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2 Cents on e-books and MS Reader:
I started off using the Reader plugin for Word back when it was first released. I have created many an e-book with this applet. The plugin is slick, fast, has quite a few options, and above all free. Four great features that make it a winner.
The problem isn’t with the plugin. It’s with MS Reader itself. At least there is when you start embedding pictures and other various things into the documents. Also when your page count starts to creep up into the 500 – 1000+ range flipping to various pages in the book is slooow and seriously detracts from the e-book experience if you have to wait for the e-book reader to paginate.
I decided to give Palm Reader a try but to my dismay they don’t have any easy, and free, software to make e-books. The only software available from Peanutpress is a $30 product. It’s difficult to go and shell out $30 when MS’s software is free all around. (i.e. Both the plugin and the reader itself are both free.) Begrudgingly I ended up shelling out the cash last November. Long story longer: It’s worth every penny and best of all the e-books are fast. I have a 1,200 page web based story along with its various in story illustrations that I converted over last month. (Took me a week of cutting and pasting from the web.) Flipping from page to page is fast. As is jumping from section to section.
As much as FREE is a wonderful word it doesn’t help if the app it’s designed for is slow. And free doesn't help if you are trying to cater to a larger audience which may very well go beyond the Windows platform (e.g. There is no MS Reader version for Apple, Palm, or Linux. Which PeanutPress is working on on the last one.)
Yes MS Reader works well for small to medium sized documents, and free is free. But at the end of the day, IMHO ,Palm Reader and its $30 e-book maker blows MS Reader out of the water. But that comment does have to be tempered by the fact that as a quick, dirty, and FREE way of taking a document with you. It’s a perfectly good utility so your mileage may very on your opinions of MS Reader. Mine just happens to be about a 1/4 mile to the gallon. :razzing:
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