There are a lot of choices out there for iPhone/Android ebook reading.  You can load up the Amazon App, the Sony Reader App (well assuming they are allowed to sell the app) or whatever comes native.  However all of these options (plus others too) leave you a little bit boxed in for my liking.  I decided to see what I could do to create my own Ebook-ish app.

First Crack

Since I own the hardware I wanted to try using the Kobo App on my new Smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Vibrant) to see how it would work.  They flog the desktop app pretty heavily on the Kobo site but it's not absolutely necessary to use.  You get stuck with Adobe Digital Editions whenever you buy a book from Kobo if you want to put it on your dedicated Kobo reader but the actual Kobo app isn't necessary.

The Kobo Desktop App.  If you bother installing it.

Preinstalled on my phone was the Kobo App.  You login with the same credentials you have on http://kobobooks.com and it automatically downloads the books you've purchased.  You can then thumb through the pages read, read, and read.  There is only one massive problem here?  How do I get my Library books on here?  How do I get my Gutenberg books on here?  After poking around I guess the answer is no, there is no way to do that.  My universe of books goes well beyond just what I've purchased from Kobo.  So now what?

The Android version of the App.  Interesting fact: Each page of the book is converted to a jpg and then sent to your phone.

OSS Version, Free as in Free Beer and Free Speech

There is a great open source Ebook management tool out there called Calibre.  I'd recommend installing it and donating money to the author.  The list of features is extensive:

• Available on all major platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac)
• Downloads metadata from isdndb.com to mark up your collection
• Handles every major type of ebook file
• Has a built in Web Server (which is the bulk of what we're looking at today)
• Many many more... (I could not ever do it justice)

Only 1 catch!  Your books must not have any DRM on them whatsoever.  Calibre will tell you nicely if you try to add something that contains DRM to stop it. I'll let you read the install docs to get the basics but Let's look at starting the content server.

On your home computer

1. Start Calibre, click on preferences (the gears icon)
2. Find Sharing then Sharing over the net
3. Here you'll be able to set what port the server will run on and if you want to username/password it
4. Click Start Server to get it going
5. Test it by opening a browser window to localhost:port number.  In my case http://localhost:8888 and see if it works
6. Fiddle with your router to port forward 8888 to your public IP address.  You can find that IP address from http://www.whatismyip.com/ (Generally this is same all the time but not always.  Google will explain the difference for you)

The home screen of Calibre.  Lots and lots of options. Click on the 'Gears'.

Now select 'Sharing over the net'

Set your options and click on 'Test Server' to see if it works.

If it works you should see a webby version of your Calibre library. 

On your mobile device

1. Install an ebook viewer (in my case I wanted something that displays epub files)
2. Open up your browser and go to your ip address:port number and login.
3. You'll be greeted with your book library (already formatted nicely for your mobile screen)
4. Click on a title and read, read, read.
5. Be smug in the fact that you now have access to all your books, no matter where they came from

My good old pal FBReader.  If you search in the Market for 'epub reader' you'll find it.

Here is the view from Android.  A little pinched in but pretty cool when you think of it.

If you click on a ePub link you should get a nag about how you want to open the file.  Choose FBReader and pat yourself on the back.

Some things to keep in mind:

• You don't need constant connectivity with this setup.  You download the whole book to your phone.  One you're done ready simply download another book.
• FBReader has so so many options.  You can tie directly into Gutenberg and other sources.  It is a great alternative to the big company apps
• Calibre also does lots and lots of other things.   You can use it to even synch your ebooks to your Kobo

This process should tug at your Librarian heartstrings.  Running your own ebook site is very svelt and if you are so inclined you can share the username password with your friends.  Then you can even put all your ebooks in one place almost like a Library.... Hey wait a second here.