Stanza – Review

Our rating:

By: Stanza

Version #: 1

Date Released: 2008-07-18

Developer:

Price:

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Someone around here who shall go nameless (Dan) loves eReader and iTunes. For my moment I won’t be caught spending my money on DRM- ridden media. Music I can only play on one kind of machine? Books I can only read through one kind of software? No Thank You!!

That why things like music download services like Amazon mp3 and ebook download services like Feedbooks are so important. I can buy music through Amazon and then play it on any machine I want– even those that used to only use iTunes music. And, thankfully, Feedbooks brilliantly makes of public domain and DRM-free books available on a number of platforms. Thanks to old-school copyright law limitations, there are tons of classic novels available for free.  And, thanks to some anti-DRM pioneers, some contemporary books are out there for the free reading as well (Cory Doctorow and Rudy Rucker, to name a couple).

My DRM-free ebook reader of choice on the iPhone – Stanza.

Stanza is a nice looking, easy to use ebook-reader. It offers simple navigation, fast downloads and a snappy interface. While the developer has kept Stanza simple (a good thing) it still has all the important features any ereader should have. This includes font choice and size variations, basic
bookmarking (return to last point in a given book), basic pagination information, ability to delete books from iPhone’s library easily.  There are also a ton of more advanced settings that can be modified via the general iPhone settings, then Stanza, area. Best of all, there’s no DRM to toy with, the books are free, and the app is a free download. That’s the right combination in my book!

While there is nothing I don’t like about Stanza, content is king (or queen) and I wish there were more authors who would make their works available for free. And, even free is out of the question, I wish there were more ebooks without DRM so those of us who use multiple devices and platforms would have some freedom.  But, I’ll get off of my soapbox and just remain thankful that something like Stanza (and LexCycle, the OS X equivalent) is available.  I’m happy to have Dickens, Freud, and Fitzgerald available — and conveniently so.

Quick Take

Value: Very High
Would I Buy Again: Faster than you can turn a page
Learning Curve: Low
Who is it for: Anyone who loves to read, wants to do so on the iPhone and detests DRM
What I like: DRM-free, full featured, free
What I Don’t: Selection of DRM-free books remains limited

Final Statement: Sure, eReader would give me a bigger selection of available ebooks but I’m not willing to spend good money on something only to be told where and how I can use it. I just won’t do it. Thanks to Stanza I don’t have too.