iBookstore and Amazone Kindle bookstore

Yesterday I was checking out the 'Australia Lonely Planet', I got it from the library and thought that it would be a good reference. Until like all these books they go out of date.

First I checked out 'Book depository"', my first preference for a physical copy. Cost $23.65. Not bad considering this includes postage.

My next option was iBooks which is my prefered option. I'd like to keep my books in the 'Apple ecosystem' Cost $39.99, I nearly choked!

I thought I have a look at the kindle book store. Cost $16.49, a fair price.

Then there is google books. Nothing available as an ebook...

 

What is it with Apple and books? I can understand why they charge a premium for there products but when they are competing with others why can't they be at least close? Over double the price of Amazon books is just not good enough. I'll just keep looking through my borrowed copy from the library and take notes.

 

Blogsy Vs BlogPress

I've been writing my blog now on my iPad for a couple of months. Prior to that I just used a Macbook with Safari. The iPad has become increasingly my "PC" of choice, due to its form size and portability.

Safari:: Unfortunately with Safari on the iPad the option of uploading pictures is shaded. I have yet to find a a way around this option so that I can put photos straight from the iPad onto the blog. Otherwise just for text its alright. The other major downfall is that you need to have an active internet connection.

Blogsy App:: This is my tool of choice. Some of the positives are

• What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) is pretty accurate
• Some niffty ways to hyperlink text
• You can write your stuff without an active internet connection
• Development appears pretty active, there is always seems a new version every couple of months

Blogsy does though have its downfalls..

• You have to upload your photos to Picarso or other photo sharing program.
• You cannot directly add your photos from your camera libary to the blog site.
• You have to allow location sharing to add a image to your blog (I find this rather intrusive)
• The development of lots of new versions means it can be a bit buggy at times.

BlogPress App::

I used a long while on my iPhone, but I found it a bit of pain to blog on a phone. But I've been using this app again since the iPad.

BlogPress main pluses for me are image management.

• You can add images direct from your iPad camera.
• They don't ask for an image location.

But it does have its problems

• hyperlinks, they are messy and complicated.
• Not as pretty. WYSIWYG isn't quite there, if at all.
• Doesn't seem to be actively developed.

So While both apps have there ups and downs I pretty much use Blogsy unless I have images. Then I use BlogPress. If there is a bit of writing, I use BlogPress to upload the photos, save as draft then move over to Blogsy.

I'm still waiting for my ideal blogging app....