Rec: the BookShelf E-reader for iThings

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

Hi! ::waves:

I've really enjoyed this community, and thought I might give something back. I'm reading fanfic on my iPod Touch. At first, I used Calibre/Stanza to convert and read fanfic on it. And that was fine. Sometimes I had trouble converting things in Calibre, so it always felt like a bit of a gamble, whether or not I'd be able to read the fic later on my iPod. And it was never quick. or easy.

And then I discovered the BookShelf E-book Reader for iPod, iPhone, & iPad. Wow! A great ebook reader on those devices: you can adjust the font sizes, styles, and colors, and can adjust the backgrounds too. You can lock it on vertical or horizontal if you like so that it doesn't flip orientation on you unexpectedly (like when you're reading in bed). And it has an "autoscroll" function so that you don't have to manually turn pages (for if you're reading while on the treadmill or exercise bike).

But what I like best about the software is the BookShelf Server (you download it separately onto your computer, but don't pay extra for it). No more converting fic! Just go to the webpage you want to save to read later, "save as" and make sure the suffix is .html, save the file into a folder on your hard drive. Later, after you've got a bunch of stories saved, just add the whole folder to the BookShelf Server, and upload the files onto the iThing. (there are really easy directions on how-to do all this, and it's very easy to do) The files convert magically, and then it's easy reading! I've had very, very few problems at all with this program, and it's made reading fic on my iThing extremely easy!

Disclaimer: yes, it's not free. I paid a couple of bucks at the App store, but it's been more than worth it!

EDIT: Apparently, there's a free trial version available. woohoo!

Comments

[amalthia]

I need a program like this for my zune player. :)

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

It might be useful to leave a note for the programmer at his website. He might know someone who is doing something similar for the Zune; or he might decide to write a program like this for the Zune himself, if enough people let him know there's a market for it....

[amalthia]

I might just do that. :) So far that is the one main frustration I've had with the Zune player, lack of 3rd party applications.

[kannnichtfranz.livejournal.com]

That sounds promising! Tell me more about this magic conversion -- how well does it clean up the html files you save? Like, sidebars, images, ads, etc?

Hmm, also, I don't think I can live without tagging, now, since I have probably hundreds of stories in my calibre library... from the webpage, I don't think it has tagging, right?

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...if it has tagging, I've never used it (with Calibre either). I organize via the folders I save the fic into. ::shrug:: works for me, YMMV.

Ads and sidebars seem to go away for the most part. Sometimes they get turned into a list of links at the bottom of the document (or top), but I ignore those. Art is tricky. Sometimes the art is displayed, sometimes it's ignored (or an X marks the spot where the art would be). I'm not sure that it's the conversion that does that, though; it may be a function of the website I'm saving of how I save it.

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

This looks VERY promising! I'm just starting to look into it, but are they saying you can create folders of stories? Like group them by fandom or something?

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

yes, exactly! That's just how I do it! I organize them on my computer that way, and the Bookshelf server lets you upload an entire folder and it's subfolders at the same time.

[marashapeshfter.livejournal.com]

I tried it and I'm really liking its easy html reading. Installing the server is simple and you just need to add the folder where you have your html files saved. It includes any images you have saved which is nice. It recognizes subfolders which is awesome.

Interface-wise I like Stanza more. The icons and how to do what in Bookshelf isn't as easy to understand without reading the manual. I also got some weird error response when I tried to browse livejournal, ao3, or ffnet where it focuses on the google ad and says error connecting then saves the googleads as an ebook.

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

Interface-wise I like Stanza more. The icons and how to do what in Bookshelf isn't as easy to understand without reading the manual. I also got some weird error response when I tried to browse livejournal, ao3, or ffnet where it focuses on the google ad and says error connecting then saves the googleads as an ebook.

When I first started using Bookshelf, I liked Stanza more, but after a while, I got to like Bookshelf more, and whenever I went to read something on Stanza, I found it clunky. YMMV, of course. I agree that there's a steeper learning curve with Bookshelf, but I think once you've mastered the interface, it's ultimately easier to use.

Hmmm. any "links" in the document aren't browse-able even though they're underlined as if they are. I'm not sure why they show up as links...

I've *never* had it save the google lead as an e-book! awesome! ;D

Glad you tried it; hope you like it going forward.

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

I finally got around to trying this out and I LOVE IT!! Thank you so much for posting about this!!

It solves a BIG problem I was having with Read It Later, in that RIL can't get around a lot of the adult protection on fanfics!

I have to do a *little* more work to save a story than I do with RIL, but in the end it's a wash since on RIL I have to tag fics after I upload them.

AND I just discovered something cool - the app uses the same folders regardless of what computer you're uploading from, so I can save fics at work AND at home, and they will all end up sorted together on the iPod.

I've been trying it out with the free version but I think I'm going to pop for the paid version so I can have more on my iPod at one time and not have to deal with the ads. (Which aren't really all that bothersome).

(People could totally get along with the free version if they really wanted to)

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

very cool! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Wow, I didn't even know there was a free version. They must have put it up after I already bought the thing. I have no regrets, though; the paid version isn't expensive, and it's been really worth it. But it's nice that there's a free version available so that folks can check it out to see if they like it!

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

They're kind of sneaky about it - it's called something like "BookShelfLT" and the icon is sort of the same, but a much shorter stack of books.