Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iTunes, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch
View .cbr comics on your iPhone
Of course there's an app for this, but I'd never even considered it. While I do occasionally read .cbr (Comic Book Archive files) on my desktop, the iPhone didn't really occur to me as a portable comic book reading device. But sure enough, there are apps for that. iComic is probably the cheapest, but I hear it's a little tough to get set up. ComicZeal is extremely popular, and just a little bit cheaper from the somewhat similar myComics. Pull Lists uses a desktop client to sync up comics for you, which is a little more than I need, but it seems like some people like it. There are actually lots of choices, it turns out -- I would have thought that the iPhone's screen was pretty small for reading comic book pages, but I'll have to give those apps a try.Or, if you're too cheap to pay a buck or two for a full app, you can even do it yourself. .cbr files are really just .jpg archives, so as this tip from a while back on the iPhone Comic Book Reader says, you can actually extract out the jpegs, and then just sync them up to your iPhone via iPhoto if you want. Three dollars really isn't that much, and any of those apps listed above will give you a little more functionality (easy flipping between pages, bookmarking, and many other features per app), but if you really want to DIY, there you go.
Now it would be nice to be able to officially buy .cbr archives over the web from some of the major companies -- the closest they've come that I know of is a subscription service, but of course you've got to use their own client for that (and there's no iPhone app that I can find, though Uclick has a few apps in there for certain books). As long as reading pirated .cbr files is outlawed, only outlaws will end up reading them.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kacy said 9:51AM on 4-24-2009
I am finding the tone of many of postings here a little condescending. Given the economic times I think saying "Three dollars really isn't that much" ignores that for many it actually is. I guess I'd prefer to read what would be a great piece on getting .cbr files on my iPhone without some sort of value judgement on what is or isn't a lot of money. And the tip on how to sync with iPhoto is actually a great timely way to help iPhone users tough it out until a economic recovery happens.
And for the person reading this who invariably wants to post a response saying "If you can afford an iPhone you can afford three dollars," there are many people who can only afford it by cutting back on other things, including three dollar apps. Many could afford an iPhone before they were hit by the recession.
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Trix said 10:02AM on 4-24-2009
This is the most pointless article I have ever read, you haven't tried any of the software you are writing about! In my experience syncing images over as normal photo syncing does not not work as the text becomes to blury, guess you didn't try that either :-)
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Pete IT said 11:12AM on 4-24-2009
I'd like commics to, so what ?
I have an account on SOMEWHERE hosting service and feel happy, when download them to my iPhone. Take you too: [LINK SPAM REMOVED]
(01) said 6:04PM on 4-24-2009
TOTALLY. Extracting the jpgs from the CBR and transferring the pictures to your photo album leaves an unreadable, compressed image on your phone. There's not ever going to be an elegant solution for this (the screen just too damn small to enjoy comics on) but this article is pretty pointless.
Dannytime said 10:20AM on 4-24-2009
Wow, I had never considered this either. I just checked out the ComicZeal website and it looks like a great app. According to their site, you can download free "Golden Age" comics through the app, so there is use for this other than just pirated comics.
I might as well buy it, because three dollar isn't really that much anyway. Thanks for the great article!
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Adam said 11:05AM on 4-24-2009
TUAW, your standards have fallen a lot with this article.
The author clearly hasn't actually used any of these apps, so this is hardly a review. It seems more like a listing of what shows up if you search for "comics" on the iTS.
Furthermore, as others have stated, you don't have to be insulting with the "it's just a few dollars" argument. There's $11 worth of apps listed in this article, and since they're not clearly reviewed and the pros/cons weighed, it would be easy for a reader to have to drop $11 to find the right one for their needs. This is exactly why I read sites like TUAW; to know what and where I want to spend my money, not get Rick Romero articles that just simply regurgitate readily available information.
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Michael said 11:24AM on 4-24-2009
I've converted .cbr's to jpegs before and synced them to the iPod Touch and it sucks. Text is hard to read and the frames aren't optimized so you find yourself zooming and panning and scanning.
The best solution is like the new Star Trek Countdown comics in the App Store. I don't like the $0.99 an issue but it's optimized specially for the hardware and works great.
More comic companies need to release comics this way for an inexpensive subscription price - say like $10 a year for 12 issues or something along those lines.
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dsfanboy05 said 12:16PM on 4-24-2009
OK, this is interesting.
How'd you get Bone on their? I'm willing to pay for the content/programs to do it. I'm a huge fan of Jeff Smith's novel.
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bsab said 12:57PM on 4-24-2009
You can buy Bone comics cheap through the App store.
Bonobo said 12:55PM on 4-24-2009
"you can even do it yourself. .cbr files are really just .jpg archives"
No, they are not "just .jpg archives" (what is "jpeg archive" anyway - jpeg is extension used for images, not for archiving). Cbr. files are .rar archives, and you can have either .jpeg, .png, .gif etc inside. Cbz. are the same thing, only for .zip archives.
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Greg Perkins said 3:59PM on 4-24-2009
I have to agree, that syncing jpegs to your iPhone/iPod is pointless, as Apple restricts the resampling size to screen resolution on import through syncing, making any text blurry and illegible. Please try harder with your "reviews" and uneducated suggestions.
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Ryan said 5:15PM on 4-24-2009
Holy crap, what's with all the hate here in these comments? Most seem pretty ignorant too. Someone want to fill me in?
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Teamracer said 1:41AM on 4-25-2009
This is by far the best solution to read/watch comics on teh Iphone.
http://www.ave-comics.com/en/avepreview/
The only problem is their small library of comics avaialable in this format.
Regards
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Jade said 9:35AM on 4-27-2009
I've read many comics/manga on iPhone using iComics for about one year, and I have to say it's really good. When you use landscape mode, the images ain't too small and you can read it very well. Perfect to read on train or before sleep, when you don't like to bring the laptop with you to the bed.
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Dillinger said 4:30PM on 4-27-2009
I have tried all the apps on the app store and comicZeal is by far the best i have seen, with the desktop syncing software it converts the images to a perfect size for the iphone and allows you to organize them by series, Like in my case
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