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I have directories like this here full of PDFs that I want to read, comfortably.

I consulted the GoodReader's developers (a book application for iPad) and they said that I need Mac -computer to download some directory or edit things. So I said 'Goodbye' to that application and found iBook but apparently the same problem, more here -- I feel Apple has done this so that you need Mac computer to study efficiently, pain (I have no Mac computer). It is extremely unproductive to click-everything-one-by-one.

  1. How can I download a directory of PDFs to some ebook reader or iPad easily? Please, notice that I have no Mac -computer and I am very skeptical about getting one just for this purpose. Please, move Mac -things here.

  2. Which factors should I look in eBook reader in my case? Look how I do things, I download things to that kind of directory and I am waiting that some application can fetch them there to the reader perhaps with WLAN?

  3. Are there more this kind of anti-competitive practices where the use of device is done pain without investing in more devices with eBook/iPad/etc market? Please, point out this kind of unexpected things -- I have been struggling with iPad due to this kind of surprises, hope not to face anymore in the future even with a new device.

Please, note that I am no extremist -- I want only to read efficiently and paperlessly the documents usually in PDFs. I can format them to to some archieve such as ZIP/etc if that is needed. Since I am just much more productive with some Wget/etc to get the material on Desktop -computer, it is pretty essential that I can get the PDFs/study-materials from that kind of index painlessly.

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I won't post this as an answer because I'm not an expert, but you should be able to do this with iTunes (which I won't blame you if you don't use, because I really don't like it). You could also to an app store search for a phrase like "file manager" and see what you can find. Finally, if your budget supports it, you can solve this and many more potential file management problems by using an Android tablet instead of an iPad. I'm not trying to to be snotty; managing the actual files on disk just simply is better on Android than on iOS. There are plenty other factors, though. – asfallows May 24 '12 at 20:20
What ever you end up with: I missed the possibility to sync my last read page and bookmarks between my devices. This will work better with iTunes+iPad (but I refuse to touch anything other than a Macbook, because I need a device which accepts free software). If Android tablets have a good pdf reader which can read files from your Dropbox you may have the thing you need. Also notice: PDFs need screen space. This is also why the kindle sucks a this task. – 0x6d64 May 26 '12 at 8:36
Since you are looking for comfort and efficiency, why not print out the PDFs? – Noam N. Kremen Jun 2 '12 at 18:39

1 Answer

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Try using a cloud synchronization service like Dropbox, there are other good services but I only use this one. As I do not neither own an iPhone or an iPad I do not know how good or comfortable their apps are, but it works with Android.

Basically you get some (free) storage space (e.g. 2 GB). With their different applications you can use Dropbox on Windows, Linux or Mac almost like a folder. If you change stuff on one computer the application uploads the new files to the cloud and your other devices download them.

Now you can use this two different ways with your eBook reader:

  • Install their app and use it (if there is an app for your device)
  • Access the files via web, as you can access everything online with your account.

I just want to point out that you will struggle with real eBook readers as:

  • Most of the files still are in PDF using A4 or letter format
  • The devices using eInk have very small displays and they cannot display A4 properly, even in landscape mode with scrolling.

I suggest you go with something like an iPad (or any different brand) or a small laptop (13 inch).

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I agree with the things said about pdf and e-readers: I have a kindle 3 (the e-ink thing with the keyboard) and reading pdfs on the thing is not fun at all. Converting anything more than a plain text + some headings into another format does not work. Stay away from this kindle if you want to read pdfs, I would recommend a quality netbook + Dropbox. Geek-mode: forget about dropbox and use rsync or sth. similar. – 0x6d64 May 25 '12 at 11:13
...just get a good sysadmin to provide support with *ix -things, yes DB works but you lose a lot of other tools -- probably good for layman. Using iPad and it works fine but the screen could be a bit more like paper... – user3133 Jun 2 '12 at 20:23

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