.KEYWORD internet1201
.FLYINGHEAD THE INTERNET ON YOUR PALM HANDHELD
.TITLE Reading ebooks on your Palm handheld
.DEPT
.SUMMARY Palm handhelds are wonderful for holding reading material that can be valuable to an enterprise user. They can easily hold everything from technical information to policy documents, and even light reading for entertainment while traveling on business. In this month’s column, Michael Connick will tell you everything you need to know to take full advantage of the reader capabilities of your Palm handheld.
.AUTHOR Michael Connick
Palm handhelds are wonderful for holding reading material that can be valuable to enterprise users. They can easily hold everything from technical information to policy documents and even light reading for entertainment while traveling on business. You can even listen to audio books on a Palm handheld. All of the reading material you’ll need and the tools to utilize it can be found on the Internet.
.H1 Isn’t the screen too small for reading?
Quite a few times I’ve been reading something on my Palm OS handheld on a plane or in some other public place, and someone will ask what I’m doing. When I say that I’m reading a document, article, or even a book, the response is almost always the same: "Oh, I could never read on such a small screen."
"Have you ever tried it?" I’ll ask them.
"Well, no…"
Most Palm handhelds have a screen about the size of a PostIt note. Since this is considerably smaller than the size of a paperback book page, most people assume it must be difficult to read from. This is not the case. The screen may be smaller, but the text is the same size, or even larger, than that of a paperback book. Since most people don’t read an entire page at a single glance, Palm handhelds actually provide ample space for comfortable reading.
In addition, many Palm handhelds can now present text at very high-resolutions. Palm handhelds with high-resolution color screens are even able to utilize a technique called sub-pixel anti-aliasing. This delivers information that appears with a clarity rivaling that of laser printers. These devices can display a variety of font types and styles that make the reading experience little different from that of reading from paper.
Regardless of their screen resolution, all Palm handhelds offer a huge advantage over paper documents and books: portability. I commonly carry thousands of pages of text on my Clie. This would be the equivalent of enough paper to occupy an entire briefcase. Yet I can carry all this reading material in a package that fits inside my pocket.
.H1 What kind of documents can be read on a Palm handheld?
All kinds of documents can be viewed using a Palm handheld. Ebooks (business-related or not), copies of Web-based material, and copies of Microsoft Word documents are just a few of the types of reading material that can be read on a Palm handheld. I usually have several ebooks for reading when flying on business, several copies of Web articles I’ve saved for later reading, and a large number of Word-based business documents on my Palm handheld.
.H1 What programs are needed to read documents on a Palm handheld?
The software you use for reading depends on the format of the document file you wish to read. There are a number of standard document formats available for Palm handhelds. Each has different capabilities associated with it.
PalmDoc is the original Palm handheld document format created by Rick Bram quite a few years ago. The PalmDoc format doesn’t support any real text formatting (i.e., no bold, italics, etc.). There are many programs available for Palm handhelds, PCs, Macs, and other computers that can read and even edit PalmDoc files.
Some free PalmDoc readers for Palm handhelds include CspotRun (at http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/), ReadThemAll (at http://maksee.narod.ru/soft/), Qvadis Express Reader Lite (at http://www.qvadis.com), and RichReader Freeware (at http://users.rcn.com/arenamk/).
A more sophisticated document format is Palm Reader. This format is really an extension of the PalmDoc format that supports text formatting, limited graphics, and encryption. It’s the format used by Palm Digital Media for all the material they sell.
The Palm Reader program is available free from Palm Digital Media (at http://www.peanutpress.com). This program can read both Palm Reader format files and PalmDoc files.
Finally, there are proprietary formats supported by such programs as Documents To Go and Wordsmith. These formats support the very sophisticated text and document formatting required for representing Microsoft Word documents on a Palm handheld. These programs even allow you to edit documents and synchronize the Palm version of your document with a PC.
Documents to Go (at http://www.dataviz.com) and Wordsmith (at http://www.bluenomad.com) are both commercial programs that allow you to read (and edit) Microsoft Word documents and are also able to read PalmDoc format files. Figure A shows what a Word document looks like using Wordsmith
.FIG A A Word document as it appears on a high-resolution Palm handheld screen using WordSmith.
.H1 What do I read on my Palm handheld?
I fetch quite a few articles off the Web during the course of each day for later reading on my Clie. I convert these Web articles into PalmDoc format using the Syncplicity (at http://www.cognitiveroot.com) shareware program on my PC. I also use the free Sitescooper (at http://sitescooper.org) program on my PC to bulk load some larger Web-based material to my Palm handheld on a regular basis. Be warned, however: Sitescooper is a very sophisticated program that requires a bit of time to understand and configure. For casual fetching of Web articles, I find Syncplicity much easier to use.
I use WordSmith to synchronize a variety of work documents onto my Palm handheld. I always carry material related to the current project I’m working on. This includes the project’s statement of work, interim deliverables, project contact information, and any reference materials I’ll need. Some of the reference material I carry will be from the Web and in PalmDoc format. I use WordSmith to read PalmDoc files as well as Word documents.
I also carry ebooks to read when commuting by train or flying on business. Right now I’m reading The Metaphysical Club from Palm Digital Media using the Palm Reader program. It’s pictured in Figure B.
.FIG B The Metaphysical Club is displayed here using Palm Reader
.H1 How can you listen to audio books on a Palm handheld?
I’ve recently started listening to MP3 audio books on my Palm handheld. The ability to listen to work related or entertainment material while driving or traveling on business provides a wonderful way to stay stimulated and educated.
There are a variety of ways that Palm handhelds can play MP3 material. Of course you can use a Palm handheld like the Sony Clie that has a built-in MP3 player. But, you don’t need a Clie to listen to MP3 audio books. Add-on MP3 players are available for many Palm handhelds. These include the MiniJam MP3 Springboard Player (at http://www.handspring.com/products/sbmodules/minijamdetails.jhtml) for the Handspring Visors, the Porteson MP3 player for Palm m100 series (at http://www.pocketpyro.com), and the PyroPro MP3 player for Palm V series devices (at http://www.pocketpyro.com). Any of these will allow you to listen to MP3 audio books with your Palm handheld.
.H1 Where on the Internet can I get reading (and listening!) material for my Palm handheld?
There are a number of places to find reading and listening material on the Internet.
.H2 The Qvadis Library
The Qvadis Library (at http://www.qvadis.com/exlibris/library.html) claims to offer the Web’s premier collection of free Palm ebooks, all in PalmDoc format. To quote their press release: "Titles range from classic and contemporary works, from Shakespeare’s plays to Henry David Thoreau’s "Walden," from Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War" to travel ebooks on major world cities for mobile business professionals."
.H2 Palm Digital Media
Palm Digital Media (at http://www.peanutpress.com) is the best (and cheapest) place I know of to find current bestsellers in ebook format. They have a considerable library of business and technology-oriented books. They also provide an electronic edition of the Wall Street Journal. All of their material is in Palm Reader format.
.H2 Fictionwise
Fictionwise (at http://www.Fictionwise.com) is a nice site for PalmDoc formatted books at very reasonable prices. Their selection is much more limited than Palm Digital Media, but if they have what you want, you’ll find their prices to be very low.
.H2 Audio books
Finally, for audio books in MP3 format, both Blackstone Audiobooks (at http://www.blackstoneaudio.com) and Books On Tape (at http://www.booksontape.com) have good selections of fiction and non-fiction material on MP3 CDs. The MP3 material is much cheaper than the same book on tape or audio CD. The MP3 files can be easily transferred onto your Palm handheld’s MP3 player and enjoyed at your leisure.
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.H1 Conclusion
Most people overlook a key possible use of the Palm handheld: as a document reader. Give it a try; I think you’ll like it!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on CspotRun, visit http://www.32768.com/bill/palmos/.
For more information on ReadThemAll, visit http://maksee.narod.ru/soft/.
For more information on Qvadis Express Reader Lite, visit http://www.qvadis.com
For more information on RichReader Freeware, visit http://users.rcn.com/arenamk/.
For more information on Documents to Go, visit http://www.dataviz.com.
For more information on Wordsmith, visit http://www.bluenomad.com.
For more information on Syncplicity, visit http://www.cognitiveroot.com.
For more information on Sitescooper, visit http://sitescooper.org.
For more information on the MiniJam MP3 Springboard Player, visit http://www.handspring.com/products/sbmodules/minijamdetails.jhtml.
For more information on the Porteson MP3 player, visit http://www.pocketpyro.com.
For more information on the PyroPro MP3 player, visit http://www.pocketpyro.com.
For more information on the Qvadis Library, visit http://www.qvadis.com/exlibris/library.html.
For more information on Palm Digital Media, visit http://www.peanutpress.com.
For more information on Fictionwise, visit http://www.Fictionwise.com.
For more information on Blackstone Audiobooks, visit http://www.blackstoneaudio.com.
For more information on Books On Tape, visit http://www.booksontape.com.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Easy, flexible article reprints
ZATZ now offers a quick, easy, flexible and inexpensive way to use article reprints in your marketing and promotion efforts. You can now get article reprints for a one-time fee of only $200. For details, visit http://mediakit.zatz.com/reprints.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6faf9
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