13
votes

What are my options for reading ebooks on my Android device?

There have been a number of questions about ebooks but I thought I'd pull the basics together into a Community Wiki.

Quick note on cross platform ebooks. It's possible to read the DRM'd Epub files on several devices, for example the Google books can be viewed by the Nook app. You have to do a couple things like sign up for Adobe Digital Editions... (this needs more explanation).


Lets try and keep the same formatting. If you come up with a better format then change this template too...

App Name:

( link to the app ↑ )

  • Marketplace - Where can you get books?
  • Format - What file formats does it support? Does it use DRM?
  • About - Simple explanation of what it's features, pros and cons are...

You can copy and past this for easy formatting:

##App Name: 

 - **Marketplace -** 
 - **Format -**  
 - **About -** 

8 Answers 8

8
votes

Aldiko:

Only does non-DRM'd ePubs. There are thousands of these books available but you're not going to be getting newly released copyrighted books. Great user interface but the no DRM limitation is a problem. Aldiko also has a paid app that has more features but it still doesn't let you load new DRM'd books from the major retailers.

1
  • 1
    The best part about Aldiko is that you can hook it in to custom catalogs, such as Drinkmalk drinkmalk.com/stanza
    – Bryan Denny
    Dec 7, 2010 at 1:42
4
votes

Kindle:

  • Marketplace - Amazon.com
  • Format - .azw (DRM'd), .txt, .mobi
  • About - I like this app. It's easy to switch your reading settings (brightness, font size...) on the fly. You can note and lookup text. It automatically syncs with all your devices so you can put one down and pick up reading on another right where you left off. As of v2 you can subscribe to magazines and newspapers via the Kindle store which will be regularly delivered to your Android device. Wikipedia and Dictionary.com word lookup whilst reading.
1
  • I know you can read PDFs, DOCs etc on a real Kindle, don't think the Kindle app will open them, and pretty sure Amazon's free conversion service will only deliver to physical Kindle devices? Will check later (as I have a Kindle 3 and the app on my Android). Probably worth mentioning the Kindle store has both DRM'd pay books and free classics available (Amazon say around 500,000 books currently).
    – GAThrawn
    Dec 7, 2010 at 15:12
2
votes

Laputa:

  • Marketplace = Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks, Avayewn + internal bookshelf
  • Format = ePub
  • About = Recommendation / Chinese Supported / RSS / Brightness Adjustment / Display Awake Control / Save to SD card / Page Flip Animation / Customizable Fonts / Day Night modes / Search / User defined categories
2
votes

Moon+ Reader:

  • Marketplace - Any 3rd party seller. No dedicated marketplace
  • Format - Supports txt, html, epub, fb2, umd and zip files.
  • About - Full visual options: line space, font scale, shadow, alignment, alpha colors, fading edge and more.
    • 10+ themes embedded, includes Day & Night mode switcher.
    • Various types of paging: touch screen, volume keys or even camera, search or back keys.
    • 21 customized operations (screen click, swipe gesture, hardware keys), apply to 15 customized events: search, bookmark, themes, navigation, font size and more.
    • 5 auto-scroll modes: rolling blind mode; by pixel, by line or by page. Real-time speed control.
    • Adjust the brightness by sliding your finger along the left edge of the screen.
    • Intelligent paragraph; trim unwanted blank spaces options.
    • “Keep your eyes health” options for long-time reading.
    • Real page turning effect.
    • My Bookshelf design: Favorites, Downloads, Authors, Tags; self bookcover, search, import supported.
    • Highlight, Annotation, Dictionary, Share functions.

Additional features include:

* Analyze chapters list automatically
* Mini reading status bar.
* Management for reading history, bookmarks, notes and highlights.
* Support outside font types.
* Support outside background images.
* Keep screen awake on reading.
* Switch full screen mode.
* 4 flip animations.
* Indent paragraph, trim blank spaces.
1
vote

Nook:

  • Marketplace - Barnes & Noble
  • Format - Epubs (DRM'd), .PDB, PDF
  • About - This app syncs your books across devices and has the ability to look up words. My only complaint is that it's a pain to change your reading preferences (brightness, font...) on the fly.
1
vote

iReader:

  • Marketplace = Any 3rd party seller. No dedicated marketplace
  • Format = TXT, CHM, PDB(EReader, Mobipocket), UMD(popular Chinese ebook format), HTML and Image files
  • About = Real book page flip / Auto-scrolling in cover mode / Support Font file / separate DAY and NIGHT theme sets / customizable action for side volume keys.
0
votes

Google Books:

  • Marketplace - Google Books and 3rd party sellers
  • Format - Epub (DRM'd),
  • About - Simple 1st gen app. It automatically syncs with all your devices so you can put one down and pick up reading on another right where you left off. It is easy to change the fonts and font sizes and switch between night and day mode as your read. There is a very cool feature that I have not seen in the other apps where, when you are reading one of the books that Google physically scanned, you can switch from the normal view to viewing the actual scanned in page. My only complaint is the lack of ability to make notes and lookup words. Currently US only.
0
votes

aReader:

  • Marketplace - FeedBooks, ManyBooks, Gutenberg, Smashwords
  • Format - Epub, PDF (With a pluggin), txt, chm,
  • About - aReader is a good alternative to other readers, it supports the major formats and is easy to use. You can left a book half-read and when you return the app remembers where you were. It allows you to configure the font size, page orientation, and the other usual stuff for readers.

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