Turn Your iPhone into the Ultimate E-book Reader

Kindle, schmindle. The best e-book reader money can buy is the iPhone (ditto the iPod touch). Don't believe me? Consider: Amazon's Kindle sells for $349 and has a grayscale screen. It's way too big to fit in a pocket. It's good only for reading. And, let's face it: It's kinda ugly.

The iPhone, meanwhile, starts at $199, sports a gorgeous color screen, slips easily into a pocket, does way more than just e-books (duh), and looks crazy-sexy. So, just how do you get books on your iPhone or touch? Start with eReader (iTunes link), an e-book viewer that Palm and Windows Mobile users may recognize. The iPhone/touch version lets you download and view books purchased on the eReader or Fictionwise Web site (which, in addition to fiction, each carry a wealth of popular business titles). To find out more about eReader, read my full review of the program over at MacLife.

For the moment, eReader can't open PDF and other e-book files you might already have on your PC. For that, look to Stanza (iTunes link). It's great for reading public-domain works and the like. And it's free. (So is eReader, but you have to buy books for it.)

The Kindle does have an edge in that you can download books from Amazon on the run -- no PC required. But seriously, how often do you really need to do that? I am loving using my iPod touch as an e-book reader, and I'm quite confident you will, too.