****What is it?****
The Lexcycle Stanza i-phone ebook reader application is, as its name suggests, a i-phone application that turns your i-phone in to an ebook reader that is capable of dealing with ebooks in all the ‘usual’ formats (such as PDFs) enabling you to carry your whole book library (in addition to your film/movie and music libraries) around with you at all times.
****Where do I get the ebooks from?****
Using the Stanza application ebooks can be directly downloaded to the i-phone from an ebook website of choice or, alternatively from one of the various ‘Book stores’ (accessed through links that are included in the application). The links included In the application are for All Romance Ebooks, Smashwords, Feedbooks, Random House Free Library, Try Harlequin, Project Gutewnberg, Books From Munseys and many more. Some of the books are free but most you have to pay for prior to downloading, which is to be expected.
I must admit that I have not downloaded a pay for book directly on to the i-phone although I have downloaded a free ebook. The process is exceptionally easy and fool proof and it is simply a case of following the onscreen instructions however the download time is very, very slow (even using a wi-fi connection) so it is not something that I would recommend unless you are desperate to get a particular book and downloading to the i-phone is the only way you can do this.
If there is an ebook library set up on the home computer it is possible to transfer books within that library to the i-phone, and since I always buy and download ebooks using my laptop, where I have the freedom to use my ‘tried and trusted’ sites and not those that are preloaded when you install Stanza on the i-phone, this is my preferred method.
****How do I get ebooks I already own on the i-phone? ****
If you want to transfer ebooks that you already own from your home computer to the i-phone you will need to get hold of the desktop Stanza software, which is available as a free download from the Lexcycle website. The software enables the home computer and i-phone to hook up and connect to each other. The only way to transfer books between the home computer and the i-phone is wirelessly over a network. Unfortunately it is not possible to link the i-phone to the computer via USB and download via cable, which is a shame.
The Stanza desktop software is a tiny package that takes up little room. As well as being entirely safe it is un-obtrusive and doesn’t keep linking the home computer to third party sites that encourages the user to spend money, download other programs etc. unlike many sites.
Once the program is on the i-phone and the home computer it is all systems go and it is simply a case of;
i) Opening Stanza on the home PC
ii) Adding the book you want to transfer to the i-phone (simply done by browsing, selecting the ebook library or wherever else the ebook maybe and hitting select)
iii) Firing up the Application on the i-phone
iv) Selecting “get book” on the menu screen
v) Selecting your home computer (which will automatically link to the i-phone using the wi-fi connection)
vi) Selecting transfer; and
vii) Waiting for the book to be transferred over
It should be noted that if you only want to download ebooks directly to the i-phone the Stanza program is only needed on the i-phone and not the home computer.
****My experience of setting it all up****
From the beginning I had little interest in downloading books direct to the i-phone, therefore I knew I was going to need the Stanza i-phone application and the Stanza desktop software, so I was going to suffer the double whammy. When I read about how Stanza works and how to get ebooks from my laptop to my i-phone I have to admit that I felt a bit apprehensive and out of my depth. I read the instructions from the website over and over again, yet they just didn’t make sense to me and it never clicked as I just couldn’t picture it.
However “no guts, no glory” and all that, so I decided to have a go and install it. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen? Once the programs were downloaded and uploaded/installed on the i-phone and laptop respectively the whole concept fell in to place and it was exceptionally easy, self explanatory and straightforward. I had no problems whatsoever and anyone a tiny bit ‘techie’, and let’s face it those with an i-phone and a home computer are by virtue of their purchases, will sail through the process.
****Firing up the application on the i-phone****
Opening up the application on the i-phone the user is directed to the menu page, which consists of;
i) The library (where the content is shown according to book, author or group)
ii) Get books (where you can download from the catalogue, computers sharing books and recent downloads)
iii) Now reading (the current book being read); and
iv) Info (help and assistance with the Stanza application)
Like all menus the user decides the course of action to take and simply follow it through. There is a user guide included on the application but the application’s user face (in conjunction with the i-phones controls) is so intuitive, easy to navigate and user friendly that it is simple to figure out by experimentation. Believe me, you will up and running in no time and there really is no need to sit there and study the user guide.
****Personalising the Stanza/i-phone Ebook reader****
With a traditional paper book “you get what you get” when it comes to font, spacing, layout etc. and whilst this may not be a problem to most people there are going to be some readers who struggle whilst reading. In my opinion, one of the best features of ebook readers is the ability to change the layout of the ebook to make it easier and more comfortable to read, and this is something that the Stanza i-phone reader has also, which is just brilliant.
There are loads of different fonts to choose from including the standard Ariel and New Times Roman, as well as more ‘flowing’ fonts such as Zapfino amongst many others. I have to admit that I am quite boring when choosing reading text and I will always use Ariel where possible. However boring it is I do find it exceptionally easy to read and pleasant on the eyes without causing any strain, even during extended reading periods. I have tried to use Zapfino, and whilst it looks nice I found myself squinting after a few short minutes which is not good.
As well as the type of font there is the option to change the appearance (which includes things such as font size, text colour, background colour, background image, image opacity), layout (which includes alignment, hyphenation, margins, line spacing, paragraph spacing and paragraph indent), controls (which includes locking/unlocking book rotation, enabling/disabling sleep, page turn effect, page turn duration, vertical swipe, pinch and spread, left/right screen tap and tap and hold duration) and general (which includes auto loading of books, tips, enabling/disabling notifications, cover flows and thumbnails). There is a special “night theme”.
Whilst the ability to personalise is great, I must admit that I thought the amount of options was a bit of an overkill and just far too much to tinker with, however after spending a bit of time playing around with them and seeing what the features do I have to admit that the correct settings really do enhance the reading experience and make it that much more comfortable, especially during extended reading periods and with so many options and settings available there should be enough to keep even the fussiest reader happy.
****So is it any good?****
In my opinion this is one of the best i-phone applications I have found, and what’s more it is totally free, FOC, nada, nowt, zip, zilch……the best price.
Using the program is an absolute doddle. From obtaining the required software to downloading it to itunes/the home computer to uploading it to the i-phone to transferring books to using the application on the i-phone, everything is so easy it is fool proof.
Before using the program I was a bit skeptical, especially since the i-phone screen is so small. I was under the impression that there would be few words on the screen at any one time and the writing would be so small it would be awkward and uncomfortable to read, but I was so wrong. I use Arial font in a size 12, which even for my Mr Magoo eye sight is fine. Using this combination the screen holds 18 lines of text, which I agree is far less than an actual book therefore there will be more page turning, but I think this is quite impressive. Page turning simply involves tapping the screen in the bottom right hand corner, or if you want that more authentic feel sliding a finger along the bottom of the screen from right to left, which is no real chore.
Personally I am getting to the point where I am starting to prefer using the i-phone reader over an actual book. I appreciate some people like the ‘look and feel’ of a traditional book and I was one of them up until I started using my i-phone. With the i-phone there are no dog eared pages or covers, you don’t have to worry about tears, rips or missing pages, you don’t have to worry about getting coffee mug rings on the cover as the i-phone will never accidentally be used as a coaster, the i-phone Ebook reader allows night reading without needing a light (which is great as I no longer disturb the other half), in fact I can think of many reasons why Ebooks are becoming more appealing to me, but perhaps the best thing for me is that i-phone Ebook reading is just so comfortable. The i-phones sits perfectly in the palm of my right hand enabling me to “turn” the page using a left hand finger. There is no holding a book with both hands and letting it slip as you fumble the page over meaning you have to adjust the book so you can see it etc. etc. I also like the way you can change the layout, format, font etc. allowing the user to set up the i-phone for the ultimate in comfort and reading experience.
The amount of Ebooks your i-phone will hold will not only depend upon the exact model you have (i.e. 8gb, 16gb or 32gb) but the amount of ‘free’ space available on your i-phone. Ebooks, especially when in PDF format, are very small so there is the potential of carrying around thousands of books at all times. Wonderful, but is there any real need to carry that amount around with you? Personally, I think not.
One thing I have noticed is the more books you have held on your i-phone the slower the Stanza program will run (but this happens with my other half’s Sony Ebook reader once it is fully loaded) as loading time increases, the time between page turning increases, in fact just carrying out simple actions takes much longer. For this to be a problem I found there needs to be a fair amount of books on the i-phone, more than anyone would be able to read in a month, therefore I would advise in keeping a maximum of ten Ebooks on the i-phone at any one time and as one is finished uploading a new one. With this number of books the loading times of the program, as well as the general responsiveness is not compromised.
Overall, this is an awesome application that has definitely enhance my enjoyment of reading books and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I appreciate I have barely scratched the surface of the i-phone Ebook reader although I hope it has given an insight and a bit of a taster as to the possibilities of the i-phone and the Stanza software, which I think will only get better with time, although they are fantastic as they currently stand.
Written by yackers1
ACCA qualified accountant who thirives in the world of business and finance
High-Tech Magician Marco Tempest got himself an iPhone and it can do magic things. More about Marco Tempest’s magic: www.marcotempest.com Thanks for watching!
Video Rating: 4 / 5
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