12-17-2014, 01:32 AM | #1 |
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Best epub3 fixed format readers?
Instead of "best" maybe I should simply say "functional" as at this point I'd settle for one e-reader per OS that will simply open an epub3 fixed format file and display without changing anything and play the audio encoded into each page.
I have an illustrated children's book which I've added narration and sound effects to. All formatting was done in InDesign. Here are the e-readers I've had a moderate amount of success with so far: It opens perfectly in iBooks on my ipad but I'm having a hard time finding other readers that will open it correctly. "Gitden" for android works okay but smooshed my text. In order to make the text display correctly I had to convert all the type to outlines so its not actually type anymore. This seems to work okay so far but it makes it hard to edit anything which I can see being a headache in the future. Gitden also crashes on me a lot, but I'm not sure if this is a universal problem or an issue with my phone (the only android device I'd had a chance to test it on in person so far) "Epub3 Reader" by TMA for Microsoft opens the file and the only change to the design is the smooshed text (like Gitden). However something about the way it reads the audio coding is off. The narration is set up to automatically play when you turn the page. In Epub3 Reader it plays page 1 narration on the cover page, page 2 narration on page 1, etc. That could be fixed by making the narration not be automatic (people have to click a button to play) but there are a lot of other problems with this program. Its crashes and freezes constantly and you have to have the program already open before you open a file. If you just click the file it will act like its going to open it but never gets past the load screen. According to the reviews, these problems are universal. I have used this program on my Windows 8 laptop. I haven't tried it on a Windows phone or tablet. Does anyone know of e-readers that work better for epub3 fixed format w/ audio for Android, Microsoft, or other OS? I like iBooks for ipad, but are there other i-apps I should take a look at? Any other suggestions on how to fix the altered text other than converting it to outlines? Any one else have experiences with Gitden or Epub3 Reader that are better than mine? |
12-20-2014, 02:27 AM | #2 |
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I think Astri-Bee has a fixed layout functionality, before I found out about Gitden that was the app I used.
iBooks and Kindle Fire will open FL books and display them as you intended. |
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12-20-2014, 03:08 AM | #3 |
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I just downloaded Astri-bee to my phone. It does open fixed layout epub files but it doesn't recognize the audio parts and it doesn't seem to have an option to look at the book in landscape mode. My book is formatted so that it is shown as a 2-page spread, not individual pages, because many of the illustrations work best in a 2-page spread, and so it works best in landscape. Astri-bee only shows a portion of the page in portrait mode.
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12-20-2014, 08:14 AM | #4 |
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There is a lite version and full version, did you download the full version? anyhow, Gitden is really the best app out there in my experience. You could also try Moon+ Reader
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12-21-2014, 02:39 PM | #5 | |
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I honestly don't know of any "FF" coding that works across all devices, or even a large number of devices. When I say, "devices" I also mean, software-based readers that are used on tablets or PC's or Macs. I suspect that Readium might be your best choice, but...I take it you're marketing this book from your own website, or an e-commerce website that isn't one of the Big ones, and thus, need to tell people what readers to download to read the book? Is that the situation? The other thing is, even though we have/use INDD in-house, we basically still do FF Books by hand, coding-wise. It seems to be simpler, overall, than trying to square-peg-round-hole INDD into FF. That could, however, also just be me being old and inflexible. ;-) Hitch |
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12-22-2014, 11:21 PM | #6 | |||
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12-23-2014, 01:31 AM | #7 | ||
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Good, hope one works for you.
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Hitch |
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12-23-2014, 11:29 AM | #8 |
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Actually Hitch, the last time I tried Readium with a Fixed Layout ePub3 it was horrible, I think I tested a that file about 6-8 months ago, maybe they fixed their bugs.
Kindle Fire and iBooks will display a FL eBook (EPUB3) beautifully as long as you stick to the standards! |
12-23-2014, 04:00 PM | #9 | |
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Yes, very limited. They are one of those small scale publishers where you get a huge cut of the proceeds but in return they don't offer much support. Its probably not an ideal situation, but I like maintaining control over my books rather than handing them off to a publisher to change at their whim, so it works alright, for now.
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12-23-2014, 04:02 PM | #10 |
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12-23-2014, 04:16 PM | #11 |
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12-23-2014, 11:03 PM | #12 |
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Tonight I used the "Kindle Kid's Book Creator" to turn my book into something that the Kindle Store could upload. the mobi file I'd created earlier and opened fine on my kindle wouldn't load into the kindle store so I went ahead and downloaded their Creator and that seemed to do the trick. There doesn't seem to be any way to add audio with the Kindle Kids Book Creator but C'est la vie. Its up in the Kindle store now, though it won't be available until Jan- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RDQF8JW
ETA: Also had a heart to heart with the publisher today and we re-negotiated our relationship. Basically they admitted that they weren't doing crap and I said okay fine, but I want more money and they said "Done." |
12-24-2014, 02:33 AM | #13 | ||
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12-24-2014, 05:25 AM | #14 | |
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If you've created a validated EPUB3 with an audio element such as this: Code:
<audio src="audio/clip12.mp3" controls="controls"> <div class="err"> <p> Sorry, it appears your system does not support audio playback. </p> </div> </audio> |
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12-24-2014, 02:11 PM | #15 | |
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Just out of curiosity, how do you believe that that ePUB3 file is "getting to" the Fire? For the purposes of seeing it? And playing it? Hitch |
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audio, epub3, fixed |
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