Acrobat Ebook Reader v Microsoft Reader

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Acrobat Ebook Reader as compared to Microsoft Reader?

Which do you prefer and why?

[Mike C]

It's easy to convert stuff to MS Reader format with the Word plug-in, for one, while Acrobat only uses media already in PDF.

Q. Does anyone know how to change the font that MS Reader plugin uses?

[Kierne]

Acrobat is sloooooooooooooow. MS Reader takes less time to start up and display pages, which is really kinda important when that's all the program needs to do. :)

[tdbunker]

Have installed both Acrobat Reader and MS reader as well as Palm Reader. I rate MS Reader the best, followed by Palm Reader with Acrobat Reader a distant third. I keep all three of them installed so I can access eBooks for any reader. All of them are somewhat of a pain as they use complex systems to prevent unauthorized copying. With MS Reader, you much 'activate' the reader on your Axim - cost nothing but requires you to get a Passport from Microsoft. Palm Reader uses your email address and a password for security. I have not used Acrobat Reader enough to access their system. The only time I downloaded an eBook for it I could not get it to work.

I can understand the need for security but both MS and Palm have had me cursing at times. I bought an eBook at Barnes & Noble and it insisted that I download and install MS Reader on my PC even thought it was already installed.

Despite the hassle, I consider the ability to carry around a number of books in my Axim one of the most desirable features of the device. B)

I think you need both. I'm not a fan of either of them, but some books are available only in one format or the other.

[paulg1957]

I agree with the assessment of tdbunker, msreader is the best, because it can include pictures and graphs that are part of the book, followed by the palmreader. I didn't know I could use this, wish I did because I thought once i'm with the pocket pc that was it. Deleted some of my ebooks in the palm format.

I like the palm reader because of the availability of books on newsgroups such as ebook-palm.

As far as Acrobat reader, I've got one book and well, once I'm done reading I don't know if I'll keep the program. On the other hand, there are a lot of documents on the internet that are .pdf format and some I may want to read off the axim.

It's great to have all sorts of books available to read whenever I want and not have to be too obvious while attending boring meetings that I'm actually reading something.


A question to answerers, what books do you have?


1) Naomi Klein, No Logos ( .lit)
2) The Chessmen of Mars (.lit)
3) the Quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (.lit)
4) the Manifesto of the communist Party (.lit)
5) the Eight Habits of Highly Successful People ( palm)
6 2061- Arthur clarke ( palm)

B)
I tend to read older classics, which you can download for free from the Gutenburg Project site. For those larger .TXT files (as well as .PDB, .PRC, .TXT, .RTF and .HTML), UBook is a great free reader. It opens much larger files that Pocket Word, it bookmarks where you left off, and has a number of font and appearance options.

You can find the reader at: http://www.gowerpoint.com/

[tdbunker]

I would like to see more books formated into eBooks. For example, when a new book is released, it is obviously alreadyin a digital format. It would cost nothing to run it thru a program and create an eBook format. The price should be between half and two thirds the price in a hardcover version.

The Cleveland library is to be the first library in the country to loan out eBooks. The copy you download would only work for a preset time, maybe 7 days for example. During this period the library would not be able to download the eBook to anyone else. Thus it would work much like printed books, only one person at a time could 'borrow' the book.

Unfortunately, this will only be available to residents in the Cleveland area. You would need to have a library card. Nice program though, hope it spreads.

[Kierne]

I would like to see more books formated into eBooks. For example, when a new book is released, it is obviously alreadyin a digital format.

Check out Fictionwise, they have a lot of current best-sellers available in eBook formats. Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble both have eBook sections as well.

[trehberg]

There are actually two reader applications distributed by Adobe. Acrobat Reader (which is included on the Dell CD) is for reading PDF documents created with Adobe Acrobat. The Adobe Acrobat Ebook Reader is designed to read ebooks, but there is not currently a version of the ebook reader for the pocket pc. That said, I don't know what the relative strengths of the Acrobat Ebook Reader versus the MS Reader are. I personally use the Palm Reader because it is easier to find content in formats compatible with this reader.

For those that want to conver Microsoft Word docs to MS Reader, here is the link for the free download,
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/rmr.asp

[Mike C]

The font that the MSR plugin converts to is almost unreadable. How can you change it?

[Quinn]

Originally posted by Mike C@Jan 29 2003, 07:46 PM
The font that the MSR plugin converts to is almost unreadable. How can you change it?

That's odd. I converted 2 very long textbooks and it's easy to read. What did it change it to for you???

Quinn