How To Buy Books On The iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone in Ireland (Or Get Them Free)

For more information on iPad/iPhone and iPod Touch reading apps try Robert Maguire’s long review post on some of the freely available iPad book Apps.

These apps allow readers to download books to their iPads and read them. Nearly all of them offer works for free that are currently in the Public Domain (That is books that have either been published by authors who have died before 1939 as copyright extends for the life of the author plus seventy years or books that have been placed in the public domain by their authors for a variety of reasons).

If Irish readers wish to buy books however, other than as stand alone apps, which IS currently possible directly though the iPad App Store, then they will need to buy them in Apps other than iBooks.

The Kindle App for iPad is currently in the top Twenty free apps and it offers books for free and for purchase. Kobo also offers books for sale. Both require credit cards as does an iTunes account so that might present problems.

Direct downloads from these apps however take only seconds once a book is purchased. Both also allow for preview sections to be sent to a device and Amazon’s Kindle in particular has a good online account for managing your purchases and previews and re-sending them if needs be.

All told, Kindle is the clear winner in terms of selection and pricing though Kobo is a good performer and some may prefer the apps design clarity and presentation which is slightly sharper on the iPod Touch than the Kindle App.