With the proliferation of digital readers and assorted touch screen tablets, there’s an increase in the desire to read books, magazines, PDFs, etc. while on the go. We’re an increasingly mobile society, so being able to learn or be entertained wherever we are is important. Heck, i rarely go anywhere without my MacBook, and never without my BlackBerry (even the bathroom, sadly). I love having access to my library (or as much of it as possible) at all times.
There are several options available to sync our books and files across different devices on various platforms—Android, Linux, OS X, Windows—allowing us to continue reading on many devices.
Reading is great, but being able to manage our books, newspapers, comics, and files is vital, too.
One such program, Calibre, is the ultimate digital reader and management software. It even allows you to convert ebooks from one format (.mobi) to another format (epub). The software is constantly updated and supported via forums and contacting the developer/programmer.
The short demo video from the Calibre website shows the features.
My Apple lovers: there is software that works for syncing ebooks between iPhones, iPads and iPods; and by the demo video below and the reviews i’ve read, it looks good.
The software is LexCycle’s Stanza. I currently don’t own an iPod, iPad or iPhone, so if any readers have some personal experience with Stanza, please let me or the public know by commenting below.
I won’t waste time going into detail with the two big dogs’ offerings for ebook readers (Amazon Kindle App and Barnes & Noble’s eReader and nookStudy software), since they’ve received much mainstream coverage.
However, i want to talk about the new kid on the block: Copia. Released during November, Copia was developed as both software and yet another social networking site, this time geared towards book aficionados. It’s quite an interesting offering.
There is a version for PC, Mac and the iPad. The website has a coffee shop and bookshelf aesthetic, but besides the visual appeal, i had a difficult time enjoying or intuitively using the software.
It’s quite possible that i’ve experienced social network burnout over the years, especially since i belong to Shelfari and LibraryThing. Regardless, i think the integrated online bookstore and focus on group discussions and sharing with others are cool features, increasing Copia’s appeal.
I talk about books and digital technology quite a bit on Mental Ephemera. Their marriage is one of my passions. As i come across more software or devices, i’ll write some more posts.
I hope this was helpful. If so, reTweet and Recommend.
Thanks!