RedShelf

If I could use any other app I would. DRM means one text book I am required to use in locked into this terrible app indefinitely. The issues are compounded by the choice of the publisher to release a PDF ebook instead of any proper ebook format. As such, the rendering of the pages is static - no font or color or contrast options. That’s the point where the deficiencies of this app become apparent. One star for RedShelf being consistent: the web browser access is just as bad as the mobile app and performs identically. Pages are slow to load and flash loading graphics at every single page turn. Despite pinch-zoom being a feature on nearly every multi-touch surface, RedShelf requires clicking single buttons for zoom in or out. The rest of the DRM friendly features (limits on copy or print) make accessing information even more challenging if the text layout is locked into a US letter shaped page - which has no scale that fits a whole page fully legible on screen. Free ebook readers have more features than RedShelf. Other textbook distributors have apps that while just as restrictive, at least load the pages smoothly and instantly. Maybe I got the fringe case of the worst optimized book in their catalog, but that indicates a commitment to capitalism not education. Quality is judged by sampling and my sample was a complete dud.

That’s the positive side. Compared to other apps that I use for buying my books, such as Pearson/Revel, it performs poorly. It would be nice if it did a better job of syncing where I left off in the app to when I access itthrough the website. Also, the robotic voice is off-putting. One thing I love about the Revel app is that it has real humans reading the chapters back to you. Since I use the app on my hours commute to school/work I’ll press play & listen to the robot. They could do a simple improvement of letting you adjust the rate of speed at which the robot reads back to you. Instead, I have to listen at their slow robotic pace. Also, if you add that adjustment, maybe you could consider letting me pick where I want the robot to stop/start reading. Revel forces you to have to listen to them from the beginning of the chapter, and although a humans voice sounds much better than a robot, it’s not the most productive.

I am new to e-textbooks. I figured since I have an iPad I would just get my books on there and only carry one device rather than four books. I, of course, didn’t know the restrictions that I would have on the app. I have an iPad Pro 12.9” screen. I figured that it’s big enough, even in landscape mode, to fit the book to the screen. It doesn’t I still have to scroll almost half way down the page to read. Also, what is with the arrows, I would like to just slide the page to turn it. Whether it be straight across or turn like a page, I have to push the arrow to turn the page. There are far better readers available. Another issue that I think that could be better is the reading. If I am going to have it read to me, I would like for it to use the punctuation. It reads right past the punctuation and just continues on as if it wasn’t even there. Being this is an e-book, why is it not allowed to be used from a reader of my choice? A plus is that customer service was right on top of my problem. My problem was resolved the next day, though there should have been one, but nothing is perfect and they fixed it. I know our complaints are nit picky, but this is school, and it’s hard enough with the restrictions. I need a little more comfort in what I am doing so that I can have freedom to search. It seems that the school picked the most strict company to be used for our e-textbooks. If this is the way it will be in the future, I will be using a different platform, not RedShelf. If they can make the reader more user friendly then that would be acceptable.