Using Bookman to read PDF files

I’ve been loading ever larger PDF files into my iPad and quite frankly I’ve run into a few problems. These PDF files are full magazines and weight in at 50+ MB. I first started working with them in Stanza which was doing a great job with my eBooks, but it started to crash with several of these new files. I don’t know if it’s the PDF file itself or the size, but either way, it wasn’t working so I started looking for another app to handle these much larger and much more complicated files. Of course, I started with the free apps.

"Bookman – Fast PDF Reader" got my attention so I gave it a go. It actually worked out quite nicely. The same file that caused problems in Stanza loaded successfully in Bookman. I decided to push my luck and loaded 30+ magazines into the reader. It was able to render all but one. Bookman didn’t crash it simply removed the file from the bookshelf. I can accept that since the file is from early 2009 so it clearly wasn’t made with the iPad in mind.

Not only does Bookman load all the magazines and display a nice bookshelf with a thumbnail of the cover it works very nicely as well. You can pull up a recent history and jump back to the spot where you left off. If the thumbnails don’t give you enough information to pick the right issue you can bring up the menu and get a text listing of their titles.

Reading is just as easy. You can swipe your finger across or press on the left or right side to turn pages. If you tap in the middle you get a thumbnail view of each page so you can jump forward or backwards.

And what happens when you fill the bookshelf with files? Swipe your finger and you get another bookshelf. They’re listed in alphabetical order.

It also uses the same method as Stanza to load files. Plug in the device, in iTunes go to Apps and drop the files into Bookman. As soon as they copy over you’ll see them in Bookman.

So far it’s working very nicely. I’m using Stanza to read books and Bookman to read magazines. A lot of people recommend Goodreader as a single solution, but so far I’m pretty happy with this setup. If you’re looking to read large PDF files on the iPad I would definitely take a look at Bookman. It has a nice layout, it’s easy to setup and the reading function are easy. You should be quite happy with it’s features and price.

You can check out Bookman in iTunes here.

You can check out the Bookman website here.