Nietzsche on your Nokia
December 31, 2008 12:29 PM Subscribe
Need a little Tolstoy while you're waiting in line? How about some Mark Twain on the subway? Booksinmyphone puts - surprise! - books in your phone, for free.
For java-enabled phones, which does not include the iPhone. Fortunately, there are a bunch of alternatives out there.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:56 PM on December 31, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 12:56 PM on December 31, 2008 [2 favorites]
Hooray! Another reason to ignore the iPhone!
Playing around with a short story now, and it seems to be very well-thought out. Now I have something to do on the train...
posted by caution live frogs at 12:58 PM on December 31, 2008
Playing around with a short story now, and it seems to be very well-thought out. Now I have something to do on the train...
posted by caution live frogs at 12:58 PM on December 31, 2008
Bookmarked and favorited. Awesome.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:05 PM on December 31, 2008
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:05 PM on December 31, 2008
For iPhone users, check out Stanza.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:20 PM on December 31, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:20 PM on December 31, 2008 [3 favorites]
Yeah, I've been reading 1984 on Stanza, and I am very much getting used to it. I have a book in my pocket at all times, and it's very readable and user friendly and keeps my place between syncs, unlike how the iphone is always losing my place in audiobooks, which drives me crazy.
So far I'm only reading classic freebies from Project Gutenberg. I haven't been able to come to terms with paying paperback prices for digital downloads of new releases. Maybe I should just get over it, but whenever I consider buying a digital book I keep thinking I would rather just buy the book.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 1:31 PM on December 31, 2008
So far I'm only reading classic freebies from Project Gutenberg. I haven't been able to come to terms with paying paperback prices for digital downloads of new releases. Maybe I should just get over it, but whenever I consider buying a digital book I keep thinking I would rather just buy the book.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 1:31 PM on December 31, 2008
But what about Booksinmypants? That's what the world really needs. Books in pants.
posted by flipyourwig at 1:35 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by flipyourwig at 1:35 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
But what about Booksinmypants? That's what the world really needs. Books in pants.
I have to confess, I keep hearing the site name to the tune of this song (NSFW).
posted by desjardins at 1:45 PM on December 31, 2008
I have to confess, I keep hearing the site name to the tune of this song (NSFW).
posted by desjardins at 1:45 PM on December 31, 2008
I have a book in my pocket at all times, and it's very readable and user friendly and keeps my place between syncs, unlike how the iphone is always losing my place in audiobooks, which drives me crazy.
Do you have them selected as audiobooks and the "remember playback position" checkbox checked?
posted by Manhasset at 2:03 PM on December 31, 2008
Do you have them selected as audiobooks and the "remember playback position" checkbox checked?
posted by Manhasset at 2:03 PM on December 31, 2008
The Iliad as it was meant to be appreciated: on the tiny screen of my Samsung. Ladies and gentlemen, in the words of Randy Newman, you know we ain't livin' right.
posted by ford and the prefects at 2:26 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by ford and the prefects at 2:26 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
Do you have them selected as audiobooks and the "remember playback position" checkbox checked?
Yes--to be fair, it doesn't exactly forget my place so much as what I was playing. When I open Stanza, it always opens the book to exactly where I was. I don't have to choose the book, it's just right there, even after a sync.
With audiobooks I can usually just click the headphones with the phone in my pocket and it starts me up where I was. If I sync, however, it forgets what I was listening to and starts playing the first song in the playlist, which is a song I used to like but now dislike because it reminds me of wanting to throw the phone out the window.
I also frequently click the headphones to pause, but if the phone is being ornery it sometimes interprets my click as a double-click and jumps to the next chapter. It would be neat to have some sort of "go back to where I was a second ago" feature.
But this is all mostly off topic. Back on point: yay for book on mobile devices.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 2:29 PM on December 31, 2008
Yes--to be fair, it doesn't exactly forget my place so much as what I was playing. When I open Stanza, it always opens the book to exactly where I was. I don't have to choose the book, it's just right there, even after a sync.
With audiobooks I can usually just click the headphones with the phone in my pocket and it starts me up where I was. If I sync, however, it forgets what I was listening to and starts playing the first song in the playlist, which is a song I used to like but now dislike because it reminds me of wanting to throw the phone out the window.
I also frequently click the headphones to pause, but if the phone is being ornery it sometimes interprets my click as a double-click and jumps to the next chapter. It would be neat to have some sort of "go back to where I was a second ago" feature.
But this is all mostly off topic. Back on point: yay for book on mobile devices.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 2:29 PM on December 31, 2008
The Iliad as it was meant to be appreciated: on the tiny screen of my Samsung. Ladies and gentlemen, in the words of Randy Newman, you know we ain't livin' right.
Didn't the Iliad exist originally only in oral retellings? If the standard is how it was meant to be appreciated, we wouldn't be reading it at all.
Also--and this is just me--but I have never equated larger fonts with quality reading. You may have read Anna Karenina, but you haven't really read it until you read the large type edition.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 2:37 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
Didn't the Iliad exist originally only in oral retellings? If the standard is how it was meant to be appreciated, we wouldn't be reading it at all.
Also--and this is just me--but I have never equated larger fonts with quality reading. You may have read Anna Karenina, but you haven't really read it until you read the large type edition.
posted by The Loch Ness Monster at 2:37 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
Stanza on the iPhone has grown from a moderately interesting app to my most used... they've added all kinds of support, from Fictionwise to Gutenberg to a desktop program that can convert pretty much any text format to one readable on the iPhone app.
Also, why ignore any kind of tech? Try it out, decide for yourself whether or not it meets your needs, but ignoring is just willfully keeping yourself ignorant, imo.
posted by Huck500 at 2:51 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
Also, why ignore any kind of tech? Try it out, decide for yourself whether or not it meets your needs, but ignoring is just willfully keeping yourself ignorant, imo.
posted by Huck500 at 2:51 PM on December 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
This brings to mind the article in this week's New Yorker -- I ♥ Novels -- about the "cell-phone novels" in Japan which held four of the top five spots on the literary best-seller list this year there.
Fiction Writing for Japanese Cell Phones.
Big Books Hit Japan's Tiny Phones.
posted by ericb at 2:57 PM on December 31, 2008
Fiction Writing for Japanese Cell Phones.
Big Books Hit Japan's Tiny Phones.
posted by ericb at 2:57 PM on December 31, 2008
Just thought I'd put in a plug for DailyLit -- get books emailed to you in quick-read installments every day. I'm reading Moby-Dick right now via DL, and loving it.
posted by Ike_Arumba at 3:28 PM on December 31, 2008
posted by Ike_Arumba at 3:28 PM on December 31, 2008
I was about to mention the "cell phone novels" and ericb beat me to it. It's an interesting article.
(What's the percentage of MeFites who read the New Yorker every week, honestly... like 200%? Feels like it sometimes.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:44 PM on December 31, 2008
(What's the percentage of MeFites who read the New Yorker every week, honestly... like 200%? Feels like it sometimes.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:44 PM on December 31, 2008
Looks cool, but I've been hankering for an e-ink book reader, and might just plunk down some cash for the eSlick. It's not really cheap, unless you compare it with every other e-ink reader out there, then it's quite cheap.
posted by zardoz at 4:27 PM on December 31, 2008
posted by zardoz at 4:27 PM on December 31, 2008
This will increase the length of my trips to the bathroom at work four fold!
posted by vorpal bunny at 4:43 PM on December 31, 2008
posted by vorpal bunny at 4:43 PM on December 31, 2008
re: eSlick, looks, er, slick, but a 6" gray generic font screen quickly becomes tiresome on the eyes. Until there is a 8x11" two-page 100% scale full-color e-ink device, books are worth the extra cost. I suspect my dream will come true within 24-36 months.
posted by stbalbach at 6:22 PM on December 31, 2008
posted by stbalbach at 6:22 PM on December 31, 2008
I will never, ever forget the joy of getting on a plane for a very long trip carrying a teeny tiny gadget full of text, instead of hauling a carry on bag full of heavy books and magazines. Plus - backlit!
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:13 AM on January 1, 2009
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:13 AM on January 1, 2009
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posted by Joe Beese at 12:55 PM on December 31, 2008