Thursday, August 30, 2012

Kindle in iPad

I have acquired an iPad recently and have since been using Kindle app on this for reading books. Most of my recent book purchases have been through Kindle. The reading experience is better than what I had expected. It appears that I can read more pages in a given time (compared to reading the paper version).

It is still not convenient when it comes to reading a book lying down on a bed, as the iPad is somewhat heavier.

Kindle application on iPad appears to be quite efficient in power usage.

I do read a fair bit of Tamil books as well; but unfortunately, as of now, PDF is the only solution. As a publisher of Tamil books, I have access to all our books. I recently read Ponniyin Selvan (5 volumes - roughly 3000 pages in Demy 1/8) as PDF files through iBooks on iPad. Again, the reading experience itself was okay (though not as good as re-flown text of Kindle). Here too, I noticed that reading seemed faster than traditional ink on paper.

Ideal for Tamil books will be epub Unicode files, and a good reader that will handle them. Kindle itself may not be able to read Indian languages for quite a while.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Badri,
    It is time to recheck our book publication method. Request to You also start to introduce ebooks along with hard copy. At least vikatan publication initiated. As i am using ipad for my readings, i like to buy many books but carrying books along with me will be difficult most of the time. Thanks..

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  2. Dear Srinivas,

    We are working on an e-book system for iOS and Android platforms. (Like Vikatan, but hopefully better!) Expected release date is October. All our current books will be available as e-version through that platform.

    We are also going to release many books on a pure e-only version. These are books which cannot be published in print, for want of readers.

    I fully agree with you that reading books in iPad or Kindle or Android tablets is the way to go. Will keep you updated on the developments.

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  3. Hi,
    I am fan of hardcover books . I still read books when i am in home but nowadays life style has changed which make us to travel a lot . In such case iPhone or iPad helps me where i dont need to store books in my suitcase. Amazon Kindle store opened in India recently .I have a big concern on Tamil ebooks..As u said , i always read tamil books in pdff format. It is irritating to read and so much of issues. Will you able to bring a true iOS App like we have for English books. Is there any plans to bring books like www.audiobooks.com to iOS devices

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  4. Dear Badri,
    Thanks for your update. Waiting for it. All the best.

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  5. Dear Badri
    B&N store ... Nook ereader is another devide which allows all types of uploads including PDF if I am right. My friend is saying it is better than kindle but not available in India. Any comments. And also are you planning for a seprate device similar to Kindle ?
    Regards
    Ganesh

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  6. Dear sir, can we expect interactive multimedia magazines and educational books soon in tamil? If yes how soon sir?

    Santhanraj
    Singapore

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