Kitabu

This is alas not what I am looking for. With just an empty box without any directions when the program comes up, it's not intuitively obvious what I am expected to do (import some books). I don't actually want a program that creates yet another library; I use Calibre already and don't want to create a poor duplicate; I just want a reader. But if I must create another library, at least allow me to place it where I want it; it automatically goes into my Documents folder I am also having odd issues with the first loading a book. 2 books when first imported didn't display at all at first, I had to quit the program and restart it (these are all DRM-free books). The loading problem doesn't seem to be limited to the first try either, I just had it happen again. 1 book that has mixed text and images has visual problems with text getting cut off or overlaying images, and sometimes images overlapping. I did not check whether these books pass epub verification; that might be something to try, but the behaviour seems too random for that. It's a very bare bones program. SPACE doesn't work at all to go forward a page, which is such a standard that I can't believe it's not here. The slider works, but it is hard to judge where it will jump; the ToC is a better bet, but it does not always work properly. I use the arrow keys for paging, but clicking in the margins also works to advance a page. There is no bookmarking, no highlighting, no copying of text. Worst of all, it does not keep track of where I last was in a book; if I quit the program, it's all gone. It's a nice, uncluttered start, but not ready for prime time, I'd say. However, at least it is now available by direct download, no MAS enforced (previous reviewers had complained about that).

Doesn't open epubs without DRM, instead it tells me that it's DRM-protected. That's bull. I did it with my own epub, exported as a proof from Apple iBooks Author, no DRM, no nothing. Not sexy.

I'll hold off giving this app a review until I am more confident regarding the problem I am having (i.e. that I am not just having a problem with the GUI), but it seems to only show the first page of each chapter. The slider at the bottom just seems to discretely jump from one chapter to the next, in that sliding it a little bit doesn't change the view at all, while moving it enough will jump to the first page of the next chapter. I tried the same book in Calibre and it works fine. I am using Kitabu ver 1.0.7 with OS 10.6.8. Anyone else experience this?

It works. It's free. That's enough for me right now. I have most of my books as both pdf and epub and normally only read epub on my iPhone or iPad. Occasionally I'm given a prepublication epub and then this is nice to have. bookmarks and autowidth so that images aren't distorted when resizing would be welcome. Also a preference for where to put the library would be nice.

Just a point in note; the developer should put up a legitimate site and not and autoshunt into the MAS. That's just rude to (mis)represent a site that isn't there.

I will never understand why there is no iBooks app for Mac!? This app help fill the gap...

Non MAS download option would be appreciated. Never will understand why devs choose to go MAS only. Kitabu not happening for me then.

Big fan of the Kindle reader myself. Full screen? Yes. Customisable categories? Yes? Free? Yes. I use Calibre for converting stuff found online and have the Kindle app synched on my phone and Mac. Perfect.

I've still not found anything better than Firefox with the EPUBReader add-on.

Okay, it just claims to be a reader, but still would like to see a way to group books together in categories and some of the features iBooks has. Sorry, but so far not very useful to me.

Missing: a real full screen which one or more columns one can customize to a fixed width in characters, black background an nothing else displayed on the screen, except on mouse over. Not really bad but I'm waiting for a distraction free ePub reader on my 27" iMac. That's the reason for the low rating. Work in progress, not so much is missing.

Just a nice, no-frills, attractive app for managing and reading ePub books. No extraneous whistles and bells, but it organizes and presents your eBooks cleanly. [Reviewing this partly to offset the chucklehead who gave it a half-star because he can't grok the Mac App Store. That's the app/dev's fault *how*?]

This sounds like an app I want. However, something is messed up in MacUpdate and I can't get the app to download. This has happened with several other apps the last month. MacUpdate needs some corrective coding.