iPad Owners: What was the first Star Trek title you bought/loaded?

[tmclough]

One thing I haven't read in JWolf's comments is that after Apple agreed to the agency model pricing with publishers, the publishers (5 out of the big 6, including S&S) went around and basically forced other ebook sellers into the agency model--it's either the agency model or nothing.

That said, as far as I can tell, you still can't buy Star Trek ebooks from independent ebook sellers, such as BooksOnBoard, over a month later--you can only buy them from big name sellers, such as Amazon, Apple, Sony, and B&N, or from S&S directly. Not much choice right now.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

JWolf wrote:

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You don't get it.

Oh, I get it. I just don't see how it's relevant. I use iBooks because it's convenient, and because it allows me to sync books via iTunes. It does what I need, why should I complain?

Now you have an eBook tethered to just the iPad.

So what? That's the only eBook reader I have. And, for the foreseeable future, the only one I *will* have.

[Blackbird]

I know I'm dragging this thread up from the depths but it seams kind of relevant to my questions.

Does anyone know if it's possable to buy trek books for the Ipad in the U.K, and if so what is the general price for them?

Also, I notice that Ipad, unlike Kindle, can read any books aloud using their inbuilt screen reader Voice-over. Has anyone tried this with a trek book and if so how did it go?

[sfroth]

Blackbird wrote:

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Also, I notice that Ipad, unlike Kindle, can read any books aloud using their inbuilt screen reader Voice-over. Has anyone tried this with a trek book and if so how did it go?

Wow, I never knew that option existed. I had to turn the speech speed way down to be able to understand it, and controlling the iPad with voiceover mode on is quite difficult, but after figuring all that out, the voiceover isn't that bad. Since I don't have any problems with my eyes, I doubt I'll be using that feature, but it was reading Zero Sum Game well enough to be understood.

[Thrawn]

Actually, Kindle also reads books aloud. It's not great, but it's also definitely "well enough to be understood."

[Dimesdan]

Blackbird wrote:

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Also, I notice that Ipad, unlike Kindle, can read any books aloud using their inbuilt screen reader Voice-over. Has anyone tried this with a trek book and if so how did it go?

Thrawn wrote:

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Actually, Kindle also reads books aloud. It's not great, but it's also definitely "well enough to be understood."

Would you say they are suitable for a partially sighted (or even blind) person in this capacity?

[ST-One]

Dimesdan wrote:

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Would you say they are suitable for a partially sighted (or even blind) person in this capacity?

Probably.

[sfroth]

Dimesdan wrote:

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Would you say they are suitable for a partially sighted (or even blind) person in this capacity?

I've only used a Kindle for all of about 5 minutes one time, and used the voiceover capability of my iPad for about 5 minutes this morning, but I'd be willing to bet the Kindle is better for reading for the blind, because of the sheer difficulty of controlling a touch screen vs the controls of the Kindle. Apple obviously put a lot of thought into the voiceover stuff, but it was a bear for me to use, and I could see the things I was trying to click.

[Brikar99]

Has anyone read any of the Trek comics on iPad? If so, how would you say that experience was?

[Blackbird]

sfroth wrote:

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I've only used a Kindle for all of about 5 minutes one time, and used the voiceover capability of my iPad for about 5 minutes this morning, but I'd be willing to bet the Kindle is better for reading for the blind, because of the sheer difficulty of controlling a touch screen vs the controls of the Kindle. Apple obviously put a lot of thought into the voiceover stuff, but it was a bear for me to use, and I could see the things I was trying to click.

Thanks for the input guys.

Just let me clarify something reguarding the Kindel in this situationn. Although it has audio output capability, it is down to the publishers to decide whether or not it is enabled for a perticular title. This is beecause when it first came out the publishers wern't happy claiming that it would effect the sales of audio books! Rather than make a fight of it Amazon just gave them the option to deny this feature to users if they so chose. As a result just about all of the latest trek books do not have audio output enabled for the Kindle. This is why I was looking at the Ipad as they clame they can read all-comers.

I think that there are ways to use the Ipad when voice-over is activated but I only know this from reading up, Ive never even held an Ipad before mutch less tried to use it. As I am blind I dont relish the idea of working with a touch screen, although I'm sure I'll figure it out. Especially since it looks like it's going to be my best chance of reading trek lit.

[sfroth]

Blackbird wrote:

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Thanks for the input guys.

Just let me clarify something reguarding the Kindel in this situationn. Although it has audio output capability, it is down to the publishers to decide whether or not it is enabled for a perticular title. This is beecause when it first came out the publishers wern't happy claiming that it would effect the sales of audio books! Rather than make a fight of it Amazon just gave them the option to deny this feature to users if they so chose. As a result just about all of the latest trek books do not have audio output enabled for the Kindle. This is why I was looking at the Ipad as they clame they can read all-comers.

I think that there are ways to use the Ipad when voice-over is activated but I only know this from reading up, Ive never even held an Ipad before mutch less tried to use it. As I am blind I dont relish the idea of working with a touch screen, although I'm sure I'll figure it out. Especially since it looks like it's going to be my best chance of reading trek lit.

Glad to help. The stuff I found on the web said that publishers have the ability to disable voiceover in an iBook. I buy my books from B&N and remove the DRM so I can read in iBooks, so I can't guarantee that a book purchased from the iBooks store would allow voiceover. Like I said, Apple seems to have put a lot of thought into voiceover - it will read the names of apps to you when you tap them on the home screen, and most Apple-sourced apps have voiceover support built in (according to the web site). My biggest problem with using it was discovering how to get iBooks to read more than just a single line at a time, and navigation - double tap, triple tap, two finger twist, two finger drag, tapping in the right spot. The actions never seemed to do the same thing, and only did what I wanted about a quarter of the time. Once you got used to it, though, it would probably be easier.

[JWolf]

Just remember, if you buy Star Trek eBooks from Apple, you've locked yourself in big time. You cannot strip the DRM. You cannot view them without iBooks.

But, if you use the txtr, Bluefire, or B&N apps, you can buy from other shops and strip the DRM. So your investments are not lost if you ever move away from Apple.

[Kataaran]

JWolf wrote:

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Just remember, if you buy Star Trek eBooks from Apple, you've locked yourself in big time. You cannot strip the DRM. You cannot view them without iBooks.

I've got an iPad and an iPhone but I don't buy anything from their book or music store for this reason. In a couple of years I may have switched to Android, I don't want to have to repurchase content I've already paid for.

[Blackbird]

JWolf wrote:

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Just remember, if you buy Star Trek eBooks from Apple, you've locked yourself in big time. You cannot strip the DRM. You cannot view them without iBooks.

But, if you use the txtr, Bluefire, or B&N apps, you can buy from other shops and strip the DRM. So your investments are not lost if you ever move away from Apple.

The ideal option for me would be if I could just buy the e-books from somewhere, strip the DRM and convert them to txt files. Then I could just read them using my existing screen reader software.

Unfortunately, for me, I have no idea how to go about removing DRM.

[Rosalind]

Kataaran wrote:

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I've got an iPad and an iPhone but I don't buy anything from their book or music store for this reason. In a couple of years I may have switched to Android, I don't want to have to repurchase content I've already paid for.

I thought iTune music is now DRM-free?