Remember books? I know, a total pain in the ass, right? But there's an iPhone and Android app that lets you read them cover-to-cover, so to speak, for free on your phone. So its like the Internet, but longer. Anyway, textonphone features over 30,000 titles, which you can access online or download to your device for offline reading. If you access online, the program buffers a few pinches of pages ahead of you and automatically bookmarks the page where you stop.
iPhone owners have been able to download textonphone for some time, but it's new to Android, and me. It's amazing how many words will fit on an SD card when the pictures are missing. I know, what a drag. But there are some great books available. Chances are I'll never finish Ayn Rand's masterpiece, The Fountainhead. But in case of impending death, it's as good a work as any to leave open as as some sort profound declaration to those I leave behind. That's right, I'm goin' out Freck style. Not really, but if you get that reference, you might appreciate this app. For that tale is available as well.
Most of the texts come from Project Gutenberg, but textonphone users can publish their own writings as well; via a Facebook app is one method. Textonphone provides both company-created and user-generated recommendation lists; The 10 Greatest Books of All Time, for example. There's also a Today's Read list, and it's quick and easy on the bandwidth to add a title to your own readlist. Looks like I should eventually get into The Call of the Wild, 1984, and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Based on the video below, I can tell you that the iPhone version is more robust than the Android port, but the program still does the trick on my G1, and well. Like I said, it's all free. But that may not last. As the app's FAQ states , "We're not making any money on this. We still have to figure out the way to charge you for something. Stay tuned..." So get 'em before the hammer comes crashing down, kids. I think it best to say that offline reading is the way to go. (fre)ebooks rock!
