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List of Comic and Manga Readers

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TOPIC: List of Comic and Manga Readers

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#7769

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 3 Months, 3 Weeks ago

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Ok, it look old, but I turn off all toolbars and don't see that ugly icons.

I download all files to one folder that mean I don't need directory tree or anything else. I use only continuous view, full screen and keyboard shortcuts (zooming, prev/next file, up and down buttons). It's everything I need and PicWalker give me all of that.

You are heavy user - and that's OK - but I move from that to more "casual" stage where I don't need library or any other advanced options.

matrixik

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#7826

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 3 Months, 3 Weeks ago	Karma: 0
to round it all up a nice post to read +1 karma for u n 3 cheers

0°KChiller

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#9084

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 1 Month, 2 Weeks ago

Karma: 24

LongBox - it's commercial platform that attempts selling digital comics. No just reader but store and library together. LongBox made it to this list because latest public version allows users to import their cbz comics from outside the store. If you're not satisfied with it, you may want to give Graphic.ly a try, which follows the same philosophy (IMO, it's better product at this time).

Pros:

Cons:

Version used:

0.9.12 (July 2010)Links:

Direct Download Mirror

Screenshots:

quidam

not for nom

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Last Edit: 2010/07/27 19:09 By quidam.

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#9092

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 1 Month, 2 Weeks ago

Karma: 47

quidam wrote:

• the fact that Library has close to zero functionality
• worst reader ever. no fitting modes, zoom, not even scrolling. It's miracle it can display two pages and has manga mode.

Well I tried longbox and fully agree with what you have to say..

Graphic.ly has a long way to go.. I could not read / import my eComics into it..

Here is what I found on the net about the current status of these 2 programs:

Longbox Digital

Actually, it’s kind of premature to call Longbox a major player, since they don’t fully exist yet. The software is in public beta. There’s no word on which publishers they will carry. Based on my recollection, they helped start the idea of the digital comics industry, but they’ve been badly lapped by their competitors. By the time they do release — expect to hear more news at this year’s San Diego Con, later this month — will anyone still care?

For the basics planned for the app, you can read this interview with Rantz Hoseley, product creator, from last year. I think Longbox made what publishers see as a big mistake: first targeting Mac and PC desktops, when the hot digital comic market is handhelds, especially the iPad and iPhone. That’s because people on handhelds are willing to pay for content, while people on the web or desktops don’t. So publishers are eager to open up a potential revenue stream, although they won’t risk the old familiar sales outlets.

Longbox also is somewhat format-agnostic, like the original iTunes, allowing you to import CBR/CBZ files regardless of source, which is another strike against them in the minds of content providers. Fans, on the other hand, will love having only one app to store and organize their digital comics — if any publishers sign on to provide content through the system. All of these systems have proprietary formats (even Longbox), making it difficult to maintain a consolidated comic-reading library on only one computer program.

In short, lots of great ideas, if they happen, but it may be too late.

Graphic.ly

Graphic.ly, on the other hand, is quite honest about running late. They’ve released an Adobe Air-based app, and their Windows 7- and iPhone-specific versions are in beta. They’ve also announced plans for iPad and Android (yay!) versions. Unfortunately, their selection is much more limited than Comixology, although they do feature Top Cow, Boom!, Archie, and some iPhone-only Marvel comics.

They’ve acquired community site iFanboy, just as Comixology has blogs and podcasts. (That acquisition was after iFanboy ran this glowing Longblox article last year.) They’re also looking for developers to join the company, which might help the delay problem.

What sets them apart is their “telling it like it is” attitude. For instance, from one of their recent promotional emails:

We will get very close to 700 comics in the system, and we will launch an iphone app, as with most of our stuff when its new, it kinda stinks. But we have an update under review, and we are waiting on publishers to approve another 100-130 books, including Marvel. Remember you can download your current collection to the app for free, an iPad app (I’m pretty excited about it…let me know if you want to be a tester), and our Win7 app. We are a little behind everyone else, but given what Ive seen our developers doing, I think we will close the gap technologically. Add that to the partnerships we are putting in place, and there should be some fun announcements there too.

It’s refreshing to see someone admit they’re behind and that their betas aren’t perfect. Instead of promising potential customers the moon, they’re purposefully downplaying expectations so what they do provide may read more as a pleasant surprise.

Some more info I found:

And then there’s the iPhone/iPad-only Panelfly, which has much the same comics as everyone else offers. I think it’s smart for publishers not to force customers into a particular comic reader, but that means a company with an early lead in signing up the most desirable periodical publishers will have quite the advantage in attracting users. iVerse is even more limited in being iPhone-only, out of the platforms we’ve discussed, but they do provide PlayStation access, which is reportedly surprisingly successful.

Also found Comixology's web reader.. its the better one..

I liked this panel reading feature shown below.. can we have this in ComicRack ?

600WPMPO

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Last Edit: 2010/07/28 04:14 By 600WPMPO.

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#9093

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 1 Month, 2 Weeks ago	Karma: 6
Individual panel reading requires somebody to specify all those panels beforehand in the book. You might get something passable with an algorithm that looks for the panel edges but that will vary in effectiveness, would probably be time and memory consuming, oh and somebody has to write one. xD

Shinrai

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#9097

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 1 Month, 2 Weeks ago	Karma: 47
naah..!! shoot it away then

600WPMPO

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#9105

Re:List of Comic and Manga Readers 1 Month, 2 Weeks ago

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Yep, Graphic.ly can't open cbz at the moment. When it does, I'll review it here.

Comixology has the advantage of being the only one that offers two major labels DC and Marvel. Shame they don't have offline client.

As for panel view - it must be done either with predefined areas or with some more or less smart algorithm.
I belive it could be part of Layers feature that was requested and discussed here not long ago. I hope it's still on cYo's to do list.

quidam

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