Bonus Round: Bluefire Reader, Calibre and FBReader
Last year, I attended a day-long event held by Visprint called “Writers in Talks” or WIT. (More on that fun day next time). One of the people in attendance was a representative of Flipreads, a local company that sells affordable, high-quality e-books by renowned Filipino and Asian writers.
When I got home, I checked out the Flipreads website. One of the e-readers that the digital distribution firm recommends for reading ePUB purchases on iOS is Bluefire Reader. Bluefire also works on Android devices, and accommodates PDFs.
I’ve loaded all my PDF and ePUB books onto Bluefire (those acquired from Flipreads and other free/paid services), giving me yet another alternative on my tablet and smartphone. Bluefire really came in handy while I was traveling last October to November; I used the app before I left my hostels, whenever I needed to get my bearings, and when sorting out the next day’s itinerary. Yep, I loved it — and the fact that I can edit my books’ metadata.
Bluefire also allows users to get material from other outlets, great for people who don’t want to go through Amazon, B&N, Kobo or other “mainstream” digital sellers for their e-books. You can also get more e-books and apps by tapping “Get Books” on the lower portion. Haven’t tried this yet (and Feedbooks); will do that soon.
I don’t really use my laptop for e-book reading; I depend more on my mobile devices for that. But I like having options for when I’m in the mood to read digital books on the 4755G. I found two e-book reader software for Linux users (and other platforms as well): Calibre and FBReader, both downloadable through the Ubuntu Software Center. Haven’t really put these two programs through the wringer, though. The only thing I can say so far is that I prefer Calibre’s way of showing me what e-books I have and how I can organize it. FBReader gives me just two alternatives for finding them: by author, and by tags.
Thoughts?
Leave your comments and/or suggestions below, or get in touch with me at thereadingspree (at) gmail (dot) com!
Note: This is not a sponsored post.