I really enjoy reading epub book files on my iPad, but sometimes I want to read them on my laptop. Is there any software that emulates the iBook format? I like the appearance of reading from paper, the page turns, etc... Everything I have seen from desktop software reminds me of reading from an old green screen terminal of the 70's or 80's, no style points at all.

thanks

Try Stanza: http://www.lexcycle.com/download-windows

But it won't work with books from the iBook store. Those are DRM protected.

joe

Still looking for a solution. I wonder why Apple has not created a desktop reader for iBooks. I also wonder why you can't buy books directly through iTunes, and not just through the iBooks app.

I do not know whether Bluefire works for such, but it is my favorite e-put reader for the iPhone. It allows you to return public library check-outs when you're done, unlike with Media Overdrive Console (which is the "official" app of many public library e-collections)

Thanks, but I am looking for a desktop solution, not an iOS solution.

Sorry. More caffeine was clearly called-for before I replied

Have you tried Kindle for PC? It has the faux-page turn animations, if I recall correctly. Personally, I hate that - I want as few delays to knock me out of the stream of text as possible (even just slow render time with PDFs gets to me) - but most readers that do it let you turn it off.

Personally, I used Calibre, which is free, and ugly but functional, reads ePub (and quite a few other formats) and can convert between formats - I use it among other things to convert long (unprotected) PDF which were formatted for printing into ePub to read on screen and on my phone, and to convert Microsoft Reader (.LIT) books to ePub.

It won't remove the DRM from Kindle books, but it will convert unprotected Mobipocket (which Kindle can read) to ePub and ePub to Mobipocket. Removing the DRM from most Kindle books is still possible, but left as an exercize for the reader.

Nothing fancy about it but I have an .epub book open in Firefox (with an addon) as I write this.

Stanza is a good epub format reader for Mac OS X, but it doesn't work with the DRM books purchased through the iBooks store.

http://www.lexcycle.com/download-macintosh

joe