Ode to Stanza
July 6, 2009 at 9:44 pm | In Technology, ebooks | 12 CommentsTags: DRM, ebooks, iPhone, Stanza
If you have an iPhone (or iPod Touch), you simply must check out Stanza, a fantastic ebook application. Even if you don’t have one of these gadgets, if you’re at all interested in ebooks, you may also dig the Stanza desktop application.
On the iPhone, Stanza lets you download all of the free ebooks from Project Gutenberg and other various websites. The application also syncs with your Fictionwise bookshelf, enabling you to read books you’ve already purchased for other ebook readers. Many other ebook providers are either compatible with Stanza or are working on ways to become compatible, so you may be able to read other ebooks using Stanza as well.
Using the Stanza desktop application, you can open almost any file (.pdf, .doc, .txt, .lit, .epub, .azw — sans DRM) and send it to your iPhone via wifi. To do so, download the Stanza application to both your iPhone and your computer. Open the file on your computer. Make sure that, under the “Tools” menu, “Enable Sharing” is checked. In Stanza on your iPhone, go to “Shared Books,” then “Books on [Your Computer]” then click on the book and download it. Now you can make any long document an ebook on your iPhone!
You can also use the desktop application to make any long document an ebook for other ereading devices as well and to convert ebooks from one file format to another. For example, you can open up a .lit (Microsoft Reader) file and use “Export Book As” to convert it to .azw (Kindle format).
Unfortunately, Stanza file conversions only work with files that are not protected by DRM (digital rights management). Although DRM helps prevent piracy, it’s not practical for many reasons. Here’s a comic that explains one reason why DRM doesn’t work (it applies to ebooks as much as digital music). The file format you purchase will eventually expire, or the company that supports it will go out of business, and one day you will no longer possess the book you “own.”
If you’re against ebooks with DRM, you join the cause by contacting your favorite authors and publishers to let them know that you’d rather buy unprotected ebooks. Every voice counts, and us lit-lovers need to have our books for the long-term!
I hope Stanza works well for you. Feel free to comment with any ebook tech questions — I’m happy help if I know the answer!
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I’ve already downloaded eReader and like it quite a bit. Is Stanza any better?
I’ve just downloaded Stanza and it looks very similar to eReader. I guess it can’t hurt to have both.
Comment by Jake Scheidel — July 8, 2009 #
I have used eReader and also like it quite a bit. The usability of both programs is similar, but I prefer Stanza because it enables me to read a wider range of file formats (eReader won’t open .pdf, .lit, .doc, and many more).
Do you use eReader on your desktop or iPhone? With the iPhone, I also like Stanza because it allows me to convert long files to ebooks for reading on the iPhone.
Thanks for the comment. I hope Stanza works out for you!
Comment by booksplosion — July 8, 2009 #
I use eReader on my iPod. The only problem I have with it is the lack of selection.
Comment by Jake Scheidel — July 8, 2009 #
With a combination of eReader, Stanza and Kindle for iPhone, you can get almost any book that’s available as an ebook on the iPhone. My next post will be on Kindle for iPhone.
Comment by booksplosion — July 8, 2009 #
Is Kindle free?
Comment by Jake Scheidel — July 8, 2009 #
Or rather, eReader, Stanza and Kindle for iPhone or iPod Touch (I’m assuming you’re using an iPod Touch rather than another iPod since I don’t think it’s available for other iPods, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong).
Comment by booksplosion — July 8, 2009 #
Yes, Kindle for iPhone/iPod touch is free. The books are usually about $10.
Comment by booksplosion — July 8, 2009 #
[...] late and find Amazon’s one-click shopping much easier than searching for a non-DRM version to send to the iPhone myself using Stanza. I provide this article simply as a warning — Kindle is cool, delicious evil. And I may end [...]
Pingback by The Evil Genius of Kindle « Booksplosion! — July 8, 2009 #
[...] ebooks | Leave a Comment Tags: ebooks, Stanza, Technology, tip Here’s a quick tip to make Stanza more useful to you. If you’re like me, sometimes you want to read a long article or blog post [...]
Pingback by Another Cool Way to Use Stanza « Booksplosion! — August 19, 2009 #
[...] ebooks, Lulu, Stanza, Webscription I have made my feelings clear on DRM before (see end of this post), but sometimes buying a DRMed book seems unavoidable. If you’re an ebook fan, you’re [...]
Pingback by DRM-free e-books on Lulu and Webscription « Booksplosion! — August 26, 2009 #
With stanza and disk aid u can make any book epub and transfer from of to device through USB instantly. Which means u can put any book u find on ur iPod touch unjailbroken. I combine stanza and wattpad and there’s no book u can’t get.
Comment by Iwnnugget501 — August 29, 2009 #
Cool — I’ll have to check that out!
Comment by booksplosion — September 2, 2009 #