MacResearch

Apple's newest iPod is much more than a mp3 player. For many — including Yours Truly — it is first and foremost an internet device, with the added bonus of being able to play your music, movies, and podcasts. I've had mine now a few months, and recently started to investigate an application of the device hitherto largely ignored: e-reading.

With Amazon's Kindle getting a lot of press — not all of it kind — e-readers are a hot topic. My interest in using the iPod touch as an e-reader was piqued when a new book covering OpenGL on Mac OS X appeared appeared on O'Reilly's Safari web site. Safari is a subscription service which allows you to read from 1000's of technical books online. It's a useful service, but I've mainly used it as a reference source, because I'm one of those people who doesn't like reading books on a computer screen. But how would I fare reading a book on an iPod screen?

Reading about the Kindle got me thinking about what exactly the issue is with reading on a computer screen, and made me think the iPod may not suffer the same problem. When I thought about it more, what I dislike about reading at length on a computer is simply that I am not comfortable sitting at a desk, or with a bulky laptop resting on my lap. When I read a book or long article, I like to lounge or lie, even if I'm at work. You can't do this with a MacBook or iMac, but with an iPod...

So I gave it a go. I read a few chapters of the new OpenGL book on the Safari web site via the touch, and I have to say that the experience was quite pleasant. It's still a little fussy, because the Safari site is not designed for small screens, but extra screen flicks aside, I was able to read comfortably lying on my bed. I think my Safari subscription may finally start to pay its way!

This raises other interesting possibilities. For example, what about reading scientific articles in the form of PDF documents? One issue here is that you can't transfer documents directly to the iPod touch, so you need download them and read them in Safari. Luckily, someone has come up with a solution to this: the readdle.com web site allows you to upload PDFs with a simple Mac client application, whereby they become instantly available for viewing on your iPod touch or iPhone via the web. Nice.

So you can read scientific literature on your iPod touch, and you can do this even when you're offline, such as on a bus or train. The trick is simply to load the literature at home or work via your wifi connection, and then leave the Safari pages open on the iPod. That way, they will be available later when you are network-less.

Is the iPod touch the solution to all our e-reading problems? No, but it is a damn good start, especially for an mp3 player!