draws the book covers. I use the large icon view, so it's not terribly distracting, but using other modes with more icons will make this more noticeable.
I only keep about 50 books on my NST. I do subscribe to Mantano's cloud service. One problem I have noticed is that a sync operation will cause the NST to download every book cover again from their cloud service. This doesn't happen on my other Mantano devices (Droid 2, NOOK Color/CM10 and Samsung Galaxy Tab), so I assume it's an Android 2.1 eclair issue.
Do be aware that Mantano recently updated their reader app. The latest versions are not compatible with 2.1. The version of Mantano Reader Premium that I'm running is 2.2.12, and it hasn't updated in a while. This is the old "green" version. Out of curiousity, I tried Mantano Reader Essentials. While it is compatible with Android 2.1, it's not very usable, as they've updated that program with the new red screen and very pale interface elements.
Overall, Mantano Reader Premium 2.2.12 works very well on my NST. I've completely converted away from B&N's software for library and reading functions, and use Mantano exclusively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate got hold 2.2.12 and it works great, ditched aldiko and using this now. I like how when you swipe down the list it just moves down a page rather than how much you've swiped. I just use the small covers view, a bit smaller than I like but I can easily live with it.

mug2k said:
Thanks mate got hold 2.2.12 and it works great, ditched aldiko and using this now. I like how when you swipe down the list it just moves down a page rather than how much you've swiped. I just use the small covers view, a bit smaller than I like but I can easily live with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a method to download an older version of an app from Google Play? I don't see any obvious way to do it.
If there isn't, where can I go to to buy and download and apk of version 2.2.12?
thanks,
Jeff

repoocaj said:
Is there a method to download an older version of an app from Google Play? I don't see any obvious way to do it.
If there isn't, where can I go to to buy and download and apk of version 2.2.12?
thanks,
Jeff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it via 'other' means, I've already paid for the full version so I don't see why I can't grab older versions through share sites.

mug2k said:
I got it via 'other' means, I've already paid for the full version so I don't see why I can't grab older versions through share sites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious on Google Play.
thanks,
Jeff

What free version of Mantano Reader will work on Nook? I have 1.2.0 rooted with NookManager.