Epub 1.0.5 and the iPad

 I've just got an ereader for the first time. A couple of days before receiving it I contacted bible.org to ask whether the NET Bible was available in a suitable format, and they kindly pointed me to this discussion.

The particular ereader (Pixelar MReader) I purchased can access files in a plethora of formats: PDF(drm), EPUB(drm), PDF, TXT, CHM, FB2, RTF, TCR, PDB, HTM, PRC, HTML, EPUB, DJVU, IW44, IW4, DJV, JPG, BMP, PNG, TIF, GIF, MP3 ( http://www.mye-reader.co.uk/ereader.php ) so I was quite hopeful.

I then downloaded the MS Word format NET Bible intending to simply open it in my word processor (Apple Pages) and save it in another format suitable for the ereader. It just so happened that the very same day Apple sent me an auto update for the word processor that added an option to export files to epub format (!) so I gave it a try.

[Tangent: Anyone else remember the days when trying to open a document with too many pages could crash your whole system...]

It took a couple of minutes for the .doc file to open, but 'Export' → 'ePub' worked fine. Unfortunately the file then crashed my ereader.

My guess is that this was due to the fact the text is formatted in two columns. As I say, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to ereaders, but before things went wrong the text on either side of the (central) dividing line was legible, but from different parts of the Bible! (Note - this version has no textual notes, which others have suggested cause problems).

Having deleted the epub file I then used the export feature to create a pdf, and this worked fine on the ereader. I could arguably export to txt & rtf at some point in order to compare ease of use - as pdfs are not really ideal for ereaders, even with the handy reflow option. But it looks very much like this could crash the device again as the central column would almost certainly mess the process up.

(I may also get round to downloading & using calibre in the near future as well, as I expect it reformats documents without the need to actually open them.)

The long and the short of it is that the NET Bible can be accessed via pdf but that if bible.org could provide a download of the text without columns that would make it better-suited to ereaders, as it could then be reformatted effectively via something like calibre (or a word processor). If they wanted to make it as easy as possible for non-techies they could perhaps provide ready-made (columnless) downloads in a choice of the most widely used ereader formats.

Any comments from the publishers would be gratefully appreciated.

As e-books are getting more popular,  louder criticism is heard on e-reader hardware and epub 1.0.5 software. Will there be any alternative to ePub? My Lulu textbook is “heavily designed” and will not work in ePub. I’m currently having Lulu use Adobe DRM (Adobe Digital Editions) on the PDF. Unless Adobe  does an iPad version of ADE, I don’t see a way around this. Any suggestions?

Now that is cool.  I love how convienient everything is becoming!  I think I need an ipad! :)

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I have just bought an Ipad and I have to say that so far I am very happy wiht it.... :)