These charts compare the compatibility that various popular eBook apps have with my ePub version of Elementary Counterpoint. My chart only deals with the most critical elements for this e-book, the ones most likely to pose a challenge to an ebook app, which are navigation links and embedded audio. I have tested all of them on the only two devices I have, which are an iPad Air and a Samsung Galaxy s4 smartphone. If you have feedback about other devices that would be pertinent here, please let me know.
| Device Tested: iPad Air; iOS 8 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App Name | Cost | Navigation Links | Audio Players | Previous Location | Respects Styling | Notes |
| Bluefire | Free | Yes | No | Yes | Mostly | Images are left-aligned |
| iBooks | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Applies full justification unless you change this option in app preferences. |
| Kobo | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | links function as popups, like footnotes, but you have the option to click through to the actual location in the book |
| KyBooks | Free | No | No | No | Yes | Navigation links work as popups, can’t click through to the location in the book |
| Marvin | $3.99 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Awesome! Besides working so well with my book, it has many excellent general features, worth the money. Huge Accessibility feature is inclusion of the OpenDyslexic font. |
| NeoSaur | Free | Unreliable | Yes | Yes | No | Image styling is ignored, so the meter-sign images are rendered badly |
| Nook | Free | No | No | No | No | Images rendered small |
| Overdrive | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mostly | Audio players and headings are left-aligned. It takes a long time to do “Indexing” but then the book works pretty well. You have to long-press the links and the audio player buttons, or else it pages backwards instead. |
| Play Books (Google) | Free | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
| Device Tested: Samsung Galaxy S4; Android 4.4.4 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App Name | Cost | Navigation Links | Audio Players | Previous Location | Respects Styling | Notes |
| Aldiko | Free | No | No | No | Yes | have to choose “publisher default” styling. The images are too small and aligned to the left |
| Bluefire | Free | Unreliable | No | No | No | Images are left-aligned and much too small. The meter-sign images are so small they can't even be read. Everything is too small, can't seem to make font size any bigger. Not a good app on android. Much better on the iPad. |
| Cool Reader† | Free | No | No | No | Mostly | |
| Ebook Reader | Free | Unreliable | Yes | Yes | Yes | The audio examples work, although as soon as you play one it flips book back to the previous page. There’s a very nice navigation history feature. Instead of just offering to let you go back to the previous spot, you can see a list of several previous locations and choose the one you want. |
| Epub Reader for Android | Free | No | No | No | Yes | Navigation links are removed entirely, audio players render but do not play |
| FBreader[†] | Free | Yes | No | Yes | Mostly | Previous location is device “back” button. I wish this would play the examples because otherwise it’s my favorite e-book app on android. It has amazing speed when turning pages and handy integration with Project Gutenberg. |
| Kobo | Free | Unreliable | Yes | Yes | Yes | In settings you have to uncheck the box that says “use Kobo styling.” The example links work well, paragraph links were sometimes inaccurate. The table of contents also had a bunch of extra weird stuff in it. The audio players did not appear immediately upon opening the book, but did appear eventually. |
| Moon+ Pro Reader | $$ | Yes | Unreliable | Yes | No | Plays the wrong musical examples. This is a pity because the Moon reader has excellent highlighting and note-taking features, including easy export of notes to email or text file. |
| NeoSaur | Free | Unreliable | Yes | No | Yes | Crashy with squirrelly navigation. Image styling is ignored, so the meter-sign images are rendered badly |
| Nook | Free | Unreliable | No | No | Yes | Images rendered small and left-aligned; navigation not accurate |
| Overdrive | Free | Yes | No | No | Yes | Links have to be long pressed, but otherwise work okay. The audio players render but do not play audio |
| Play Books (Google) | Free | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Previous location is device “back” button |
| Dedicated Ebook Readers | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Device | Navigation Links | Audio Players | Previous Location | Respects Styling | Notes | |
| Kindle Paperwhite | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | azw3 format does not support audio, but otherwise it’s excellent, my favorite reading experience. | |
| Nook Color | Unreliable | No | Yes | Mostly | Same problems that the Nook apps have. | |