Bluefire Reader - Your NEW Library Card!

I am so happy to see someone coming out with an iPad app that will allow me to download ebooks from my public library! Up until now the type of file library books are encrypted with has prevented download to both Kindle readers and our iPads! Not fair! It seems some of us may still have some difficulty with certain files, but I am downloading the iPad app as I type this on my iPad and will post a full review on Apps for iPads ASAP, along with a link for this FREE app for iPads ASAP!

Bluefire Productions recently released their Bluefire Reader universal iPhone and iPad app, and it is significant for one very big reason: it supports Adobe DRM EPUB books. What’s the big deal, you ask? Until now, support for EPUB eBooks with Adobe DRM has been limited to bookreaders such as the Nook, the SONY Reader, and Kobo. Conspicuously absent are the big two, the iPad and the Kindle.

With the release of this new reader app, Bluefire has given the iPad a leg up over the Kindle in the book reader wars. While it is true that Apple‘s own iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle app give access to a huge selection of books for purchase, many public libraries are also offering eBooks for time limited borrowing. Services such as OverDrive, netLibrary, and Tumblebooks eBooks for kids all offer free downloads of eBooks for library card holders, through local library websites. Once downloaded, the eBook can typically be read for 21 days, after which you can no longer open the file and you must re-download it from the library.

I don’t know about you, but buying an eBook to read it once and then never again is a hard sell. At least with a physical copy you could lend it to a friend after you’re done reading it. But with a purchased eBook, you’re pretty much limited to passing off your iPad to a friend if you want to share a book with them, or maybe give them your iTunes account info (slightly awkward). Borrowing from the library just makes sense from numerous perspectives.

 <a href="http://www.macgasm.net/2010/10/14/bluefire-reader-app-lets-read-adobe-drm-ebooks/" >READ the REST of the STORY</a>

Sent from my iPad