ipad for reading (not just golden-age) comics

[moondood]

The viewer I use is ComicZeal and it allows you to zoom as much as you want.

===========================

I just looked into ComicZeal and while it does look pretty cool, I won't be popping for the 8 bucks right now.

I use Cloudreaders...an all-around free ipad reader of CBZ, CBR, PDF.  It's free and zooming isn't a problem.

I have other free ipad readers, but they seem to lose the zoom when the page is turned or scrolled.  Cloudreaders keeps the zoom in place all the way thru.

I generally read my comics with the ipad in sideways / landscape mode, zoom to fit the cover side to side [displaying roughly the top half of each page], scroll down as I read, then "flip" to the next page....scroll, flip, etc.

This works fine for me for now.  ComicZeal does have an organizing aspect to it--like itunes does with music, so that's an attractive option, but for a free reader, CloudReaders does the job.

MoonDood

[tbdeinc]

I've done a much simpler method to reading comics from the golden-age...

I uzip the cbr and cbz files...
i drop them into iphoto or drop them into a central folder...
and sync my iPad to iphoto or the central folder...

[misappear]

Hi folks,

Thought I might chime in on this one. 

I've used a Pandigital Novel for reading ebooks and comics.  Comics were tough because you couldn't put them into the photos section in folders, so I'd only load one at a time.  That got old quickly.  As far as the ebooks went, they looked fine, but often the machine wouldn't hold the correct page when I would exit, so I took to carrying a little slip of paper with notes for that purpose.  The machine was cheap, tho.  I got it on sale at Kohl's for $115.00.  I think the 7 inch screen is to small for comics without zooming.

I bought an iPad about two weeks ago.  16 gb, no 3G.  Most of the comics I read are from prior 1970, so the larger fonts are very readable on the iPad without zoom.  I'm using Comiczeal because $8.00 is like, what, 2 Big Mac meals?  The app sorts comics into boxes based on same title.  Nice feature.  The old two-column pulps in cbr/cbz look fine as well, no zoom necessary. 

The photo section puts things into folders, so you could convert to jpeg and sync photos if you don't like using a comic reader, but there are a couple out there that are free. 

I manage my ebooks with Calibre, which allows for direct links to an iPad, which makes me happy. 

All in all, I love the thing.   If they reduce the size of the screen on newer versions, tho, that would suck.  It's almost funny that the pad has a music feature.  I just can't see strolling around with that monster, listening to tunes.  Kind of evokes memories of those bozos who used to carry around boom boxes the size of Rhode Island.

--Dave

[Yoc]

Thanks for the review M.
And if you find anything more to tell us on the iPad or anything else please let us know.
I'm going to sit on the fence and see what shows up and is good in Wave 2.

[John C]

I haven't looked at it, and don't know what's available for it, but the guys at the office have been raving about Sony's Chumby-based offerings, too.

http://dash.chumby.com/

Looks way too big for the screen, but hey, it's also half the price of the next (serious) competitor.

[misappear]

I forgot one big drawback of an iPad--the screen protector.  These hunks of plastic that you put on top of the screen cost anywhere between $15 (Walmart verson) and $30 (official Apple).  Problem is, putting on one of these things and not getting a bunch of bubbles caught under is impossible.  I put one on, (after struggling with the thing for more than an hour) and it looked like poop and detracted from function.  I removed it, but now I have to be obsessively careful with the screen.  I bought a folder for it (Apple again, $30) So it will nickel and dime you at first.  If you're one of those all-thumbs people, this might be an issue.

Best Buy offered to put the screen thing on for me (for a charge, of course) which I opted out of.  It might be a good idea, but it bugs me that if something is sold to the public directly, you should be able to use it without "professional" help.

Also, I've checked out Sony's Dash.  It doesn't strike me as portable.  I was stuck by it's odd shape, and wondered immediately what niche it served.

I shopped readers for a while, but I'd be remiss in not pointing out that as both a student and high school teacher, I store all my textbooks and copies of the books the kids are reading in class so I don't have to carry a ton of texts with me.  I have two classrooms and I'm always leaving something behind and needing to send a kid back to get a book, which takes away time from our already very short classes.  The iPad filled some very specific needs for me which won't apply to everyone for sure.

Quick little story.  I was reading some 1950's comic that I would never otherwise own because of current price.  I had the device in the aforementioned folder and it gave me the very real feeling of holding a comic book.  I laughed out loud when I folded the folder's cover back around, just like I would have 50 years ago.  I was 7 again for about 1/2 a second.  It felt good.

[Yoc]

Interesting.  Nothing I'd buy though.
From the side it looks to have a 3" 'bottom' that it stand on.  Bulky. Not a true tablet.
The price is nice but I see you can't expand any memory - they don't even tell you how much memory it has!
Some say it doesn't come with an internet browser.  I imagine you would buy an 'app' for that.
Reviews on the Sony site complain the USB port is fubar as well.

[Yoc]

Problem is, putting on one of these things and not getting a bunch of bubbles caught under is impossible.  I put one on, (after struggling with the thing for more than an hour) and it looked like poop and detracted from function.

Ha!  This sounds very much like a window film I installed that in greyish and is supposed to cut down the heat entering a house.  I zapped the leftover bubbles after trying for a good while to squeeze them out by using a fine pin and popping them.

[narfstar]

Anyone seen the ads for the Dell Flippy. Laptop with removable screen that becomes an epad. Lenovia had one but I am convinced Apple paid them not to put it on the market. I hope this comes out soon.

[Yoc]

Yeah I saw one on tv somewhere.  But I couldn't see how big the screen was.
A fun idea as long as it's durable too.

[narfstar]

The reviews for the Dell Flip have not been good. I got a Arnova 10 and so far have not been happy with it. There is almost no documentation including on onsite manual. The turn from landscape to portrait seems based on the ap and the picture viewer does not turn. I used a scan folder of jpgs to try it since I do not have acomi reader for it yet. For some reason the picture viewer reads the files from finish to start. Not that much of a problem once you know that. The pictures have to be flipped one at a time which is a major pain. The upside is that they do look fine and are very readable full page. The ebook reader has already stopped working and there seems to be no way to deal with such things. I will most likely be taking it back. I do now know that comics look good enough to read on these devices which is a plus if I get a different one

[Yoc]

Thanks for the warning about the Arnova 10 Narf.
GL on your hunt.  Please keep us informed on this interesting topic.

[narfstar]

I went online with the Arnova and got some appsl. The apps make things better. The Droid comic app works great. The book reader app that came with it I do not like. I downloaded another and it is much better. The only thing I do not like is you have to download the books rather than use ones you may already have. Interesting thing about the book reader app is that it will portrait orient either way most apps will only do one. So maybe the Aronva will not be so bad. At only $200 for a ten inch the price is better than most any other.

[Yoc]

Download comics Only???
Really?  So you can't read your own cbz or cbr files?  That's a deal breaker for me.

[narfstar]

NO NO the comic reader does read my comics I already had. I was referring to one of the ebook readers, other ebook readers can read from an sd card. Each app has its own specific workings and take time to get used to.  I LOVE THE ARNOVA FOR COMICS! I think they look much better than on a computer screen. I pulled up Amazing Man 17 to try a fiche and it looked better on the computer even. I guess it is the learning curve to get to learn how to use the apps. At this point I would not highly recommend the Arnova but it is still early so give me time to really decide.