Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
Stanza adds licensed eReader content for iPhone booklovers
Good news for those who like to read books on their iPhones (as opposed to listening to them read by other people). JKontherun reports that ebook seller Fictionwise is licensing support for the eReader format to Lexcycle for use in Stanza; Fictionwise is also launching an eReader store for Stanza users. This adds more than 40,000 titles to the Stanza family, and allows multiple options for licensed book content on the iPhone family; Fictionwise will continue to offer the eReader app that's already on the App Store. For users with libraries of eReader-format content bought for previous platforms like the Palm handhelds, those books should work.The press release quotes Lexcycle COO Neelan Choksi: "Just in time for the holidays, Stanza readers are going to be able to find their favorite authors like Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts. This relationship with Fictionwise is a big step forward in our ongoing effort to expand the selection of works available to our large and growing user base."
While we love the sleek UI of Classics for books on the iPhone, that app doesn't let you choose your own premium or free books to populate the shelves -- and with thousands more ebooks now available to Stanza users, filling the shelves is going to be easier.
Thanks James.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nate said 1:44PM on 12-03-2008
Stanza is probably my favorite iphone app at the moment. Populated it with tons of Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Carson of Venus & a bunch of other pulp & sci-fi I've never heard of. Dead simple to use and find free books. I was actually shocked at how much I enjoyed reading on the iphone. If this all carries over to for pay books I'll definitely be buying books as well.
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James Scherber said 2:58PM on 12-03-2008
Interesting development. Is using Stanza and Ereader? Which is the better of the two and why? I've used Ereader for a number of months now and it very easy to use while at the same time very full featured.
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VAStateOfMind said 4:09PM on 12-03-2008
James, I found after having both Stanza and eReader installed for several weeks on my iPod touch, that I spent MUCH more time reading in Stanza and NO time reading in eReader. Not that I don't like the eReader app, nor am I averse to buying e-books -- but I just preferred a somewhat simpler and more intuitive reading interface in Stanza, wasn't purchasing any e-books, and didn't want two e-book applications on my iPod. Haven't looked back, but it's nice knowing that if I DO want to buy a DRM'ed e-book, I'll now be able to do so within Stanza -- it's a truly awesome, useful app!
Carney said 3:02PM on 12-03-2008
2.2 broke my eReader. And all my 3rd party apps.
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Jose said 3:29PM on 12-03-2008
For what it's worth, eReader works fine on 2.2 on my iPhone (I use it daily). I like the white text on black option... I am curious about Stanza, though - any recommendations about which is better?
Anthony said 5:43PM on 12-03-2008
Stanza is the way to go. This is very good news. Yes I love the Classic Reader too but I found the Stanza setting to animate page turns and that satisfies me now. Stanza just has so many sources of content to add its like no other. Now this is the icing on the cake. Next step should be Kindle books in Stanza!!
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YodaMac said 3:43PM on 12-03-2008
I haven't used eReader so I can't compare them, but I think Stanza really nailed it. Besides being free (!) I love the way they implemented "Collections" and Cover Flow into the experience. And being able to load new cover art anytime is really awesome!
So far, every update has worked great and really solidified its user-friendliness. I'll be interested to see what new authors and books are added under this new agreement of theirs...
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Scot@ustalent.com said 4:33PM on 12-03-2008
how would i go about getting ebooks on my computer into stanza, say a .lit file?
cheers.
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Ben said 7:25PM on 12-03-2008
Use maclit to open the .lit file, then save it as a .pdf. Then transfer the pdf to your phone or ipod touch using the airsharing app. It's not as easy to read as Stanza, but it gets the job done.
AppBeacon said 5:40PM on 12-03-2008
I have Classics and Stanza. I've really enjoyed the books I've read on Stanza. So, I was very pleased to see this announcement.
I'm shocked by the prices for the FictionWise books. Explain to me why I have to pay near full price when the huge overhead of physical book distribution has been removed?
I just don't get it.
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Lee Fyock said 5:28PM on 12-05-2008
There is no "huge overhead" to printing and shipping books. For a paperback book, the cost of paper, printing, storage and shipping is something like $1.50. For a hardback, it's about twice that.
What you're paying for when you buy a book is a) the author's time b) the risk that the publisher took giving the author an advance c) editors, copyeditors, layout, artwork, advertising, etc. d) rent, utilities, computers, et al at the publishers.
Looking at it from a different angle: ebook sites like eReader.com get charged per-book the same as a paper retailer, so their prices come out roughly the same as a paper book.
For some people, like me, the convenience of having a dozen books with me at all times to read while I'm waiting at the dentist, while my daughter's at piano practice, etc. is worth the downside of not having another volume on my shelf.
Stakker said 6:00PM on 12-03-2008
Stanza is excellent. I love the extensive typography customization options and the developer is very helpful. This is great news indeed!
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AjaxBruno said 8:57PM on 12-03-2008
@Anthony
Look at the Stanza website. You can load Kindles and many more formats.
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xnifex said 9:06PM on 12-03-2008
I've been using Stanza for about 2 months now & I love it! I've read all of the Harry Potters as well as all of the Twilight saga with it.
Question, where can I go to get more free online catalogs?
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Stuart said 10:07AM on 12-04-2008
Doesn't Stanza butcher pdfs though?? I have a lot of ebooks / magazines in pdf format and from memory when I tried out Stanza a month or two ago it messed the formatting up so it was useless.
Has that changed?
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Rob Izumi said 3:01PM on 12-04-2008
I like reading books on the iphone, but it seems ridiculous that an e-book distributed on the internet is the same price as a hard cover book that I would buy in a brick and mortar store.
For example, "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan is $21.95 on the book store through Stanza, the same if I were to get it at a regular retailer. Now if this book were in print in paperback (it's not) I would expect to pay about $12.00 to $15.00 for this book. The way books are priced in the store they have told us, through pricing, that hard cover printing costs more. I can only assume that publishing books through the internet for delivery on mobile devices is cheaper than hardcover books, and possibly cheaper than paperbacks. If the pricing on online stores reflected this I would be much more willing to buy e-books.
Until then, I'll check out books at the library.
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BJ Nemeth said 6:04PM on 12-04-2008
@Rob Izumi: You said "The way books are priced in the store they have told us, through pricing, that hard cover printing costs more."
A lot of large industries don't charge based on actual expenses, but based on consumer demand. The publishers pay a lot of money up front to print the books, and the bestsellers make a lot of money -- far more than it costs to print them. But that makes up for the thousands of titles that fail to make back their own printing costs.
Publishers release paperback books to a secondary market of customers, and those customers save money not just because of the cheaper printing, but because they missed the first window of availability. For the same reason, new DVDs often cost $15-$20, while those that are a year or two old can often be found for $5-$10.
If the market for electronic books continues to grow, publishers might wise up to the fact that they'll sell a lot more e-books at $10, like Amazon's Kindle service. At this point, too many publishers are afraid of cannibalizing their own hardcover sales.