Free e-book apps to make the most of your mobile reading experience

Samsung recently tied up with Barnes & Noble to launch the Galaxy Tab Nook tablet specifically for bookworms. Similar to Amazon’s Fire tablets, you can expect the Galaxy Tab Nook to include apps customised for those who like to use their tablets for on-the-go reading.   However, if you’re an avid reader you have plenty of apps to turn your tablet or smartphone into an effective e-reader without having to buy a dedicated device. Google Play Books or Apple’s native iBooks are superb options out of the box on most devices, but there are certain limitations with both. So there are apps that take the reading experience to another level on your mobile device. Here are some that we think deserve a place on your phone.   Aldiko Popular app Aldiko has one of the best interfaces for sorting books by their format, genre or pages you’ve read. It provides plenty of customisations for the bookshelf as well as the books you read. You can change the page background to different shades to suit long hours of reading, adjust the font colour and size, line spacing, margins and also animate page-turns to different styles. You can add tags to certain books, notes or highlight important words and sentences. As far as reading experience goes, it’s on par with many alternatives in the market, and is a great way to get your e-reading started. What’s also interesting is that the app is not restricted to books you download from its store. You can import other books saved on your Android device that are in PDF or ePub formats.   Moon+ [caption id=“attachment_230407” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Auto-scrolling feature of the Moon+[/caption]   If you need access to thousands of free ebooks Moon+ is the place to be. The Moon+ library brings together free books from legal bookstores such as Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks and Smashwords. The app supports OPDS, which is used by websites to offer ebook downloads. Other than a vast collection of free ebooks, Moon+ has a comprehensive list of reading options. You can choose from seven different page-turning styles, adjust the width, line spacing and font styles. It switches to a full-screen mode when reading and displays the battery level at the bottom of the page. There’s an automatic scrolling feature and it lets you control the speed at which a page should be turned. Similar to popular ereaders such as Kindle and iBooks, it includes a built-in dictionary that pops out definitions by long-pressing a word.   Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is ideal if you need the latest titles at the cheapest prices. Amazon has the widest collection of ebooks and it lets you search and download books without leaving the app. It supports PDF documents and ebooks, though ebooks purchased from the Amazon store are in the proprietary AWZ format. These books open only with the Kindle app, so you’ll be tied to the Kindle reader for reading.   Compared with other paid ebook stores, we found that Amazon’s ebooks usually cost less so you can save money by downloading from the Kindle app. It comes with great reading features such as a built-in dictionary (which you’ll need to download separately), bookmarks, a highlight pen and the ability to change the font sizes and and background colour. You can also get Kindle for iOS.     Booktrack     If reading a book plays like a movie inside your head, the Booktrack app tries to make the experience all the more dramatic. The app adds sound effects to books, which changes according to the context. For example, if a character knocks the door you hear the sound of the door’s knocking, or if a scene is taking place outdoors, you hear the sound of chirping birds or bustling trees. You can adjust the speed you are reading at so that the sounds play at the right time.   While it’s a novel idea, the catalogue is limited to free books. It also lacks customisation features such as the ability to change the background to an ambient colour or the font size. You can share books with friends on Facebooks, Twitter and via Gmail. Get Booktracks for iOS from here.     Audible Audible is Amazon’s service for listening to audiobooks. Similar to podcasts, audiobooks are sound-recorded books useful when you can’t be bothered holding a book to yourself – when you’re travelling or exercising, for example. It also works as an educational or learning tool for children and those with reading disabilities. Audible has over 150,000 titles and you can access one audiobook per month for $14.95 (Rs 950) if you are a member. You can burn downloaded content on a CD or transfer them to your laptop, mobile or iPod without having to download the app again. The quality of recordings are great as it matches with the tone and style of the book. There’s an iOS version of Audible as well.   Think you have an ebook-reading app that works better than those on our list? Tell us in your comments below.