We’re pleased to announce the launch of Shortcovers – the place to find your next great read!
We are now live:
On the web:http://www.shortcovers.com
On the iTunes Store: http://tinyurl.com/scapp
On the Blackberry and Android: http://www.shortcovers.com/mobile
Thanks to all of you who have registered and previewed Shortcovers, and those that have followed us on Twitter, our Blog and in the News. We value your interest and all of your feedback so far.
Today we launch with thousands of free samples for you to browse and read, thousands of bestselling books from the hottest authors and a wide range of great content. In the coming hours, days and weeks we are going to be loading more great books, books with chapters for sale, magazines and newspapers. We will also be listening to you, and incorporating your feedback as we roll out new features and build on what we’ve started.
While we are truly excited to have reached this milestone today, we will be working tirelessly to fulfill our vision – that is, to enable you to find your next great read, in an instant, from any mobile device. Today, our journey has only just begun.
Sincerely,
The Shortcovers Team
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Congratulations on your launch. Your launch day catalogue is far bigger than I hoped. Thanks for including the Discworld series right at the start.
Your iPhone app is good. I wish you had the page-turn interface of the Stanza iPhone app. I find that far easier to use than your combination of scroll down and page turn. Maybe you can add that user option in release 2.
I was looking forward to my first book read on my Iphone with your service. I like the app very much, but I agree that the scroll down to read is a deal breaker. Please reconsider.
Query: I don’t have a smart phone, have no plans to buy one and won’t read a book on my computer screen. I also subscribe to Bloglines to take care of my blog tracking needs. What I DO have is a Sony eReader. I can’t figure out from the Shortcovers site if it is all all useful to me. Can I buy an ebook from Shortcovers and load it on my reader?
Thanks. I was trying to figure it out from the main site, but the info seems to be more PR than practical…
Also, the shaded menu bars on the top and bottom, can they be hidden so that when we are reading we only see text?
I have tried the Shortcovers iPhone app and have a number of comments. However, as Shortcovers expects you to pay for ‘free’ public domain e-books my comments are based on sample free chapters and may not apply to complete books. Here are my comments:
Shortcovers appears to work like a web browser not an e-reader.
I can find no way of advancing through the text one screen page at a time by tapping on the left or right side of the screen like other e-readers. Manual scrolling is tedious and inaccurate.
There is no auto scroll option.
There no list of chapters/bookmarks (this may not be a fair comment as I have not been able to test a complete book). If I am correct, and there is no provision for selecting specific chapters in a book, this is a serious omission.
Font sizes cannot be made large enough for people with visual imairment and there are no page/text colour options (white text on black background for example).
The developers of Shortcovers should look at other iPhone e-readers such as Stanza and eReader and incorporate the best features of these readers into their product.
Great launch but I haven’t spotted how I can buy anything quite yet. I can order hard copy books but when are you going to turn on the shop capability for computer users?
I was hoping for more from the launch of Shortcovers, unfortunately, the service does not match the hype. While I was hoping for a Canadian service to replace, or at least supplement, Mobireader on my Blackberry Curve, I did not find this.
First of all. Shortcovers is completely a web based service. This right off the bat is a deal breaker for me. I do not want to have to scroll down to read a page, click next and wait for the next one to load. This can turn a 60 minute reading session into 45 minutes of actual reading. On my laptop at home the speeds would certainly be better, however, on my Blackberry, where I do most of my reading, this is not acceptable.
Also, I tried to do a little price comparison. After all, I can handle a little less as far as quality of service if the price is right. However, I found that I could not confirm this due to not being able to purchase any titles directly through Shortcovers. I could read the sample chapters but could not find a link anywhere to buy any of the titles I tested. Without getting prices, there was simply no way to compare.
Mobipocket has thousands of books ready for immediate purchase. I can download over the air with my phone and be reading in seconds. I can also preview sample chapters to determine if I want to buy a title. Not to mention, I can also purchase eBooks from numerous other online merchants and even access thousands of legally free titles. All of this on my phone. With the Mobireader desktop application, I can store all of my titles on my laptop and only transfer a few titles to my phone as needed. The desktop app also can auto sync to my device, grab RSS feeds and blogs, and transfer all to my phone when I plug in the USB cable.
I was hoping for a similar service with better pricing. Currently, I have to buy my titles in USD and that means a 6.99 title would cost me 8.71 at today’s exchange rate. If I could buy the same title for 6.99 CAD I would be able to swallow a somewhat less flexible service.
I really enjoy the flexibility of Mobireader on my Blackberry and feel that Shortcovers falls well short of the mark set by the Mobipocket team. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of Shortcovers ensures that it will not be replacing, or even living alongside my current Mobireader setup any time soon.
I am very interested in trying your service on my Android powered phone and I have submitted my email to try the beta version of the application. That was this morning. Can anyone tell me what the normal response time from Shortcovers is?
I love reading books I purchase to you,however i don’t know if this is the same way that i can access my books all the time ,or is do you have a way of keeping all the inventory of your clients in regards to book keeping,like for example,the way they do it on audiobook.