About twelve hours after iOS 5 was officially released, I went through the considerable bother of downgrading my iPad 2 back down to iOS 4.3. iOS 5 was a great update, but for me, it had one fatal problem: it broke my beloved Stanza e-reading app irrevocably, and going without Stanza on my iPad was as impossible to contemplate as living without Mail or Safari.
For Stanza lovers, the situation is extremely frustrating, because Stanza breaks so totally under iOS 5 that you can’t even load an ebook without the app crashing. However, the original developers can’t update the app, because they sold it to Amazon.
When Amazon originally bought Stanza back in 2009, they promised they weren’t buying Stanza just to kill some of the free competition to their own Kindle e-reader. And, in fact, Amazon has updated the product several times since 2009, notably to bring excellent iPad support to the app.
But with iOS 5, Amazon appears to have abandoned all support for Stanza. That’s particularly frustrating, because not only was Stanza the best non-commercial e-reader around, it had many features the competition still doesn’t have: for example, its excellent typesetting and formatting options, its wide range of supported formats and its killer swipe-to-dim feature, which makes reading ebooks easier on the eyes.
Sadly, Amazon seems to be avoiding all questions in regards to Stanza’s future, having given Macworld the silent treatment when asked about what will happen.
So it appears that Stanza is now dead. However, by most reports, MegaReader is a pretty good replacement, especially considering the fact that the developer is going after Stanza’s marketshare by adding Stanza’s features to the app as quickly as possible. The only problem is MegaReader costs a couple bucks, but that seems like a small price to pay to get most of Stanza’s unique features back.
I suppose Amazon was bound to kill off Stanza eventually. After all, it seems pretty clear buying the app in the first place was just a way to acquire talent and technology; the app itself never helped Amazon’s bottom line. Still, just what a bummer.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
25 responses to “Awesome Stanza E-Reading App Is Dead And Amazon Doesn’t Seem Interested In Bringing It Back”
Bummer! I use Stanza a lot for comics, guess I’ll have to find an alternative when I upgrade my iPad2 to iOS 5…
Loved Stanza but Kobo is a good replacement. iOS5 is worth losing Stanza.
If you miss Stanza, join “Revive Stanza for iOS 5” on Facebook.
Before iBooks, Stanza was my go to app for ebooks. Sad to see it end.
Used Stanza for a long time. Not the bullet and bought MegaReader and it is quite good replacement. It works for my needs and the developer even included swipe to dim feature in the latest update.
Megareader is not a contender until it supports font formatting like bold and italics. THAT is Megareader’s problem, much more than the cost.
The Colors of Space? I have an original paperback from the ’60s. How cool to see it in an eReader.
$2 is a problem?
Revive Stanza for iOS 5
http://www.facebook.com/groups…
MegaReader is completely useless until it supports fundamentals such as italic and bold fonts (!) and until it properly formats. How can you mention it in one sentence with Stanza???
… and until it properly formats paragraphs. [is what I meant to say]
I use uBooks app. It is very easy to use and very convinient! I advise you to try it.
SCREW YOU, AMAZON.
I, too, am disappointed. Made for a lot of work to find and then install a new ereader. Tried Kindle reader and what a joke. Found MegaReader and it is so brilliant I have to thank Amazon for what they have done. Cost a couple of bucks but you get what you pay for. Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to iTunes to make comments on both the Kindle and Stanza reader Apps to say the same.
I am sure Steve would have agreed with me. Amazon has no class. Because of the Apple way, we have choice and Amazon doesn’t have to be one of them, for me, anyway.
Check out MegaReader Kashink. For two bucks, you will be very (exuberantly) pleased. Why revive a product that the controller has no interest in improving.
Exactly, Madmari. Also, DL Calibre. A bit of a learning curve but there you can store all your eBooks and should something happen to MegaReader, at least you will have a great personal library where you ebooks are stored, safe and sound.
Are you sure, GW? I just bought and have begun to use MegaReader and it is so much better than Stanza, which had become unstable even before the latest update, that I am thoroughly thrilled with MR. Calibre works better on MR than it did on Stanza, I find. I am still in learning but MR has all the features I used with Stanza and more to boot.
There is something to say about brevity, Bitter Witch, which you have said in spades.
It’s a work in progress, Faterson. Stanza had become flakey and unstable. From all reports MegaReader is supported and being updated. Stability, better syncing with Calibre and capturing more and more of Stanza’s features makes it the best new Stanza I have found so far.
Sadly, Stanza was becoming long in the tooth since Amazon (spit) wasn’t updating it.
Face the facts. Stanza is dead (literally since the latest update and one can’t de-update. There doesn’t seem to be another app that does better than MegaReader that I have been able to find, and the formats of iBook and Kindle reader seem the be the way of ereaders today, and on a small reader, the Stanza/MegaReader style seems the best style for many.