Best freeware ebook reader for desktop?

A

Al Smith

Now that uBook has gone shareware, I've been looking around for a
new ebook reader for my Windows desktop computer (not my Palm,
which takes different ebook readers entirely). uBook stopped
working after I upgraded with Service Pack 2 in Windows XP, so I
need something else.

I've installed yBook, which seems pretty good, but it's a bit
clunky. Does anybody else have recommendations on a free ebook
reader for the PC?
 
T

Tom McDonald

Now that uBook has gone shareware, I've been looking around for a
new ebook reader for my Windows desktop computer (not my Palm,
which takes different ebook readers entirely). uBook stopped
working after I upgraded with Service Pack 2 in Windows XP, so I
need something else.

I've installed yBook, which seems pretty good, but it's a bit
clunky. Does anybody else have recommendations on a free ebook
reader for the PC?
Click to expand...

My preference is for Tom's eTextReader
http://pws.prserv.net/Fellner/Software/eTR.htm
Especially interesting is the integration with Project Gutenberg.
It runs for me under XP SP1, can't swear it works with SP2.
 
S

sno

I like and use "read assistant"....

http://www.softpile.com/Education/Literature/Review_06633_index.html

hope helps...have fun....sno

Al said:
Now that uBook has gone shareware, I've been looking around for a
new ebook reader for my Windows desktop computer (not my Palm,
which takes different ebook readers entirely). uBook stopped
working after I upgraded with Service Pack 2 in Windows XP, so I
need something else.

I've installed yBook, which seems pretty good, but it's a bit
clunky. Does anybody else have recommendations on a free ebook
reader for the PC?
Click to expand...

--
Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it

This tag line is generated by:

SLTG (Silly Little Tag Generator)
 
K

kcaj

Now that uBook has gone shareware, I've been looking around for a
new ebook reader for my Windows desktop computer (not my Palm,
which takes different ebook readers entirely). uBook stopped
working after I upgraded with Service Pack 2 in Windows XP, so I
need something else.

I've installed yBook, which seems pretty good, but it's a bit
clunky. Does anybody else have recommendations on a free ebook
reader for the PC?
Click to expand...


http://www.premier-programming.com/
 
J

Jeff Needle

Mike Mills said:
Does anybody else have recommendations on a free ebook
On checking this one out, it needed over 2 hours on my dialup
connection.
26Mb apparently. Rather large for what it does do you not think?
Click to expand...

And at the bottom of the page, there's a price mentioned. Funny for
something that's free.

"Limited time" offer? Why have a price at all?
 
J

Jeff Needle

And at the bottom of the page, there's a price mentioned. Funny for
something that's free.

"Limited time" offer? Why have a price at all?
Click to expand...

Adding to my own post, if a program is available free for a limited time, is
it considered freeware?
 
A

Al Smith

Tom McDonald said:
Seconded. Very good piece of sotware, and it's compactware.

For the suspicious: it's not Tom McDonald's sTextReader. ;-)

Q.
Click to expand...

This one looks pretty good. I'm downloading it now, and will try
it out. It seems to be able to handle TXT, RTF and HTML, and to be
able to look inside ZIP archives, which is the minimum I would
expect in an e-book reader. The latest Release Candidate even
seems to be able to read MS Word DOC files and Palm files. If it
can do all this smoothly, about the only thing it is missing is
the ability to see inside RAR archives.
 
S

sno

Al said:
This sounds like an interesting program, but its site is really
sparse -- no screen shots, no access to the author's home page.
All I get is a download site all in Russian. Not exactly
calculated to inspire confidence. Has anyone else used Read
Assistant 3.0? It is safe?
Click to expand...

It used to be a pay program...has been around for long time....
2002...???...before...???.....I especially like the scrolling...

It does try to call home...I do not know why...but I have it
blocked with zone alarm.....and works find...

If you want to try it...it is a little difficualt to set up initially...
send me email and will talk you through settings....

have fun.....sno

--
Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it

This tag line is generated by:

SLTG (Silly Little Tag Generator)
 
A

Al Smith

My preference is for Tom's eTextReader
This one looks pretty good. I'm downloading it now, and will try it out. It seems to be able to handle TXT, RTF and HTML, and to be able to look inside ZIP archives, which is the minimum I would expect in an e-book reader. The latest Release Candidate even seems to be able to read MS Word DOC files and Palm files. If it can do all this smoothly, about the only thing it is missing is the ability to see inside RAR archives.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to add that I installed Tom's eTextReader, beta 1.9.1,
and it looks like the reader I've been searching for. It is a very
nice program. I'm running the latest beta, but haven't encountered
any problems with it. I tried it out with Palm files, RTF, TXT and
HTML, both open files and files inside ZIP archives, and it
handled all of them. It will open and display RAR compressed
files, but the display is garbage.

The menus and controls are very sane, particularly in comparison
to uBook, which has always had a quirky and counter-intuitive
interface. It's easy to select any page via the graphic slider,
and to edit the text via the built-in text editor. You can, if you
wish, save the files to a unique ebook format (which is just a
text file with a different file termination) in order to keep them
separate for easy reference, but the program doesn't mess with
your existing archives if you don't want it to.

I was surprised by the number of useful options. The only
shortcoming I minded, other than the difficulty in displaying RAR
compressed files, is the limited choice of an interface. It would
be nice to be able to customize it more easily, and more
extensively. On the other hand, the existing interface choices are
very good.
 
A

Al Smith

This sounds like an interesting program, but its site is really
It used to be a pay program...has been around for long time....
2002...???...before...???.....I especially like the scrolling...

It does try to call home...I do not know why...but I have it
blocked with zone alarm.....and works find...
Click to expand...

I was able to find one screen shot of this program, and didn't
like the look of it. When I tried to download it from the Russian
site, about two-thirds came through, at a download speed of .4 k
per second, and the download self-aborted. I took this as a sign
from God that I should forget about this program and use Tom's
eTextReader instead. Which is what I've done.
 
K

kcaj

This one will actually read out loud to you, and it's free, but 26 MB is
a large download. Have you tried it, and how does it work for you?
Click to expand...

I have had it about 2 months. I didn't pay attention
to the size of the file. It reminds you of using
Microsoft Word, but of course the function
buttons, etc., are different.
 
T

Tom McDonald

I have had it about 2 months. I didn't pay attention
to the size of the file. It reminds you of using
Microsoft Word, but of course the function
buttons, etc., are different.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I look forward to trying it out.
 

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