eReaders on the 7HT Like Aldiko and WordPlayer

[AllenPapapetrou]

Aloha Y'all,

I've noticed a number of us plan to use the 7HT for eReading.

I was very pleased to see the 7HT ships with the Aldiko eReader App since Aldiko is my favorite eReader App on the 5IT. I really like the Bookshelf UI.

Aldiko
There were two Archos only versions of Aldiko from Aldiko.com. The only version I've found to work flawlessly is version 1.1.6 in Archos AppsLib which Tiffany Wang from Aldiko.com confirmed in an email response to my Tech Support question. Aldiko uses epub formated ePublications as does WordPlayer.

WordPlayer
WordPlayer adds TTS (Text To Speech) to turn a visual reading experience into an aural reading experience - an epub file becomes an audio book with WordPlayer. To get working on the 5IT, I've used the Market Crack and downloaded some Google apps.

From discussions on the 5IT forum it appears Google is opening up its Market to tablets w/o the previous "phone" hardware requirements. As soon as my 7HT arrives I'll try to get WordPlayer's Audiobook feature going.

Calibre
WordPlayer has one more interesting feature. It can use Calibre as an ePublication server to obtain files from its repository on your PC - Mac, Linux or WinBox. Calibre is to ePublications as Windows Media Player (or iTunes) is to A/V files. It allow users to:

1. Manage ePublications
2. Convert formats
3. Receive and control free web "subscription" feeds.

For Calibre's web site click: Here.

Other eReaders
I have 6 eReaders on my 5IT which I use for varied formats, including a couple for PDF files. I'll be checking them out on the 7HT when I get it. I'm interested in the experiences others will have using the 7HT as an eReader and look forward to your reports.

ArchosFans Wiki
The ArchosFans Wiki is truly an invaluable resource our community has created. (Thank you Charbax ) Much of the material is oriented to 5IT owners. Our Wiki is kinda like a really big User's Guide. With the introduction of the 7HT we have the opportunity to build, in our Wiki, the same kind of knowledge base for the 7HT. The Wiki syncs perfectly with our Forums with many crosslinks between Forum discussions and the collaborative Wiki pages.

I encourage you to review, and add to our Wiki.

Allen

[ywk69]

Thanks for the useful info. I tried Wordplayer on the A7HT. Works well generally but I don't see the text-to-spech feature. Not supported maybe?

[AllenPapapetrou]

Aloha ywk69,

Michael (map002) on the 5IT forum told us, there, about the TTS feature of WordPlayer. I couldn't get it going for quite a while. If I remember correctly I downloaded a Google TTS App and a WordPlayer Speech plugin to get it going. But I don't remember the Trial and Error sequence I used.

I'm not sure if the Google Market Crack for the 5IT which gave it access to the Google Market will work on the 7HT. As you are the only one I know who has the 7HT you could try it by following the directions on our Wiki's Android Market Patch page, click: Here.

However, I have no idea if it will work. Once I have my 7HT, Archos has firmware updates, and I have a complete backup of the 7HT on a USB drive, then I will be ready to test the market patch on the 7HT.

I started this topic as a focus for eReading on the 7HT. As more folks get theirs we should see more info appear in this thread. Amazon says I should receive mine between May 28 - Jun 4.

Unless you feel comfortable with hacking your 7HT maybe you should hold off until more of us have ours.

Allen

[gsmrules]

Thanks for the useful info. I tried Wordplayer on the A7HT. Works well generally but I don't see the text-to-spech feature. Not supported maybe?

Have you tried any PDF reader?

I┬┤m worried about performance when reading PDF files...

Thanks!

[bookwurm70]

What other ereaders do you use on your 5IT?

I am interested in a multimedia player ereader with backlit screen and wonder if the 7 is it.

[AllenPapapetrou]

What other ereaders do you use on your 5IT?

I am interested in a multimedia player ereader with backlit screen and wonder if the 7 is it.

Aloha BookWurm79,

As for 5IT eReaders, check out the 5IT Forum.

I'm still waiting on my 7HT (in Honolulu on Sunday 23 May). In the meantime checkout Binford's videos in our Wiki, click: Here.

His last video, at about 2:35, includes a mini-review of Aldiko. I was impressed by Aldiko's performance on the 7HT.

Let us know what you think after watching Binford's review.

Thanks,

Allen

[formerceo]

I found two ebook readers to be useful:

FBreader which I use on my Pocketbook 360 ereader - it has many nice readers and they have a web site (FBreader.com), and I have just found NightBook (it's in the market) - it autoscrolls on my A5IT. The developer, Chris is responsive and willing to take feedback

[AllenPapapetrou]

Aloha Former CEO,

I have FBreader on a couple of tablets. Thanks the for NightBook tip. I'll check it out.

Allen

[formerceo]

At present Nightbook only reads TXT files - but the developer, Chris Foote, is working on getting it to read Epubs - a little encouragement might help as the scrolling feature is fabulous.

Also, I forget to mention Isilo, which I used for many years on my Windows Mobile PDA's. The Android version is 5.12 but it's just a little buggy. It also autoscrolls but not as well as Nightbook.

Don
another old geek

[AllenPapapetrou]

I don't remember, Former CEO. Are you retired, too? Gives me a lot of time for researching what I want instead of what they wanted.

Thanks, for the extra tips.

Allen

[formerceo]

Yes, I'm retired also - started at Bell Laboratories when LED meant something you put on the end of a fishing line - wandered throughout corporate America and retired in 2008. Living on Long Island near my beloved ocean.

[QuedIn]

I downloaded a DRM epub book but Aldiko says it can't read Drm, I can't find anywhere on aldikos website that says Drm files cant be opened.Anyone know a way around this or other ereaders that play drm epub books, preperably with a night mode.

[map002]

Since it is rare that a DRMed e-book could be read in an app that's not made by the folks who sold you the book, it's not strange to me that reader apps generally assume that people know that they need an app by the book-seller to read their books purchased there (Think iTunes, old iTunes DRMed music and a player like Mplayer or WinAmp, for example).

You'd be best served finding out if your bookseller has made an Android app yet.

Michael

[gerraldo]

Can't remember where, but I read some rumours about Archos making their devices able to use DRMed books. No issue for me, as I never buy DRMed content.

Otherwise it's not that hard to remove DRM (eg. for format changes)... ;)

[QuedIn]

Since it is rare that a DRMed e-book could be read in an app that's not made by the folks who sold you the book, it's not strange to me that reader apps generally assume that people know that they need an app by the book-seller to read their books purchased there (Think iTunes, old iTunes DRMed music and a player like Mplayer or WinAmp, for example).

You'd be best served finding out if your bookseller has made an Android app yet.

Michael

Thats true.
Although on checkout, it asked you what format you wanted it for, android was one of the options, and one of the archos media players was another, but they both linked to the same Epub file.
ill have to read it in adobe digital editions then i guess.

[map002]

On checkout from where specifically?

Michael

[QuedIn]

On checkout from where specifically?

Michael

bookdepository.co.uk

The only way i found to remove the DRM is via Python, and that looks complicated.

[alslayer]

I use ereader for most of my ebooks. I have been using it for years.

[map002]

Yup, there's no e-reader by that vendor that I can see. If I were to buy an DRMed e-book, I'd be careful only to buy one from a company that also furnished an Android reader app for their books.

Michael

[AllenPapapetrou]

Howdy Y'all,

Aldiko is a pretty important App to me since eReading is a prime reason I got the 7HT. I found some serious issues - like losing Books you've downloaded. And I've found workarounds.

I even re-flashed my 7HT (thats running the update.img more than once) to get back to the 7HT's base state.

I still have some more testing to do and I won't go into any technical stuff. Here's what I recommend, at this time, for a safe Aldiko experience.

Don't download or import any books to Aldiko until you:

• 1. Do the Firmware Update.
  2. Upgrade to 1.2.10 in AppsLib
  3. Get a microSD card
  4. Always use the same microSD card when you run Aldiko

Aldiko creates two folders on your SD Card:
1. Aldiko - It's system stuff
2. eBooks - Where it stores its downloaded and imported books

To import eBooks:
1. Create the eBooks/import/ folder on your SD Card using use one of the File Managers on our Wiki 7HT List of Applications page.
2. Copy the epub book files you want to import to the import/ folder.
3. Import them in Aldiko from the Import menu item.

Using these procedures Aldiko now works for me as it should, and as it does on the 5IT.

Very simply, I hope, the reason for the issues with Aldiko is that Archos is playing some games with the file system so that some Applications think they are writing to and reading from the SD Card when there is no SD Card installed. So when you do install an SD Card things can get messed up very quickly.

I'm still testing and plan to send my testing results to Aldiko TS and Archos TS when I'm done.

I also plan to post a new topic here and create a Wiki page for my write up and to be able to put the links to them in my emails to Aldiko and Archos.

Allen