May 04, 2017 Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about iPublishCentral eBooks Reader. Download iPublishCentral eBooks Reader for macOS 10.11 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. The Walmart eBooks app always remembers where you left off, so you don’t need to keep track. Share your love of reading on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Post your favorite quotes, notes, or thoughts about what you’re reading. Rate and review the books you’ve read.
Amazon's eBook Kindle service has long been treated as a second-class citizen on Windows. For a few years, there was a Store app for Windows 8 devices, but that was pulled back in October 2016. There's also a 'classic' desktop app, but it's been criticized as slow and clunky.
Luckily, there is a simple solution that works better than expected in the new Microsoft Edge browser: Kindle Cloud Reader.
Here's how it works and how to get it.
Kindle Cloud Reader: What is it?
Source: Windows CentralThe Kindle Cloud Reader app installed on Windows 10 including a taskbar icon.
Amazon's Kindle Cloud Reader is, at its heart, a simple web app that accesses your Kindle library. It's officially released as a browser plugin for Google Chrome (this extension, however, doesn't work in the new Edge for whatever reason).
The web app gives you access to all your online Kindle books and offers many settings and features, including:
- Customize your reading experience by choosing font size, text color, background color, number of reading columns, and more
- Create and edit notes, highlights, and bookmarks
- Whispersync technology automatically syncs your furthest page read, notes, and marks across devices, so you can start reading in your browser and pick up where you left off on your Kindle or any device with the Kindle app installed
- Search inside the book to find a topic, character, or section you want to revisit
- Look up word definitions and listen to how they are pronounced (available for English only)
- Shop the Kindle Store for millions of Kindle books, including new releases and best sellers
- Your current book is automatically made available for offline use, and you can choose to save a book for reading offline at any time
- Receive automatic software updates without the need to download new software
But really, the most significant and useful features come down to three things: (1) Support for offline reading, (2) Dark mode, and (3) Portrait mode.
Kindle Cloud Reader: How to get it
Installing Kindle Cloud Reader in the new Edge browser is simple and is the same method for installing any website as an app, including Disney+.
Note: You may want to whitelist read.amazon.com in any adblocker extension you are using. Otherwise, your Kindle library may not display correctly. The same applies to the Night Eye extension.
Navigate to read.amazon.com in the new Edge browser.
Log into your Amazon account.
Select the browser menu '…' in the upper right corner in Edge.
Navigate to Apps, and select Install this site as an app.
Source: Windows Central
Name the app if you want and hit Install.
Source: Windows Central
The Kindle Cloud Reader 'app' will now show in the Windows 10 app menu as expected. From there, you can right-click on it to pin to the Start menu or send it to the Task Bar for quick access. Right-clicking on the icon also lets you uninstall the 'app' if you no longer need it.
You now have a Kindle reader app!
Using the Kindle Reader App on Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge is quite good. Because it's a web shortcut, it takes up just a few kilobytes of information (versus the 54MB .exe installer for the desktop reader).
To download your books for offline use, right-click on any book and select Download and Pin from the menu. Your books will be put into a separate tab called 'Downloaded,' which can be accessed when your PC is in Airplane mode (the books will sync your reading position when you are back online).
Source: Windows CentralHow to download a book for offline reading.
There are limitations to the Kindle Cloud Reader app. Expressly, touch support is limited to mostly going forward and backward in the book (page turning). While there are advanced features for tuning fonts and taking notes, you'll need to use the keyboard and mouse pointer to make those changes. There also doesn't seem to be a way to make it full screen, so you'll see the Windows taskbar.*
*Correction: As noted in comments you can make it full screen. Simply 'tap the three dots on the task bar in the upper right corner and the drop down menu has the double arrow to trigger full screen. To get out of full screen with touch, just press in the middle of the page and hold your finger there until an X in a circle drops down from the top, hit it, and out of full screen.' Thanks, bigbradbad, for the tip!
Source: Windows CentralHow a Kindle eBook looks using the Cloud Reader in Edge as an app.
Overall, using the Kindle Cloud Reader on the Surface Pro X and Surface Go has been quite satisfying. Tossing the reader into the dark mode and hitting the pinned icon is fast, and the 'app' is quite fluid.
While I'd still prefer Amazon to make a proper app with support for inking and the Microsoft Store, this is a reliable alternative for those who don't want to lug around a Kindle reader (or forgot to pack one).
A huge improvement
Microsoft Edge (New)
Microsoft's new version of Edge is a complete rebuild with new features, better performance, and cross-platform support. Download today!
The new Microsoft Edge is available now on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and macOS. Microsoft Edge is also available on Android and iOS too.
Further reading and information on Edge
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Since the popularity of tablets, and subsequently large-screen smartphones, digital book reading has gone mobile. But, reading on a computer is still a popular past time, and for some, it's the best way to digest the classics, bestsellers, and undiscovered gems. If you have a folder full of eBooks and want to know which reader is perfect for your needs, you'll find what you're looking for right now.
I'd like to take a moment to clarify that this list is for apps that you can download onto your Mac. There are some great e-readers that are web-based, but I've decided not to include them on this list. If you have a favorite web browser e-reader, please feel free to add it to the comments section so others can find out about it.
iBooks
Every Mac comes with iBooks installed. It is perfectly designed to work, not only on your computer but also across all of your mobile devices. So, you can read a chapter or two on your Mac, and pick up on your iPad or iPhone without missing a beat. There is a quick-access button that lets you browse the iBooks Store, where you can download content to iCloud and access on all your supported Apple devices. You can also drag-and-drop PDFs to iTunes from your Mac, so if you've got a great book that isn't in ePub form, you can still read it in iBooks.
As for the features, iBooks on the Mac has most of the same tools and themes as iBooks on iPhone and iPad, like color options, text size and style customizations, highlighting tools, dictionary lookup, notes, sharing, illustration rendering, voice over, and more.
If you are knee-deep in the Apple ecosystem, iBooks is the best e-reader on your Mac. You'll love the ability to sync your eBooks and audiobooks across all of your devices.
Kindle
The Kindle reader on Mac is ideal for people that purchase, rent or borrow books from Amazon, which supplies the largest digital book collection. When you sign in to your Amazon account, you can access all Amazon books in your library. You can't browse the Amazon books store from the Kindle app, but when you buy a book on Amazon, it will be added to your collection, which you can access from all your devices, whether they are Apple, Android, or Windows. Amazon supports borrowing books, renting textbooks, sampling books, and more. It is especially beneficial to Prime subscribers. Prime reading offers hundreds of free ebooks, magazines, and more. Kindle Unlimited, which is a subscription-based service, lets you read about a million titles (including magazines and newspapers) for a monthly price.
Kindle on the Mac has plenty of customization features, too. You can change the theme to white, sepia, or black, and adjust the font size and style to tailor your reading experience. You can also add highlights and notes. One of my favorite features is the ability to browse through popular highlights from others that have also read the book.
If you have a collection of ebooks you've purchased from Amazon, or if you are a Prime subscriber, use Kindle for the Mac to read and sync your books across all of your devices.
- Free - Download now
OverDrive Read
OverDrive is the number one app for borrowing digital content from your local public library. All you need is an active library card and a PIN. Just like borrowing physical books, you can browse your library's entire collection of digital content and check out multiple titles at the same time. When you borrow an ebook or another item, you can download it on your Mac and access it as much as you want during your loan period. When your ebook is due, you don't have to worry about returning it to the library on time, it will automatically be removed from your Mac when your time is up.
The OverDrive Read app on Mac is actually a web browser supported software program, but it's on this list because it is the officially supported app for borrowing books from public libraries.
Although you have to access the OverDrive Read on Mac from a web browser, you can download content for offline reading, listening, or watching. You'll need to bookmark the page so you can access it without an internet connection, but if you remember to download the content while you're online, you can continue reading while offline.
OverDrive Read includes tools for changing the color, adjusting the size and style of font, adding notes, highlighting, and voice over for some titles. It also supports fixed-layout digital books (like comics and magazines) so your favorite illustrated content doesn't look weird on your Mac.
If you want to read digital books, but prefer borrowing from your local library, OverDrive Read is your go-to app for accessing your loans on Mac.
- Free - Download now
Adobe Digital Editions
Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) is an ePub reader that makes it super easy to read digital books on your Mac without having to drag them into an app or upload them to a cloud server. Once ADE is on your Mac, you can select it as the reader for any ePub file, so you can get started reading right away. I use ADE for ebooks that I get from HumbleBundle. I occasionally use it for ebooks I download from my public library, too. It supports all ePub formats and PDF files.
You can add a bookmark and highlight text. You can also add notes to pages and passages. Searching a book for a specific word or phrase is as easy as using the Find feature on your Mac.
If you download and store a lot of ePub files, and don't want to upload them to iCloud for reading in iBooks, ADE is the next best thing.
- Free - Download now
BookReader
BookReader is the e-reader for all files. It supports EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW, FB2, Microsoft DOC, RTF, RTFd, xHTML, Webarchive and TXT. No matter what type of ebook you have on file, you can read it on BookReader. It only supports DRM-free files, though, so make sure your digital books don't have digital rights protections before you try to use it.
You can store all of your books in one bookshelf for easy access. It also has a few features that make book reading on the Mac a pleasant experience, like realistic page flipping, hypertext support, Text to Speech, and a fully customizable color option. You can make the font, background, and book border any color available on the spectrum.
If you tend to download a lot of different types of eBook files, you'll be happy with the level of support BookReader has. You can download a free, seven-day trial version to decide whether you want to invest further.
- $9.99 - Download now
Your favorites?
Do you use a specific e-reader as your go-to app on Mac? Let us know what it is in the comments and tell us why it's your favorite.
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exposure notificationNational COVID-19 server to use Apple and Google's API, hosted by Microsoft
The Association of Public Health Laboratories has announced it is working with Apple, Google, and Microsoft to launch a national server that will securely store COVID-19 exposure notification data.