Get ePub or Kindle file of this
Update: I'm glad I used "apparently." I had Stanza already configured the way I wanted it. So I didn't mess extensively with "Settings." Others did and had bad news to report.
Stanza, one of the best e-reading apps around, was broken when Apple upgraded to iOS 4.
Amid the uproar from the app’s users, Stanza’s overlords at Amazon tweaked the ePub-capable app but did not promise future upgrades.
But Stanza runs fine under iOS 6, the new operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches, at least as best I can determine. I did suffer a lockup when I tried to change fonts, but my hunch is that this is probably an iOS 6 issue rather than a Stanza-specific one. A reboot of my iPad did the trick. Let me know if you yourself experience glitches. I’ve installed a zillion apps on my iPad, more than a few running simultaneously, and perhaps that can make things weird at times. I can hardly wait to test Stanza on the iPad Mini, assuming I buy one. (Update: Some people haven’t shared my luck. Stanza urgently needs another update.)
Just remember to store dupes of your books with Dropbox or another cloud-based system or the equivalent in case Stanza ends up broken in the future without a fix. Also, Stanza won’t work with “protected” books, not even Amazon-DRMed titles. Jeff Bezos and friends apparently ditched Stanza to stay focused on the standard Kindle apps, which, by comparison, come across as hobbled.
Why Stanza’s cool: It includes the highly readable Arial Rounded MT Bold font among others. Stanza is endlessly customizable, and on the whole I like the interface, which lets you use Apple’s pinch feature to expand or shrink the size of the font (after which you do a quick “save”). For tech-smart library patrons who want to read nonDRMed e-books, Stanza could be an excellent recommendation as long as they understand its limits. There are somewhat similar substitutes such as Megareader, but Stanza’s still a contender, even a few years after Amazon froze its development.
Related: Employee Shopping: 'Acqui-Hire' Is The New Normal In Silicon Valley, from NPR. Did Amazon buy the app more for the people behind it than for the technology itself?
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As noted, questions have arisen about Stanza and iOS 6. If you try to change existing configurations left over from earlier IOSes, THEN things can get ugly. Since Amazon apparently has abandoned the product, I can no longer recommend it for people running the latest iOS. Sad. DR