Forum: Author Hangout

Mac: BookReader, Clearview or Apple Books?

Crumbly Writer 🚫

Just tooling around, and I encountered a discussions about Clearview (Mac ebook reader), which then lead me to BookReader (ditto). Both are very old products, and the comparisons compared them to the older iBook reader. Has anyone here used these products, and how do they compare with the current Apple Books app (aside from reader the out-dated ebook formats). Moreover, why would anyone pay $9.99 for these over the free ones, especially when Calibre essentially offers much of the same thing? (i.e. should I continue looking into it, or just ignore them all?)

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Crumbly Writer

ebook readers need limited functionality. Once the minimum is met, then different features don't matter much.

An ebook reader needs to display the text decently and allow decent customization for taste and maybe disability, and if one has multiple devices, then sync reading positions between those devices.

Apple's Books app meets all the necessary criteria and it's free, so I stopped looking for other readers when they released it. It has a bug that is highly annoying, but with an easy workaround. It refuses to use updated versions of the same book unless you delete the book first and then download the new version.

So, in my opinion, going for these old readers is a waste of effort.

But, then again, if you're looking, it means you're not satisfied by Books' functionality, so those old one may be better for you.

Replies: Crumbly Writer rustyken

Crumbly Writer 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

One distinction that I would appreciate over Apple Books, is being open to open multiple books in tabs, as opposed to how AB does it, which is to show multiple books, and then open ONLY that one, forcing you to back out and reopen another. That's just bad design!

But back to my original question, I don't think having multiple tabs is worth a $9.99 price tag. :( Now, if it had a couple more features, then I'd consider it.

rustyken 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

I am currently using BookReader v5.14 on my iMac and MacBook for most ePubs. This is because iBook did not like the large number of books I have that came from sources other than the Apple book site. I currently have over 240 books in BookReader. There are several features that I would like to see added, but it works so I can deal with the shortcomings...well at least until something better comes along.

Cheers

Replies: Crumbly Writer

Crumbly Writer 🚫

@rustyken

That sounds like me, since the majority of my Apple Books books are mine, as I test out and track my novels during editing, and keep them around for referencing later. The key is to NOT attempting to load them through Apple, but to use AutoDrop it to a nearby device, which seems to work flawlessly (at least in my experience).

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Forum: Author Hangout

Mac: BookReader, Clearview or Apple Books?

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