[DavidPerryWA]

I bought my Playbook at the end of 2012. The main purpose for the purchase was to use it for watching movies and reading e-books. I had no problem while in Canada where I could connect my Playbook to the internet by WiFi.

However, I am now back in Nigeria. Though there is WiFi, it is not as readily available as in Canada.

While in Canada I connected with my local library where I was helped to install Overdrive and shown how to checkout and download books from the library. No problem when I can connect the Playbook to the internet. What I want to be able to do now that I am in Nigeria is use Overdrive on my PC to checkout and download books to my PC, and then transfer the book to my Playbook for easier reading. Sitting with a computer on my chest trying to read at night is not conducive to good sleeping.

I have searched but found no solution for transferring books from the PC to the Playbook. Every article that I have found assumes internet connectivity.

I assume that I am not the only person who would want to do this. Has anyone found a solution? I don't need to use Overdrive as my reader. Kobo is installed but I have learned that it will only read books loaded through Kobo. Are there other e-readers that I can sideload that will allow me to transfer an epub file and read it easily?

Thanks for any help that can be offered.

[Cale M]

The Book Reader app has always worked for me, though it's not exactly perfect. I know others will appear to offer different solutions. You can add books from nearly any directory on your PB.

I believe eReader is also available? I can't remember for certain, though I think that one only handles ePub formated files that reside in your Download directory.

For both of those, you can just transfer your books via. cable or personal a personal WiFi network (if you have one of those even without the internet connection).

A lot of this depends on how Overdrive downloads books to your PC, I suppose. I looked at that app, but after seeing the pathetic listing of books my local library system has for borrowing, I discarded it.

What kind of file do you end up with after Overdrive downloads? DRM could be an issue.

[SEAWARRIOR]

ok,,, from what i see you want to transfer your ebooks to playbook??? i don't know much about this, but can you just drag & drop them into a folder while your playbook is hooked up or is there a way to email them to yourself???

[DavidPerryWA]

I believe they are epub files but copying the files to the Overdrive directory does not make them available to the Overdrive app. I am trying to learn how to use e-Calibre, which will read the Overdrive file, to transfer but I am hitting a roadblock there since I only have Kobo and Overdrive readers on the Playbook. Finding a way to sideload a different e-reader is another challenge. I find it in Blackberry Appworld but they all say to connect my device and then download the installation. I don't see a way to download to my PC and then sideload to the Playbook.

[SEAWARRIOR]

hmm, that's tough,,, hope it works out for you...

[Cale M]

Now that is a pickle. So you can load the books, but not the reader app. I have to admit that I've never tried downloading from BlackBerry World by way of my PC -- I assumed sideloading would be allowed through the BlackBerry Device Manager.

Sorry about that.

[Cale M]

Just to get this straight -- you connected your PlayBook to the PC and then went to BlackBerry World to download a reader, correct?

Was you PlayBook just connected to the PC, or was it connected through the BlackBerry device manager?

[DavidPerryWA]

I have found plenty of posts about sideloading but they all talk about copying the .bar file to be installed. I did this successfully with one application, but the ones that I am looking for to solve this problem do not seem to be downloadable.

I am not seeing anything like Blackberry Device Manager, even within Blackberry Desktop Manager.

[Cale M]

Sorry, meant Desktop Manager. I'm away from my PlayBook'd PC at the moment. I think I'm at a dead end until I can get back to that device. You might try this site, though: New Apps – Playbook and BB10 | Android APPS - BB10 Apps & Playbook Apps

Sideloading seems to be possible, but I haven't tried it out yet.

[DavidPerryWA]

The Playbook is connected to the PC through Blackberry Desktop Manager. The Playbook gives very few options when connected though and seems to be more for transferring files between the two devices.

I will look at the two links you mention later as my day is ending here. Thanks for the help.

[blueberrymerry]

I'm using Moon Reader (Android app) and Book Reader (paid Playbook app) for EPUB and FB2 e-book files. I like the text rendering in Book Reader but Moon Reader is more compatible with different files. You can sideload Moon Reader, Book Reader has to be purchased from the app store.

I use Calibre to convert my books to EPUB. Both programs cannot read files with DRM. You can put your books in any folder, both programs can go through the filesystem to add books.

[SEAWARRIOR]

can you access AppWorld via pc???

[SoupySioux]

This is how I read epub files on Overdrive without wifi:

1. Transfer epub file from PC to Book folder on Playbook
2. Use Ghost Commander or Simple File Browser, and navigate to Book folder
3. Click on desired epub file and it will be opened by Overdrive.
4. Enjoy!

[DavidPerryWA]

Thank you all for the suggestions. They are helping me to get where I want to be. However it seems that everything will require me to at some point connect to the Internet with my Playbook. I have tried to download Ghost Commander, Simple File Browser, Air Browser, and others. The message I get on my PC is to connect my device (which is already connected) and click on Begin Sync (a button that does not appear anywhere).

I did actually get one book copied over once, but it was an accident and I didn't record the steps. I believe it was probably something similar to what has been suggested but I have since lost those Apps and must download them again.

[SoupySioux]

You can sideload Ghost Commander with DDPB Installer (installed on your PC). Both can be downloaded to your PC from the goodereader website. As another post said, Moonreader is a handy epub reader; download the bar file from goodereader and sideload it via the DDPB Installer. There are Crackberry forums explaining the process. It's not difficult; I'm not overly tech savvy and I managed to do it.

[Wongsky]

You can sideload Ghost Commander with DDPB Installer (installed on your PC). Both can be downloaded to your PC from the goodereader website. As another post said, Moonreader is a handy epub reader; download the bar file from goodereader and sideload it via the DDPB Installer. There are Crackberry forums explaining the process. It's not difficult; I'm not overly tech savvy and I managed to do it.

Isn't ghost commander available from the app store - why sideload it?

[tl860024]

I have been trying to download a book off of ePud and it says "the requested url was not found on this server". So I went to a different website that was with iLivid and I tried to download it from there but when I go to view that download it says "unable to find default app". I have no idea how do get this book. I tried to read it online but once I got to chapter 15 these pictures of letters started covering all of the words. Please help me!! I have ghost commander and i don't get it.

[hokie123]

I have been trying to download a book off of ePud and it says "the requested url was not found on this server". So I went to a different website that was with iLivid and I tried to download it from there but when I go to view that download it says "unable to find default app". I have no idea how do get this book. I tried to read it online but once I got to chapter 15 these pictures of letters started covering all of the words. Please help me!! I have ghost commander and i don't get it.

I just went through the process of downloading a book from the web, moving it from the downloads folder to the book folder and opening the book through Gost Commander. Worked great for me. Did you move the epub file to the book folder and then try opening with Ghost Commander?

I've done this successfully for three books. Had been looking for a way to use a standard app for reading epub files, and overdrive seems to work just fine. I get my selection of fonts, spacing and three color schemes. Only thing I noticed was I have to exit the app and start it again to see changes to the color scheme.

[ChrisMay]

So you have a PC that is connected (hard-wired)to the internet? But no WiFi so you can't connect your PB to the internet?

Does your PC have a WiFi card, or can you get hold of one? I had been playing with a (free) program on my laptop which turns it into a WiFi hotspot. I could then connect the Playbook to the PC via WiFi, and access the internet on the PlayBook through the PC's hard-wired internet connection. I had some success, but then the requirement for it went away so I put it to one side. I can't remember the name of the software that I was experimenting with, but if you think this could be a possible solution for you then I will look ot up.

Chris.

[rossjackson01]

PM sent to DavidPerryWA

[jpash549]

So you have a PC that is connected (hard-wired)to the internet? But no WiFi so you can't connect your PB to the internet?

Does your PC have a WiFi card, or can you get hold of one? I had been playing with a (free) program on my laptop which turns it into a WiFi hotspot. I could then connect the Playbook to the PC via WiFi, and access the internet on the PlayBook through the PC's hard-wired internet connection. I had some success, but then the requirement for it went away so I put it to one side. I can't remember the name of the software that I was experimenting with, but if you think this could be a possible solution for you then I will look ot up.

Chris.

The name of the program I use on my Win 7 laptop is Connectify. I upgraded to the Pro version. There is a free version which you can try on your machine. It works on Win 7 and it says on Win 8 but only ad hoc on XP and Vista. You can download the free version and see if it works for you.

http://www.connectify.me/




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