14 DAY TRIAL // Digital book libraries are just a consequence of our need to have quicker access to all sort of information. We had the need and the Internet provided us the means to fill the gaps. It was only a matter of time until books could fly all over the world with almost no time or other limitations.
Now there is no need to go to a library and borrow a book. The effort is just not worth when you have quicker alternatives. Instead of going to the library most users employ usernames and passwords to log in to their private account and look for the desired book and in a matter of seconds you have access to it.
I guess everyone agrees with me when I say that the best format to read in is PDF. The reader is simply giving you exactly what you need: opening a neatly arranged document, table of contents if available, bookmarking to know where you left, search capabilities and more. It is easier to read a digital book than to flip the pages of the real thing.
But with the introduction of the new reading standard, EPUB, there has also been released support for the latest digital book format. "The new container format provides a simplified method of packaging a digital publication into a single file, thereby making it easier for publishers, resellers and others to deliver and utilize digital reading materials," stated Nick Bogaty, IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) Executive Director.
Support for the new format has also been provided by Adobe, worldwide known software developer of web applications. The latest Adobe tool in this sense is Adobe Digital Editions. It is another way to read your digital books. Being an Adobe product, Digital Editions supports PDF documents, but sometimes these may look a bit awkward and some of them, like Google Book PDF, will not even be supported in Digital Editions. The reason is that the application has been created for small code size and low system requirements and because Google Book PDF files are compressed using JPEG2000 image compression which is not supported by Digital Editions.
The interface is alluring, especially because it is all black and when you add a few books to the library you will see what I mean: they will stand out. No need to take lessons to manipulate the application as it is all intuitive and there aren't too many options around.
Beyond all that Flash and optimization, Adobe Digital Editions reveals itself as a content-centric, consumer friendly application with a very intuitive interface. It is built on the concept of library shelves for greater usability and to quickly find what you want. The shelves are nothing else but folders containing the reading items.
Digital Editions comes with four default shelves: All Items, Borrowed, Purchased and recently Read. These cannot be removed from the application. One of the reasons is that Digital Editions supports ACS DRM technology that ensures the protection of copyright. This way you can continue borrowing books from online libraries and read the documents you have purchased with absolutely no problem.
Moving the elements of one shelf to another shelf is as easy as dragging and dropping. No need to say that you cannot move one element from Borrowed to Purchased as it will shatter the natural order of things.
A little mischief with the shelves is that they do not display the number of items available in each of them in the left hand side navigation pane. However, don't start counting them as in the upper part of the container window there is displayed the name of the shelf and the number of elements.
Digital Editions has two views: Library and Reading. While in the first one, you will be able to take a look at all the shelves contained by your personal library and the titles available for the selected folder. Reading view allows you to read the selected document. This can be achieved either by using the icon in the top left hand corner or by double clicking on a title.
Though both formats are readable, there are differences between EPUB files and PDFs. While in a PDF file it is easy to go to a certain page number, EPUB is not that flexible. The reason is that PDF documents are fixed in format and EPUB files are composed of reflowable content (just like web content).
Bookmarking a page is supported in the application for not scrolling up and down the document in order to find where you left. A push of the button will do it and the next time you open the document in reading view it'll pick up from that point.
Search capabilities are also present and can be found in reading view in the top right hand corner of the application window. It functions exactly like in Acrobat Reader so there should be absolutely no problem.
Though it is a small nifty application, Digital Editions is capable of storing annotations to the text. The procedure is simple and all there is to it is to select the text you want to link the annotation to and create a bookmark. A dialog will pop up allowing you to make the necessary remarks.
The Good
Digital Editions is extremely small compared to Acrobat Reader alternative and is extremely functional. Highly intuitive, the rich Internet application supplies a new and friendly environment to consume eBooks and EPUB and PDF content.
Very low on resources, Digital Editions is optimized for consumer-level eBook reading. Because of its distribution as a web based RIA you will always benefit from the last version of the application.
The Bad
Minor mischiefs like not displaying the number of items in the shelf when in Library mode or the fact that sometimes, after importing a document the cover will not be shown as available.
Providing some skins would be a good idea. Darker monitor display modes make it difficult for the user to get a grip on the right hand side scroll slide.
The Truth
Great for reading digital documents, Digital Editions successfully combines functionality, low resource footprint and good looks into one single application.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
