Best eReader Program available now

[photios]

I got my SP4 to replace my Macbook Pro and an iPad Air. I was pleasantly surprised to find others here on this forum trying to do the same. I understand that there are not a lot of great apps yet available for Windows 10. I'm willing to be patient. The one app from my iPad that I have not been able to really replace on my SP4 is iBooks. I don't need iBooks to sync my books across devices. Rather, I like it as an eReader, and how I'm able to highlight text, create notes which are saved, etc. I have found that many eReaders do not have the functionality of following hyperlinks.

My question is this: As of today, what is the best eReader available for the SP4, either in tablet or desktop mode, that can format text properly, allow highlighting and notes?

Thank you!

 

[BGrewer]

There's the Drawboard PDF in the app store which lets you highlight and annotate notes, but its expensive costing ?7.69 ($11.24) on a plus note there's a free trial.

 

[photios]

There's the Drawboard PDF in the app store which lets you highlight and annotate notes, but its expensive costing ?7.69 ($11.24) on a plus note there's a free trial.

Thank you so much for the reply. I went to take a look at it in the app store. It doesn't appear that it works with .epub files. :unhappy:

 

[BGrewer]

Does the pre-installed reader app work with .epub files? I know that you can annotate notes (but this is only in black ink) but sadly can't highlight notes

 

[Topherious]

I use Freda epub ebook reader which has been updated to an universal app for windows 10 and has lots of customisation options. It does have some annotation features but I haven't really used them so not sure if it will do exactly as you need. Also, I have only used the mobile version recently so not sure how the app works on pc / tablet version since the universal update. It's free, ad supported with in app purchase to remove the ads.

 

[nausky]

Bookviser is super cool if you have a collection of epubs. It can sync the books and your position to your account and it's very customizable. It's still windows 8 style but it's free for all of the important features.

 

[jhoff80]

Honestly, Windows e-reader support is abysmal. Winbeta did a roundup of some of the decent ones, but there's not one real standout candidate.

Reading books on your Windows 10 devices ? WinBeta

 

[Grimmric]

How about Kobo reader?
I like that very much, but i dont know if thats what you are after.

 

[mr_fomo]

For epub reading Kobo is one of the best on the windows store.
The default Acrobat Reader (touch) is handy for simple PDF reading.
SumatraPDF can handle both PDF and epub, but has a standard desktop interface only.
For annotating PDF Drawboard cannot be beaten and it's free with the SP.

 

[captaincalamity]

Bookviser, with out a doubt, upload your own books, sync with pc, excellent settings, nice flip animation

 

[Jim Chapman]

Freda does offer sync across devices, highlighting, bookmarks/annotations (which are saved, and can be exported to file), and hyperlinks (which work for footnotes, cross-references, and links to external documents).

All these features are available in the free, advertising-supported program. You don't have to buy a 'premium' version of the program, or buy any kind of subscription, to get these features. Of course, if you want to, you can pay (or buy the Freda+) app, to avoid seeing advertising.

BTW - full disclosure: I'm the developer of Freda.

 

[thatdennis]

Freda does offer sync across devices, highlighting, bookmarks/annotations (which are saved, and can be exported to file), and hyperlinks (which work for footnotes, cross-references, and links to external documents).

All these features are available in the free, advertising-supported program. You don't have to buy a 'premium' version of the program, or buy any kind of subscription, to get these features. Of course, if you want to, you can pay (or buy the Freda+) app, to avoid seeing advertising.

BTW - full disclosure: I'm the developer of Freda.

Huh I'm actually in for a good eReader for analyzing PDFs (highlighting, mini notes, bookmarks, etc.) Could you tell me what differentiates Freda from the rest?

 

[Jim Chapman]

Well, for PDFs, Freda cannot help you at the moment (unless you want to convert your PDF to EPUB using Calibre - which is actually quite a good solution). I will be implementing PDF format in Freda in the coming months, but not in the immediate future. As for differentiating features, you have the ones I already mentioned:

• Sync across devices
  
• Highlighting
  
• Bookmarks/annotations (which are saved, and can be exported to file)
  
• Hyperlinks (which work for footnotes, cross-references, and links to external documents).
  

Plus:

• Reading aloud
• Reasonably faithful representation of book layout (headings, alignment, margins, tables, bold/italic/code text, borders, embedded images, ... )
• Ability to customise colour schemes, fonts, layout and app appearance generally. No other app offers as much customisability as Freda (the down-side being that Freda's settings screen is quite crowded!)

Freda offers all these features without requiring any payment (other apps don't offer them at all, or require you to pay for a monthly subscription to allow use of 'advanced' features).

You probably do not want to use Freda if you are looking for:

• Reading PDF or MOBI books (though both of these will come in the next few months)
• Reading DRM-protected books, for which you will need to use the Kindle app, or Kobo, or the Adobe ADE reader (or one of the white-labelled variants of it)
• Pixel perfect rendering, based on full interpretation of all CSS styles, fonts, colours etc. in the book. If Freda's rendering does not suit you, you could look at Book Bazaar (if you're reading on PC/tablet) or Tucan Reader (on mobile devices). The best app for rendering used to be the Artifex4 reader - but that seems to have vanished from the Store; I don't know why.

Hope that helps - do by all means contact me (jim@turnipsoft.co.uk) with any questions.

 

[thatdennis]

Well, for PDFs, Freda cannot help you at the moment (unless you want to convert your PDF to EPUB using Calibre - which is actually quite a good solution). I will be implementing PDF format in Freda in the coming months, but not in the immediate future. As for differentiating features, you have the ones I already mentioned:

• Sync across devices
  
• Highlighting
  
• Bookmarks/annotations (which are saved, and can be exported to file)
  
• Hyperlinks (which work for footnotes, cross-references, and links to external documents).
  

Plus:

• Reading aloud
• Reasonably faithful representation of book layout (headings, alignment, margins, tables, bold/italic/code text, borders, embedded images, ... )
• Ability to customise colour schemes, fonts, layout and app appearance generally. No other app offers as much customisability as Freda (the down-side being that Freda's settings screen is quite crowded!)

Freda offers all these features without requiring any payment (other apps don't offer them at all, or require you to pay for a monthly subscription to allow use of 'advanced' features).

You probably do not want to use Freda if you are looking for:

• Reading PDF or MOBI books (though both of these will come in the next few months)
• Reading DRM-protected books, for which you will need to use the Kindle app, or Kobo, or the Adobe ADE reader (or one of the white-labelled variants of it)
• Pixel perfect rendering, based on full interpretation of all CSS styles, fonts, colours etc. in the book. If Freda's rendering does not suit you, you could look at Book Bazaar (if you're reading on PC/tablet) or Tucan Reader (on mobile devices). The best app for rendering used to be the Artifex4 reader - but that seems to have vanished from the Store; I don't know why.

Hope that helps - do by all means contact me (jim@turnipsoft.co.uk) with any questions.

Hey thanks Jim for the detailed and honest reply! Will try it sometime, and if it delivers greatly I guess I'll have to retire my kindle. Cheers!

 

[Loredana Petrita]

Hi,

I am now using a great app Flip Box by Papionne, this app allows me also to create and publish magazines,

catalogs or PDFs and to enriched the content with videos, pictures or animation. It works on both

operating systems, iOS and Android. Check it here

Flip Box App | Papionne.com | An app for magazines and publications

 

[onysi]

Kindle. lol

 

[SammyD97]

Bookvisor is excellent. Its what I use.