We have received a lot of questions from our customers about ebooks, formats and how to open them and decided to test some free eReader programs out.You can read about the ebook formats, the notes and features and our test results here.
Ebooks are sold in different formats and can be read by several devices. The first ebook format that was used is PDF and is read by a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat. Later came the ePub format with more features and publishing possibilities. Several companies and publishers have since then developed their own e-reader devices and formats, such as the .mobi format for the Amazon Kindle devices and .nook for Barnes&Noble’s Nook device.
The ePub format is created in two very different variations: The Fixed and the Reflowable, and they are used for different purpose. The Fixed layout is used for magasines and childrens and cooking books where the layout will be fixed and can have interactie elements.
The reflowable layout is used for novels and text books, where the text flow and pictures are anchored to the text.
Besides this, we have 3 groups of places where the majority read ebooks, and that is on Pc/Mac, the smartphone or tablet. These 3 places all use different operating systems and they use different programs also called applications or app’s. The Pc use Microsoft programs, the smartphones and tablets use Android or Apple programs.
When you have downloaded your ebook to your reader device find and install the app you prefer to read from and open it. The app will usually find your ebooks or you can make it search for your books or connect to your clouds to find them and create a bookshelf for the books it finds.
DRM stand for Digital Rights Management ad books bought for specific devices and from paid account platforms with their own app usually have DRM protection, which means you need their app and the account to have access to your book and you cannot download the book as a single file and read on another device.
When you buy ebooks from 1pen ePublish they have no DRM protection and you buy the file to save and use on any device you prefer and without an expiration date. All authors and illustrators are always protected by the Copyrights.
The Apple products all use the same iStore app, which is available on all devices as part of the standard programs. The app’s can be searched for and installed on Phones, iPads and the Mac computer. Likewise, with the devices that use Android programs, they can be found and installed from the Google Play Store. These devices are made by companies like Samsung, Sony, Nokia, Huawei and others.
We publish the ePub format which can be read on Pc/Mac, iPhone and iPad and all Android devices, and Mobi format for Kindle devices.
The Nook version is available from Barnes&Nobles. Majority of ebook sellers are also selling the ebook as ePub format.
Several of the eReaders can read different formats, usually ePub, PDF and Mobi.
GoodReads is like FB but for readers and Project Gutenberg is a big online library filled with 1000’s of free books to download imediatly.
App’s and programs can be downloaded form Microsoft Store – iStore – Chrome Webshop – Google Play, there are 1oo’s of free app’s outthere to try out, and some of them can be bought with extra features.
We wanted to test how our readers can find a free eReader that is easy to use and gives the best reading experience. It should be quick to install, open and upload the books needed.
There should be features for changing fonts and page view. We are using a Samsung Android Smartphone, an iPad Pro and Windows 10.
The book we are testing on is a book with pictures and we would like to view the pictures in full screen. The book is also reflowable, which means the text flow according to the screen size, therefore it is nice with page view settings.
We took the 10 first ePub readers after a search for “ePub reader” from iStore, Google search and Google Play. We tested them all 1 time, which means we did not go back and try to fix anything that was not functioning on the first try because we would like to help our customers avoid having problems with reading their new or favourite books.
We did not intend to make commercial or to discredit any company or eReader developers. We have great respect for all the programmers who put free app’s and programs out there for people to use and there are many hours of work behind. We also know that great programmers want critiques on their products so they can continually improve them and we advise people to back them up and stay patient and positive.
From the App Store app, all Apple devices can enter the iStore application on your device search for “ePub reader”
Test of a Reflowing ePub written in Aviano and Helvetica fonts.
[lead]Scroll or Swipe left to see Screenshots and the rest of the table and the User/ Reading Score. Or use the arrow keys →[/lead]
Logo and App Name | Notes and Features | Paid Features | Use Book Fonts? | Screenshot | User & |
| Go to the ebook and choose | No | Yes, and a whole |
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KyBook ePub | Go to the ebook and choose the KyBook app to open it with. | Yes, remove ads, | No, but a long list |
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i2Reader Cloud | Find the book and open it with the i2Reaer app. | Free Trial period. | No |  |
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Gerty eBook Reader | Find the book and open it with the Gerty app. | Yes, open up all the | No, the app has 10 |
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FB Reader | Find the book and open it with the FBReader app. | No | No, but a long list |
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EPUB Reader | Find the book and open it with the EPUB Reader app. | No | No, but a long list |
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AEF ePub Reader | Unknown Login needed to open the app. | ? | ? |  |
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Apple Books | Find the book and open it with the EPUB Reader app. | No | Yes, and a whole |
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Total Reader | Find the book and open it with the Total Reader app. | No | No, but a long list |
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EPUB Reader | Find the book and open it with the EUB Neat Reader app. | Yes, there’s a 7 day free trial of the Pro Version. | No, there is no |
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From Google Play Store application on your device search for “ePub reader”
Test of a Reflowing ePub written in Aviano and Helvetica fonts.
[lead]Scroll or Swipe left to see Screenshots and the rest of the table and the User/ Reading Score. Or use the arrow keys →[/lead]
Logo and App Name | Notes and Features | Paid Features | Use Book Fonts? | Screenshot | User & |
Reasily | Device and SD card scan and Choose individual files. | No | Yes – and also the Fonts: |
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Librera | Allow it to access your device folders. | ? | No |
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PDF Reader | Access your device folders by allowing the app to access. | ? | ? |
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EPUB Reader | Access your device folders by allowing the app to access. | No | No – the books original fonts are replaced with 50 other fonts. |
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Moon Reader | Access device files in “My Files” or Dropbox and WebDev. | Buy the Pro Version to get more settings. | No – the books original fonts are replaced with the app’s standard |
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Lithium | Access your device folders by allowing the app to access. | Buy the Pro Version | Yes – and also the Fonts: |
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eBoox | Access your device folders by allowing the app to access into “Library”. | *Donation Option | No – The books original fonts are replaced with: |
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PocketBook | Access your device folders by allowing the app to access. | No | Yes – and also 32 different fonts. |
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Prestigo | Device scanand Google Drive, One | *Donation Option. | No – The books original fonts are replaced with: |
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ReadEra | *Device scan on opening. | *support by sharing their link. | No – The books original fonts are replaced with: |
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From Google search for “ePub reader”
You can find ereaders as a small program to download and open from your desktop or from the Crome webstore or Microsoft Store.
Test of a Reflowing ePub written in Aviano and Helvetica fonts.
[lead]Scroll or Swipe left to see Screenshots and the rest of the table and the User/ Reading Score. Or use the arrow keys →[/lead]
Name, Logo and Link | Notes and Features | Paid Features | Use Book Fonts? | ScreenShots | User & |
| Click + to upload books from any folder. | Remove ad’s, Remove Buy Pro reminder that pops up | Yes, in the titles, but not the text. There is one undefined font and no options to |
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Click on File to open books from any folder. | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |  |
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| Click the Square in the menu to upload books from | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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| Click Open in the menu to upload books from any “Q: Some special characters display unexpectedly when viewing documents containing symbols or different | Yes, one can buy a Pro version, but there is no | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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| The program can be saved on pc and opened from ex your desktop. | No | Yes, and there is access to all the fonts on your PC |  |
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| Click + to upload books from any folder. | Yee, a small amount to remove ads in the bottom on Intro | No, the program has a long list of other fonts to |
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| Click + to upload books from any folder. | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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| Click on File to open books from any folder. | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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| Click + to upload books from any folder. | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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| Drag and Drop or click on blue area to upload a book | No | No, the program has its own fonts and there is no |
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While there are so many different devices to read on, formats in ebooks and programs to read from, it all depends on the individual users preference and needs. Also, I suggest trying out a few and find the one that works best, the app’s that didn’t work for me might work well on another device and version of windows. It is a better idea to search for an app in Microsoft Store than on Google Search for Pc readers. The results are more precise, and the programs are best from Microsoft Store.
It is a very good idea to turn off the internet on your handheld device while reading – especially for kids, for 2 reasons. The first that when the device is online, the reader will be disturbed from incoming notifications and the second concerning the debates about radiation from wireless devices and creating environments to protect our health from overuse and overexposure. Therefore we advise turning off the wireless devices while reading and using programs that don’t require online access to function.
Read our short manual on How to open your ePub on any devices.
We have during our test found a lot of articles about some of the app’s and how to find more and free ebooks for your desired eReader that we would like to recommend to you.
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