Hi Teresa, Heather, Carolyn, and Others, As Teresa notes, if you want to get any of the books published by O'Reilly, such as "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition" by David Pogue as an eBook that you can read on your iPad, and do not have access to Bookshare, the best place to buy is from the publisher's site as an epub bundle: http://oreilly.com/ebooks/epub/
Teresa, if you check the download account you created when bought your eBook from O'Reilly, you'll find that there's also a Daisy version of this book available now that you can download. If you're on your computer go to: https://members.oreilly.com/account/emedia and login with your user name and password to access this (or any of the other formats you use: ePub, PDF, etc.) If you're using your iPhone or other mobile device, use the mobile emedia site to download to your device and enter your login: https://members.oreilly.com/mobile/account/emedia When the app store first opened, before there was iBooks, Kobo Books, and many of the myriad eBook reading apps, a number of publishers started issuing individual books as apps. There are still lots of books as apps around, and their accessibility varies a lot. Mostly they're not accessible, as the makers were not aware of the guidelines for exposing the controls to VoiceOver at that time. The book that Carolyn bought is one of these one-off efforts. Actually, the old O'Reilly ebook-as-app issues used the format of what was then the Lexcycle Stanza format for eBook readers, and it may have been their first exploration in iPhone ebooks with the Stanza crowd. This format was almost usable with VoiceOver on the early version iPhones and iPod Touches (but would not read continuously), but none of these versions are even that compatible with the way that VoiceOver works now, and with the current version of Stanza (which is much more accessible). The individual ebooks as apps have their own frameworks. None of them seem to have really recent release dates (e.g., after the iOS 4 updates). You can check out app eBooks for accessibility by looking for any free or lite versions of these apps. If you do so for the "Missing Manual" as ebook app series, there's a "lite" one for the iPhone that was issued in 2009, just after cut, copy, and paste was introduced. It's mostly inaccessible, but you can get parts of it to read with VoiceOver if you toggle VO off and on, and manage to navigate past the cover. O'Reilly was an early member of the Stanza eReader app's store, and also joined the iBooks Store this summer. They regularly send their publications to Bookshare, supply the same digital media that they use as publishers (i.e., none of these are scanned), and they also make all the books that they publish available for international Bookshare use. So why would you buy these eBooks from O'Reilly, and why not just use the iBooks Store if you want a book? Well, maybe you're a user from outside the U.S., or you might not have a current Bookshare subscription. Or you want to try out the ePub reading functions immediately on your iDevice or the PDF format in other applications. Or maybe you have an Android, and want to use one of the eBook bundle versions that work on an Android, in addition to the Daisy reader version. You could simply like the fact that the latest downloadable versions of each available format for your book are always available to you in DRM-free format from your account, and that if there are minor version updates or errata, these will automatically get added. Last year, I got an email from O'Reilly saying that they'd been working with Bookshare to provide Daisy versions as part of their eBook bundles, so that I could now access Daisy versions of various eBooks I had purchased from them. These ePub bundle versions are more expensive than the apps. I think Teresa must have bought the Missing Manual for Switching to the Mac at the time I posted when all their eBook bundles went on sale for $9.99 each, because the list price for this book is currently $23.99. You used to be able to get a 40% discount by using "STANZACAT" as the coupon code on checkout -- dating from the days of their original ebook promotions for the Stanza app, but I don't know whether this still works. They have an eBook deal of the day feed that announces specially priced offers: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/oreilly/ebookdealoftheday (These are generally computer books, and the listings don't update exactly every day, so the offers are good for a few days until the next offer.) If you buy directly from the O'Reilly site, you have to create an account the first time you purchase (so there is somewhere you can access the downloadable ebooks). Since the iOS 4.2 update, if you access your account page's download screen link from your iDevice using the mobile version electronic download address: https://members.oreilly.com/mobile/account/emedia double tapping the ePub version of the book (e.g., the link that says "Download ePub") will download the file, and you'll be able to double tap an "Open In" button that lets you select from apps on your iPhone that can handle this format (e.g. "Open in iBooks", or "Kobo", or "Stanza"). Your iPhone will remember your selection and the next time you download an ePub will present you with your choice (e.g. "Open in iBooks") along with a second "Open in" button that allows you to choose an alternate app from the menu. There's one thing about the screen listing you should be aware of if you have multiple eBooks: the download links are announced before the heading for the book. (Try doing a two finger flick up "Read all" to check this.) So if you have many books on your account, and want to download the ePub version, set your rotor to "headings", flick down to the heading for the book, then flick left (that's correct, I said "left") past the icon_gif image for the book to the links ("Download PDF", "Download Mobi", "Download ePub", "Download DAISY", "Download APK") and double tap the format you want. Once again, I'll list all the links in one place. The O'Reilly ebooks page is: http://oreilly.com/ebooks/ The first time you make a purchase, you need to create an account that will hold your downloads, so you can always access the latest DRM-free file versions. Once you make your purchase you'll be sent an email with the receipt, and you can download your files either from the electronic media page for your computer: https://members.oreilly.com/account/emedia or from the mobile version of this page for your iPhone or iPod Touch: https://members.oreilly.com/mobile/account/emedia (iPad users can use either URL). The O'Reilly ebook deal of the day RSS feed is: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/oreilly/ebookdealoftheday And for Carolyn, the specific entry for "Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard edition" at the O'Reilly site is: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596804268/ HTH. Again, these books are also available through the iBooks Store, but you don't get the multiple versions and the coupon code discounts when titles go on sale can only be used for purchases made on the O'Reilly site. I'll paste in the entry that appears on my downloads page: <begin quote> You get lifetime access to ebooks you purchase through oreilly.com. Whenever possible we provide them to you in five DRM-free file formats — PDF, ePub, Kindle-compatible .mobi, DAISY, and Android .apk — that you can use on the devices of your choice. Our ebooks are enhanced with color images, even when the print version is black and white. They are fully searchable, and you can cut-and-paste and print them. We also alert you when we've updated your ebooks with corrections and additions. Please contact customer service if you have any questions. 1-800-998-9938 / 707-827-7000 / accou...@oreilly.com <end quote> Cheers, Esther On Jan 24, 2011, at 06:35, Teresa Cochran wrote: > Hi, all, > > I have to say that I'm puzzled. This book is available from OReilly media in > both epub and pdf formats. I find it quite easy to read in Preview. I did > have to pay $9 for it, but that's cheaper for me now than getting another > Bookshare subscription. IMO, Bookshare seems to have too many errors in too > many of their books for my taste. Anyhow, is this book not on the OReilly > site anymore? > > Teresa > On Jan 24, 2011, at 7:58 AM, Carolyn Haas wrote: > >> Hi Candie: >> Thank you for that. I've never done bookshare. Guess it's time. Again, >> thank you. >> >> Carolyn H >> On Jan 23, 2011, at 7:50 PM, Candie Stiles wrote: >> >>> That book is available from book share if you'd like to download it there. >>> On Jan 23, 2011, at 2:03 PM, Carolyn Haas wrote: >>> >>>> Hi: >>>> I wanted a purchased copy of this book, and thought I was finding a gem at >>>> the app store. I bought an iPad version, and it is a mess with VO. I >>>> brought it into my Apple store, and my trainer says indeed it isn't >>>> accessible. Guess I waisted $5.99. That store can sure confuse me >>>> easily. I thought it was odd seeing that book as an App. >>>> >>>> >>>> Anyhow, Guess I'm disrecommending the app. >>>> >>>> Carolyn H >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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