I have reviewed the ebrary App for the iPad, and a few people asked if there was an Android version? ebrary is currently working on an Android app, in the meantime it is possible to read ebrary e-books on your Android device. You can of course read e-books on the ebrary platform through a browser on your Android device, however this requires a live internet connection, which is fine if you have wifi, or unlimited data.
Using Adobe Digital Editions on your computer it is possible to download e-books from ebrary and transfer them to your Android device using a compatible eReader application, myself I used the Aldiko app as a “bookshelf”. You can then read these books offline without needing a constant internet connection.
Alas it isn’t possible to download the books direct to your Android device, you will need to go via your computer. There is a “bug” that stops you downloading direct to your device, this may be fixed at some point.
You will need to first download and install Adobe Digital Editions and then sign up for an Adobe ID. This will allow you to “authorize” transfers from your computer to your Android device. On your device you will need to install a compatible eReader application. I used Aldiko as I already had it on my Google Nexus One.
Start Aldiko on your Android device, then connect to your computer and where necessary turn on USB storage.
Having connected your Android device then start Adobe Digital Editions, it should recognise your device and add it as a “bookshelf” to your library after you have authorised the device.
Once this is all done then you can go onto the ebrary platform, select the book you want to read, click the download link.
There are a few options, you can download a DRM-free PDF containing part of the book, or a DRM’d copy of the whole book.
It will download an acsm file, open this file and Adobe Digital Editions will start to download the book from ebrary.
Once downloaded you merely need to drag the book from your library to your Aldiko bookshelf, this will then transfer the book from ebrary to your Android device.
You can then read the book on your Android device. Remember though you only have the book for 14 days before the DRM “expires” the book and then you will need to delete the book.
As for the reading experience, well this isn’t a true e-book experience and I found it quite difficult to read the book on the small screen of the Google Nexus One.
However on an Android tablet with a larger screen I suspect the experience would be as good as reading on the iPad.
Hmm… started trying to test this; but, having set up Adobe Digital Reader on my computer – but not authorised the computer; realised I had to for this – and so managed to lock the book I’d downloaded out – I can’t access it; and others are told it’s out of the library.
Just hoping that it automatically returns it … not treats it like a paper one you’ve accidentally locked into a cupboard & lost the key!
P.S.
I’m not able to persuade Adobe Digital Editions to see my phone; it’s showing under devices as far as the computer is concerned; it’s just Adobe isn’t having any of it; have tried restarting Digital reader; have tried with Bluefire & Aldiko & them on/off before / after putting the USB storage on. etc.
It’s a Samsung Nexus S; not rooted or anything else.