To enjoy the experience of reading books on the pc you need first to find a desktop ebook reader that suits your needs. Finding the perfect ebook reader is difficult. The feel of paper in the hands, or the smell, for many readers is something that can’t be replaced.
The ebook readers for pc that made my list are:
Calibre
Adobe digital edition
Cool reader 3
Sumatra PDF reader
Calibre
Because ebooks come in a variety of formats the first program in the list is Calibre.
Calibre can do much more than read all the ebook formats out there. The main features of the program are: library management, format conversion, ebook viewer, syncing pc to ebook devices, news download from the internet.
In fact, this is the best library management for electronic books out there. It can convert books to any format which is awesome, it can sync different devices and is fantastic, it can manage all your ebook collection which is incredible, but I dont like the fact that it eats up a lot of resources, it can be slow sometimes, and the design has a Linux feel (for some it can be a plus).
The program is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and has a portable version.
Adobe digital edition home ADE
The program offers a library to organize ebooks and view them as long they are .epub or .pdf files. If your collection includes other files extensions ... it is not for you. I keep it installed on the pc just to have at arms reach all .pdf files. A great feature is the fact that ADE will remember the page you were on for all the books in the collection. To be fair all the programs can do this (I had problems with cool reader on a thumb drive - not to be trusted)
As a .pdf reader, it does not excel in any way. It has the ability to bookmark pages and it can display the table of content.
Cool reader
This is a "cool" ebook reader. It has the ability to read epub, fb2, txt, rtf, html, chm, tcr, doc, pdb. It runs on Windows, Linux, Android. It is portable and takes up only 15 mb.
Cool reader 3 is a basic and easy to use reader. For a better reading experience, you can change the background color, font color, space between lines, font style, 1 or 2 page display and more.
It gets a minus because it does not have a library management, it can't read more file formats, it does not allow drag and drop files in the reader, lack of support and lack of development of the software (no new version releases in last years).
An alternative is FBReader. It supports the same file formats and is cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android).
Sumatra PDF Reader
Sumatra is a reader that is using almost no resources and has a portable version. It can open .pdf, .ePub, .Mobi, .XPS, .DjVu, .CBZ, .CBR. On the start screen you have the latest files that you have opened. It is a great, light reader to have on the pc or on the thumb drive.
It loads and opens books fast and offers a great reading experience, offers customization like changing the background color and more.
In conclusion, none of the above readers and digital book library management tools are perfect, but in my eyes, these are the best options you have.
What software do you use for reading and managing the ebook collection?
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