The iPad has arrived !

I think we were all waiting at work for the iPad to arrive so we could try it as an e-reader.  (Okay, truth be told, we wanted to see it for ALL of its various uses.)  We first had to download iTunes and and create a library account.  Then we were able to set up the iPad itself.  I downloaded the OverDrive Mobile App from the Apple App Store without any problems.  I then checked out an EPUB book from our Michigan Digital Libraries Consortium (OverDrive) and directly dowloaded it to the iPad through the mobile app.  This is the one e-reader that didn’t have to be connected to a desktop computer for file transfer.

The moment of truth arrived – would I like the iPad more than the highly-touted Nook Color?  Nope – not even close!  The book displayed on the iPad screen was the size of my iPhone screen – very difficult to read with such small print and it wouldn’t scale.  I then touched the magnify button at the bottom of the iPad and it enlarged the text to fit the entire screen.  This was what I was waiting to see, but alas, the larger text was fuzzy around the edges and not easily read.  What a huge disappointment !!  I love the iPad for its sleek design, ease of use and great speed, but not for OverDrive books. 

To be fair, if you purchase a book from the iStore, the resolution is 100% improved since it was meant to be viewed on this device.  I think that OverDrive needs to create a separate app for the iPad rather than have a shared one for the iPod/iPhone/iPad.  This might be the solution to resolution. 

I only used this product for an hour, so when I have more time to work with it, I can give you a better review.  For now, the Nook Color is still leading the pack in my opinion.