We normally think of reading ebooks on ereaders and tablets these days. Reading on the browser is more or less about PDF files, the always dominant ebook format. But ever since Kindle came out, Amazon has managed to spark an interest in digital books and the EPUB format. Free EPUB readers are easily available for computers. There is the superb Calibre and the MobiPocket Reader. Both offer ebook organizational features apart from mere reading.
We generally browse with our browsers – Firefox in most cases. So, it makes sense to have a have a browser based EPUB reader that can instantly open the ebook when we click on its link. EPUBReader gives us that solution. EPUBReader is a Firefox add-on that helps you do away with any software as it is a very capable EPUB reader in its own right.
The instant benefit of using a Firefox hosted EPUB reader is explained on the developer’s site:
If you click on a link to an ePub-file, you are normally prompted by the Firefox “save as” dialog. With EPUBReader installed, the ePub-file is downloaded, processed and directly displayed ready to read.
As you can see in the screen above, you have minimal set of controls that allow you to change the text size and the reading style. You can set bookmarks and save the download to another location. Page layout and navigation is easy on the eyes. An interesting feature is that you maintain a catalog of books using EPUBReader. This is like your private library.
In fact, EPUBReader connects you to Archive.org and Feedbooks and you can access their portfolio of DRM free books before you choose to download the ones you want to read using EPUBReader. The Catalog keeps a record of books you have read in the reader.
EPUBReader is also cross-platform and available in 23 languages. EPUBReader can only open DRM free EPUB files so you have to search out books without the digital rights restrictions. That’s not a problem as there are quite a few sites that allow you to download free eBooks which are DRM free. Plus, as we saw earlier you have the Catalog. Books in the public domain are all DRM free. Project Gutenberg, EpubBooks, Adobe’s own Sample Book Library are just some of the few you can try out.
Try out and give us a shout in the comments below if you feel that EPUBReader makes reading ebooks on the computer comfortable enough for you.
Last updated on 03 February, 2022
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