Greetings!

On 1/14/2016 6:50 AM, Unquestionably Confused wrote:
So, on the iPad, you have to invoke an *app* to get at the books?

Nope. I use Calibre to email an epub to a mail account accessed
exclusively on
my iPad. I click on the attachment and select "Open in iBook" (a native
application on iOS)

This seems like a roundabout way of doing it (?)

Why aren't you just "copying" it to the iPad? Why go through the email
step? Is there no other way to move files onto the iPad? (dunno, never
used one)

I'm relatively new to the iPad - only Apple device I own.

OK.

My Calibre program
resides on a desktop and the "library files (my collection of ebooks (~ 6,000
volumes) reside on a NAS (RAID) For me this was/is the most straight forward
way to do it. YMMV.

OK. But why "emailing" the document? Isn't that just a roundabout
way of *copying* it? I.e., you are sending it (via a desktop app?)
to a mail server and then *retrieving* it (via an iPad app) just
to get it *onto* the iPad (in an "inbox"). Then, saving that "attachment"
elsewhere (on the iPad). Can't you just "copy" it, directly?

Just saying that for me, the native iBooks application
works fine and I personally found it preferable to the Nook or any of the
various ereader apps I tried on my Toshiba Thrive tablet. Again, as all this
is subjective opinion, YMMV

Understood.

OR, if I am home and access the home network, I just point
Safari to the Calibre server and I can search, browse, etc. all my books.
Click on the one I want and tell Safari to open it in iBooks.

I only use Calibre for (one-time) conversions. My library is mirrored
(currently on two drives, but that can change) as are most of my
"precious" files. But, I have a "distributed" RAID array, of sorts,
(too "involved" to discuss here) and just copy the file(s) of interest
onto whatever device needs them (e.g., the tablet PC if I am just
trying to read something)

That's my situation as well. Books on the iPad are there only until I finish
reading them. Then I delete them. I don't worry about backups on the iPad as
I have have them all stored (and managed by Calibre) on the NAS at home.

OK. So, the "backup" exists implicitly. The iPad copy is "disposable".

Once you accept it either in email or Safari a copy is stored on the
iPad until
such time as you delete it in iBooks.

So, what happens when you run out of disk? Can/do you move that copy
off to a backup archive?

My iPad is one of those fairly rare 128GB models so that's not an issue for me,
but regardless I only "store" current content there or what's "stockpiled" for
my current reading desires. At most there may be twenty books on the iPad at
any one time (10 - 15 MB).

OK. The step I was missing was that you are emailing from your
"backup/archive". It's not like the email was the FIRST time you'd
touched the document (i.e., it had already been moved to your archive
before you ever really *looked* at it)

fine for me. With the cover you can hold the Nook or iPad as if you
were
holding a book. Makes getting used to the eReader very simple.

I don't understand why the "cover" makes a difference? E.g., with my
tablet
PC, I just set it on my lap, counter/desk or against my propped up legs
(if reading in bed). Holding it in my arms would be tiring as it is
rather large...

I can't see how putting it *in* something would make it any better (?)

Depends on the size of the tablet or reader I suppose. That tip was
given to
me by a friend who suggested that having a cover to hold it like a
traditional
book is a more natural transition to an ereader from a paper book. It
worked
well for me, but, as always, YMMV

How is it "inadequate" without the cover? Too small? Too slippery?

I.e., does your iPad have/need a cover for similar reasons?

It's strictly, I suppose, a matter of personal preference. I have a cover for
all my devices and like them. They all function pretty much the same.

1. Protects the screen when not in use

Understood. I keep a film on my tablet PCs screens but that just protects
against the abuse/scratches from the pen. If someone were to set something
on it (or drop it!), I'd be SoL.

2. Allows me to hold the device in two hands as if I was reading a book in the
conventional fashion (as opposed to reading a book with the pages on the left
and the cover folded back upon itself (hard to describe but take a magazine and
fold/hold it so only a single page is viewable at one time and maybe you'll see
what I mean)

Ahhhh! OK. The cover is there not so much as a skin but for it's
"hinge". Even though you don't have a display on the left side
for the verso pages, you have the mechanical *structure* of having
those pages "in your left hand".

The documents that I read on my tablet PC tend to be large sheets of paper;
the sort you would more easily read "from a stack" (of one sided sheets)
instead of flipping through double sided sheets "stapled together"
(think about how you'd PREFER to read a 15 page "report")

3. If I want to read it like a magazine folded over, I can as the cover will
fold back on itself exposing only the screen of the iPad allowing me to hold it
single handed.

Understood. This is how I envisioned the cover working. It hadn't occurred
to me that it could turn the device into an "open book" form (even though
that book only has rector pages!)

4. The case I have also swivels on the back so I can use it to form an easel
and set the iPad in a reading position on my desk or table.

OK. Now I see the "closer manifestation of a paper book". Thanks!