SuttaCentral
0 voters
It’s been three years since the last time I asked, so I thought I’d try again.
I’d really love to know what epub reader apps folks find work well for more complex texts.
I use Calibre on my laptop (so I ticked desktop, as there was not laptop option). I’m currently using Moon Reader on my phone, but that’s just what I happened to install - I didn’t do much research. Both of these work OK for me reading things like Bhikkhu Bodhi’s sutta Epubs.
Thanks!
Yeah, desktop is generally considered the opposite of mobile I think. After all, the same apps run on desktops and laptops, eh? Any way, I’ve modified the question. Thanks!
(Oh, it looks like when I modified the options it cleared all the votes. Bummer. You could vote again if you liked.)
Still using Google Play Books as my primary epub app for its free cloud syncing and notes integration with GDocs, but I also have been using and liking ReadEra recently as it displays nicer, supports PDFs, uses the native filesystem, etc.
Ok, Im feeling a little foolish, but where to find this? I cant find it in the Play Store. Is it actually an app?
Yes a real app 
Here are the Android and Apple store links.
And here’s the Readera link (Android only)
Apparently it’s not available in Albania, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Belize, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Fiji, Gabon, Haiti, Iceland, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macedonia, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Senegal, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and a few other places. 
Please forgive this rusty old man. Why not PDF?
Using Google Play Books on Android
The main feature of a PDF is that it looks identical on whatever platform you use. So it doesn’t really matter to me what pdf reader someone uses.
EPUB and Kindle are what are known as reflowable formats. This is ideal when the specific layout doesn’t matter but the readability of the text does. Think about looking at (modern) websites on a smartphone. You don’t have to pan left to right to read in the same way you would on a PDF.
Epub has the words itself in the file able to change. So depending on the software or app, one can change the font of the words, the size of it, not limited to the fixed page of the book or document.
Other features pdf has, it has too, like internal hyperlink of table of contents to the location in the book, ability to read out loud etc. There’s much more flexibility and apps to read out loud for epub, mobi etc than pdf.
For pdf, the best read out loud app I have for now is laptop Microsoft Edge, which makes me switched to this as my main internet browser. For mobile, it’s TTS reader by Librera. This reader can read pdf and epub and many more.
I voted 4 options.
Kindle e-ink reader, for when I am in SBS, I don’t have a kindle myself, but it’s available in SBS, mobile is not.
Kindle app on another device: on mobile and laptop. Although for read out loud, laptop is the one to go, use NV Access | Download NVDA for read aloud option.
Laptop apps: as mentioned, Microsoft Edge for pdf, Readaloud by Optimilia Studios available via Microsoft Store. I use this for Epub. I use calibre to convert other formats to Epub to read it. Readaloud app has the ability to become a small box, hovering above everything else and highlight of the sentence currently being read aloud. That is better than many other apps I had tried.
Also: Adobe Digital Editions for library books, and sometimes independent books.
Other mobile epub app:
Not independent books, from their own sources,
4. Kindle
5. Audible (max speed 3.5)
6. Libby (For Library borrowed books, DRM protected) (max speed 3)
Only reading Epub, no voice.
7. EbookDriod by AK2
8. ReadEra by READERA LLC
9. Adobe Digital Editions
For physical books I want read aloud via the camera, just flip the physical page, aim the phone camera properly, read page by page.
10. Kibo by Trestle Lab
Sorry for being so detailed, but really reading via text to speech makes one breeze through the books like a speedster. I trained up to 3.5 speed for audible and times 3 speed for Libby books.
Books app on my iPhone
On Android I use Lithium, Moon+ reader, or Read Era
I clicked something else because I use the Kindle app on my tablet for Kindle books and OverDrive for epub books. This is mostly because OverDrive is integrated into my local library, and a lot of my epub reading is library books.
Currently using a Kobo Libra H2O.
I use a Kindle Paperwhite for EPUB and Kindle books, as well as for a lot of books I’ve only found available in PDF form. Kindle, at least the model I have, is not really ideal for reading PDFs but it’s functional enough.
@Snowbird & @NgXinZhao … Thanks for the explanation. It seems this rusty oldman are already outdated. 
Media365 reader and eReader Prestigio for mobile
Calibre for my desktop.
But I rarely read on desktop. Reading my phone is better
I use Kindle Oasis. I wish official Buddhist websites would make their ebooks in pdf format available in mobi, azw3 or epub given that this is the e-reader generation. As a samanera who is not supposed to keep many items the kindle device is a very practical solution. Its like having an entire library on my hands.
