Chapter 10
Using Your iPad as an E-Reader
Get ready to . . .
Discover How iPad Differs from Other E-Readers
Download Magazine Apps to Newsstand
A traditional e-reader is a device that’s used to read the electronic version of books, magazines, and newspapers. Apple has touted iPad as a great e-reader, so although it isn’t a traditional e-reader device like the Barnes and Noble Nook, you won’t want to miss out on this cool functionality.
Apple’s free, downloadable application that turns your iPad into an e-reader is iBooks, which enables you to buy and download books from Apple’s iBookstore. You can also use one of several other free e-reader apps — such as Kindle, Stanza, or Nook — to download books to your iPad from a variety of online bookstores and other sources such as Google so you can read to your heart’s content.
A new app that comes with iOS 5 is Newsstand. Newsstand has a similar look and feel to iBooks, but it’s focus is on subscribing to and reading magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals.
In this chapter, you discover the options available for reading material and how to buy books and subscribe to publications. You also learn all about Newsstand and iBooks: how to navigate a book or periodical and adjust the brightness and type, as well as how to search books and organize your iBooks and Newsstand libraries.
Discover How iPad Differs from Other E-Readers
An e-reader is any electronic device that enables you to download and read books, magazines, or newspapers. These devices are typically portable and dedicated only to reading the electronic version of published materials. Most e-readers use e-ink technology to create a paperlike reading experience.
The iPad is a bit different: It isn’t only for reading books, and you have to download an app to enable it as an e-reader (though the apps are free). Also, the iPad doesn’t offer the paperlike reading experience — you read from a computer screen (though you can adjust the brightness and background color of the screen).
When you buy a book or magazine online (or get one of many free publications), it downloads to your iPad in a few seconds using a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. The iPad offers several navigation tools to move around a book, which you explore in this chapter.
Find Books at iBooks
1. In Chapter 9, I walk you through the process of downloading the iBooks application in the “Get Applications from the App Store” task, so you should go do that first, if you haven’t already. To shop using iBooks, tap on the iBooks application icon to open it. (It’s probably on your second Home screen, so you may have to swipe your finger to the left on the Home screen to locate it.)
2. In the iBooks library that opens (see Figure 10-1), you see a bookshelf; yours probably has only one free book already downloaded to it. (If you don’t see the bookshelf, tap the Library button to go there or, if no Library button is on the screen, tap the Bookshelf button in the top-right corner of the screen — it sports four small squares.) Tap the Store button and the shelf pivots around 180 degrees.
Figure 10-1
3. In the iBookstore, shown in Figure 10-2, featured titles are shown by default, though you can tap Release Date to see titles chronologically by release date and then do any of the following to find a book:
• Tap the Search field and type a search word or phrase using the onscreen keyboard.
• Tap the Categories button to see a list of types of books, as shown in Figure 10-3. Tap on a category to view those selections.
• Tap either the right or left arrow, halfway down the screen, to scroll to more suggested titles.
• Also in that area, tap See All to view more titles.
• Tap the appropriate button at the bottom of the screen to view particular categories: featured titles, the New York Times bestseller list, books listed on top charts, browse-worthy lists of authors or categories or only paid or free items, or titles you’ve already purchased.
If you go to an item by tapping a button at the bottom of the screen and you want to return to the original screen, just tap Featured again.
• Tap on a suggested selection or featured book to open more information about it.
Figure 10-2
Figure 10-3
Download free samples before you buy. You get to read several pages of the book to see whether it appeals to you and it doesn’t cost you a dime! Look for the Get Sample button when you view details about a book.
Explore Other E-Book Sources
The iPad is capable of using other e-reader apps to read book content from other bookstores, so you can get books from sources other than iBookstore. To do so, first download another e-reader application such as Kindle from Amazon or the Barnes & Noble Nook reader from the iPad App Store. (See Chapter 9 for how to download apps.) Then use their features to search for, purchase, and download content.
The Kindle e-reader application is shown in Figure 10-4. Any content you have already bought from Kindle is archived online and can be placed on your Kindle Home page on the iPad for you to read anytime you like. To delete a book from this reader, press the title with your finger and the Delete button appears.
You can also get content from a variety of other sources: Project Gutenberg, Google, some publishers like Baen, and so on. Get the content using your computer if you like and then just add them to Books in iTunes and sync them to your iPad.
Figure 10-4
Buy Books
1. If you have set up an account with iTunes, you can buy books at the iBookstore easily. (See Chapter 3 for more about setting up an account.) When you find a book in the iBookstore that you want to buy, tap its Price button. The button changes to the Buy Book button, as shown in Figure 10-5. (If the book is free, these buttons are labeled Free and Get Book respectively.)
2. Tap the Buy Book or Get Book button. If you haven’t already signed in, the iTunes Password dialog, shown in Figure 10-6, appears.
Figure 10-5
If you have signed in, your purchase is accepted immediately — no returns are allowed, so tap carefully!
Figure 10-6
3. Enter your password and tap OK.
4. The book appears on your bookshelf and the cost is charged to whichever credit card you specified when you opened your iTunes account.
You can also sync books you’ve downloaded to your computer to your iPad by using the data-connection cord and your iTunes account, or by setting up iCloud and choosing to automatically sync books by tapping Settings and then Store. Using this method, you can find lots of free books from various sources online and drag them into your iTunes Book library; then simply sync them to your iPad. See Chapter 3 for more about syncing and iCloud.
Navigate a Book
1. Tap iBooks and if your Library (the bookshelf) isn’t already displayed, tap the Library button.
2. Tap a book to open it. The book opens, as shown in Figure 10-7. (If you hold your iPad in portrait orientation, it shows one page; in landscape orientation, it shows two).
Figure 10-7
3. Take any of these actions to navigate the book:
• To go to the book’s table of contents: Tap the Table of Contents button at the top of the page (it looks like a little bulleted list) and then tap the name of a chapter to go to it (see Figure 10-8).
Figure 10-8
• To turn to the next page: Place your finger in the bottom-right or top-right corner or right edge of a page and flick to the left.
• To turn to the preceding page: Place your finger in the bottom-left or top-left corner or left edge of a page and flick to the right.
• To move to another page in the book: Tap and drag the slider at the bottom of the page to the right or left.
To return to the Library to view another book at any time, tap the Library button. If the button isn’t visible, tap anywhere on the page and the tools appear.
Adjust Brightness
1. iBooks offers an adjustable brightness setting that you can use to make your book pages comfortable to read. With a book open, tap the Brightness button, shown in Figure 10-9.
Figure 10-9
2. In the Brightness dialog that appears (refer to Figure 10-9), tap and drag the slider to the right to make the screen brighter, or to the left to dim it.
3. Tap anywhere in the book to close the Brightness dialog.
Experiment with the brightness level that works for you, or try out the Sepia setting in the Fonts dialog. Bright white computer screens are commonly thought to be hard on the eyes, so setting the brightness halfway to its default setting (or less) is probably a good idea.
Change the Font Size and Type
1. If the type on your screen is a bit small for your taste, you can change to a larger font size or choose a different font for readability. With a book open, tap the Font button (it sports a small letter a and a large capital A, as shown in Figure 10-10).
Figure 10-10
2. In the Font dialog that appears (refer to Figure 10-10), tap the button with a small A on the left to use smaller text, or the button with the large A on the right to use larger text.
3. Tap the Fonts button. The list of fonts shown in Figure 10-11 appears.
Figure 10-11
4. Tap on a font name to select it. The font changes on the book page.
5. If you want a sepia tint on the pages, which can be easier on the eye, tap the On/Off button to turn on the setting.
6. Tap outside the Fonts dialog to return to your book.
Some fonts appear a bit larger on your screen than others because of their design. If you want the largest fonts, use Cochin or Verdana.
Search in Your Book
1. You may want to find a certain sentence or reference in your book. To do so, with the book displayed, tap the Search button shown in Figure 10-12. The onscreen keyboard appears.
Figure 10-12
2. Enter a search term and then tap the Search key on the keyboard. iBooks searches for any matching entries.
3. Use your finger to scroll down the entries (see Figure 10-13).
4. You can use either the Search Google or Search Wikipedia button at the bottom of the Search dialog if you want to search for information about the search term online.
Figure 10-13
You can also search for other instances of a particular word while in the book pages by pressing your finger on the word and tapping Search on the toolbar that appears.
Use Bookmarks and Highlights
1. Bookmarks and highlights in your e-books are like favorite sites you save in your web browser: They enable you to revisit a favorite passage or refresh your memory about a character or plot point. To bookmark a page, with that page displayed just tap the Bookmark button in the top right corner (see Figure 10-14).
Figure 10-14
2. To highlight a word or phrase, press on a word until the toolbar shown in Figure 10-15 appears.
Figure 10-15
3. Tap the Highlight button. A colored highlight is placed on the word.
4. To change the color of the highlight or remove it, tap the highlighted word. The toolbar shown in Figure 10-16 appears.
Figure 10-16
5. Tap one of these three buttons:
• The Colors button: Displays a menu of colors you can tap to change the highlight color.
• The Note button: Lets you add a note to the item.
• The Remove Highlight button: Removes the highlight.
6. Tap outside the highlighted text to close the toolbar.
7. To go to a list of bookmarks and highlights, tap the Table of Contents button on a book page.
8. In the table of contents, tap the Bookmarks tab. As shown in Figure 10-17, all bookmarks are displayed.
Figure 10-17
9. Tap on a bookmark or highlight in this list to go there.
iPad automatically bookmarks where you left off reading in a book so you don’t have to do it manually.
You can also highlight illustrations in a book. Display the page and press on the image until the Highlight button appears above it. Tap the button and the illustration is highlighted in yellow. As with highlighted text, you can tap on a bookmarked illustration to change the highlight color or remove its highlight.
Check Words in the Dictionary
1. As you read a book, you may come across unfamiliar words. Don’t skip over them — take the opportunity to learn a word! With a book open, press your finger on a word and hold it until the toolbar shown in Figure 10-18 appears.
Figure 10-18
2. Tap the Dictionary button. A definition dialog appears, as shown in Figure 10-19.
3. Tap the definition and scroll down to view more.
4. When you finish reviewing the definition, tap anywhere on the page and the definition disappears.
Figure 10-19
Organize Your Library
1. Your iPad’s library looks like a bookshelf with books stored on it, with the most recently downloaded title in the top left corner. However, if you prefer, you can view your library in a few other ways. With the bookshelf version of the library displayed, tap the List button, shown in Figure 10-20.
2. Your books appear in a list, as shown in Figure 10-21. To organize the list alphabetically by title or author, tap the appropriate button on the bottom of the screen.
3. To organize by category, tap the Categories button on the bottom of the page. Your titles are divided by category titles such as Fiction, Mysteries & Thrillers, or Literary.
Figure 10-20
Figure 10-21
4. To return to Bookshelf view at any time, tap the Bookshelf view button.
Tap the Bookshelf button at the bottom of the list view to remove categories and list the most recently downloaded book first.
Use the Edit button in List view to display small circles to the left of all books in the list. Tap in any of the circles and then tap the Delete button at the top of the page to delete books, and then tap the Done button to exit the Edit function.
Organize Books in Collections
1. iBooks lets you create collections of books to help you organize them by your own logic, such as Tear Jerkers, Work-related, and Great Recipes. You can only place a book in one collection, however. To create a collection from the Library bookshelf, tap Collections.
2. In the dialog that appears, tap New. On the blank line that appears, type a name (see Figure 10-22) and tap Done.
Figure 10-22
3. Tap Books, which closes the dialog and returns you to the Library. To add a book to a collection from the Library, tap Edit.
4. Tap a book and then tap the Move button that appears in the top left corner of the screen. In the dialog that appears (see Figure 10-23), tap a Collection to move the book to.
Figure 10-23
5. To delete a book from a collection with the collection displayed, tap Edit, tap the selection circle for the book, and then tap Delete.
To delete a collection with the Collections dialog displayed, tap Edit. Tap the minus sign to the left of any collection and then tap Delete to get rid of it. A message appears asking you to tap Remove to remove the contents of the Collection from your iPad or Don’t Remove. Note that if you choose Don’t Remove, all titles within a deleted collection are returned to their original collections in your library.
Download Magazines Apps to Newsstand
1. Newsstand is a new app that focuses on subscribing to and reading magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals rather than books. The app has a similar look and feel to iBooks. When you download a free publication you’re actually downloading an app to Newsstand. You can then tap that app to buy individual issues, as covered in the next section. Tap the Newsstand icon on the Home screen to open Newsstand (see Figure 10-24).
2. Tap the Store button. The store opens offering Featured periodicals, Genius recommendations, Top Charts, and Categories for your shopping pleasure (see Figure 10-25).
Figure 10-24
Figure 10-25
3. Tap any of the items displayed, tap the arrow buttons to move to other choices, or tap in the Search field at the top and enter a search term to locate a publication you’re interested in.
If you tap on other icons at the bottom of the screen, such as Top Charts or Categories, you’re taken to other types of content than periodicals. Also if you tap Featured again after tapping one of these icons, you’re taken to other kinds of apps than periodicals. Your best bet: stay on the Store screen that displays when you tap the Store button in Newsstand.
4. When you find an item, tap it to view a detailed description (see Figure 10-26).
5. Tap the Free button and then tap Install App. The app downloads to Newsstand.
Figure 10-26
Buy Issues
1. Tap on a periodical app. The message shown in Figure 10-27 appears, asking if you’d like to be informed of new issues. Tap OK if you would.
Figure 10-27
2. Tap on the Preview Issue button to take a look at a description of its content, or tap the Buy button.
3. In the purchase confirmation dialog that appears, tap Buy. The issue is charged to your iTunes account.
Read Periodicals
1. If you buy a periodical or you have downloaded a free subscription preview, such as The New York Times Update shown in Figure 10-28, you can tap the publication in Newsstand to view it.
2. In the publication that appears use your finger to swipe left, right, or up and down to view more of the pages.
Figure 10-28
3. For many publications you can tap the Sections button shown in Figure 10-29 to navigate to different sections of the publication.
4. To subscribe to a publication when viewing a free sample, tap the Subscribe Now button (refer to Figure 10-29).
Note that different stores offer different options for subscribing, buying issues, and organizing issues. Think of Newsstand as a central collection point for apps that allow you to preview and buy content in each publication’s store.
Figure 10-29