Digital Comic Readers/distribution

GauntletWizard

I got an iPad for Christmas, and with the help of the Dark Horse app quickly discovered that it's the perfect format for reading comics (Hellsing looks amazing on it, and I've been greatly enjoying Lone Wolf and Cub). However, there seem to be about a dozen apps each for buying comics and reading my CBRs; Anyone have suggestions?

(I'll also accept suggestions for what I should be reading, but there's a thread for that already)

Rochelle

I got the Viz app for manga and that is pretty nice. I'll have to check out that Dark Horse app sometime.

I like how they offer the first chapter of manga so you can check it out to decide if you want to purchase it. So much more convenient since Borders closed down and Barnes and Noble's selection of manga is balls.

Dr. Timo

I use comiXology

GauntletWizard

I grabbed the comiXology app; I'm hesitant to purchase anything, though, because of the weird ephemeral nature of it all. I'm confident that neither my Amazon Kindle nor Google Books purchases are going anywhere anytime soon, but there's much less a clear 'winner' in the comics space. It's not as if a few bucks in test purchases would break my bank, but I'm still afraid of leaving comics 'stranded' on an account I never use, or worse: that gets shut down with the death of a service.

ninjarabbi

I say just get a general reader app that plays .cbr's and whatnot. Just pirate the comics, and buy the trades of the ones you want to support. I use ComiCat on my android tablet, but I don't know if it's on ios or not.

SquadronROE

I've had a problem reading .cbr's using CloudReader. They're transferring to the iPad but are coming up completely black, with no data to read. The strange thing is this only seems to happen to certain .cbr's.

usrName

I use ComicViewer for .cbr's and Manga Rock for anything else.

ninjarabbi

Do .cbz's work? Because they're pretty much the same thing so you could just change the filename of the .cbr's if they do.

usrName

Do .cbz's work? Because they're pretty much the same thing so you could just change the filename of the .cbr's if they do.

Not sure but I can check after work but they should since it is just a zip with pictures inside.

trogdor9

CBRs are rar-compressed and CBZs are zip-compressed. If you need to convert one to the other, just rename, extract, compress, and rename.

SquadronROE

CBRs are rar-compressed and CBZs are zip-compressed. If you need to convert one to the other, just rename, extract, compress, and rename.

I think CBZs might work, I'll give renaming a shot. If not, I'll extract, recompress, etc.

InvaderREN

I read a LOT of comics on my iPad. Comic Zeal is by far the best one I have tried.
It reads everything apart from folders full of .jpgs. For those, I use Comic Glass.

Comic Zeal: Drag and drop within iTunes. The best past is the polish. The app is VERY polished and everything just works. Looks fucking gorgeous too.

Edit: Oh I assume you are torrenting all your comics Comic Zeal is a pirates dream.

Edit 2: Behold!

Rochelle

This thread is useful and informative to my interests. I thank you all.

InvaderREN

Gauntlet Wizard: Also don't forget about iBooks. With a copy of "Calibre" you can convert .pdf into .epub and the books LOOK just like the real thing, ie fonts, layout.

I mention this because the two greatest things the iPad did for me were comics and books. They really go hand in hand. This is assuming you dislike reading comics + books on your computer (which I hate doing). Being able to just hold the ipad like a real book or comic is such a step up from a computer screen that it really is a whole new ball game. Substitute "iPad" for tablet of choice. But we all know Apple. Shit just works.

gomidog

FoxyManga! It's a app to scrape manga fox that our own Conbad of Johnny Wander put together because all the existing apps ticked him off too much.

GauntletWizard

Apple has the lead as an entertainment device, probably for the next year or so. I'll be switching to an android device as soon as the manufacturers make one that doesn't suck.

I pirate, but I much prefer to pay reasonable prices for my media. An awful lot of digital distribution doesn't have the right price model for me, I'd rather buy in bulk, but not the entire series at once; $20 a month for 4 months (or even each week) sits well with me, $80 at a time for a comic series, even if I know I'll read it all, is kinda... pricey? Perhaps it's that they're still operating on a subscription model, but I'd be much more likely to subscribe to new updates if there were a slightly cheaper catch-up model.

Also: Is there an app store link for FoxyManga? I'd love a convenient interface to MangaFox, and Conrad is the bomb diggity yo.

usrName

Also: Is there an app store link for FoxyManga? I'd love a convenient interface to MangaFox, and Conrad is the bomb diggity yo.

Searched both Android and Apple app stores and couldn't find it but I'm still looking.

gomidog

Probably still in approval stage for app store? He just wrote it, like, yesterday.

Rochelle

The Viz library is lacking in older manga that I'm actually interested in. I honestly don't mind paying for it, but if it's going to be like this I might as well pirate the damn thing.

GauntletWizard

You should remind him to post here when it actually comes out; I await it anxiously.

Rochelle

I purchased the ComicGlass app and so far I'm enjoying the ease and use of the app to read .zip and .rar files.

I uploaded several volumes of manga and when I'm done with a volume, double arrows appear on the screen for me to tap to go onto the next volume. That's pretty nice.