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PDF Reader for the iPad

Friday I wrote about the advantages of using Dropbox with the iPad to make it easy to move over PDF files. The PDF files do not look as clear as they should that way.

Saturday night I was playing around in the App Store and was looking at PDF Readers.  I have bought very few programs for the iPad but knew I needed a good PDF reader.

I found GoodReader (iTunes link) at a promotion price of 99 cents.

GoodReader takes a little playing with.  The user interface is not as intuitive as we have come to expect on the iPad but if you read the help by touching the question mark, you'll get going fairly quick.

What makes GoodReader positively sexy is it is able to import files directly from more than one Dropbox account.  I added my Dropbox account and my wife's account.

Dropbox is but one way to move files over.  You can also wi-fi them over, or move via iTunes.  Dropbox though seems to be the easiest to me.

Reading PDF files is one of those fundamentals you need from any platform.  The iPad does a good job of leting you read PDF files in Safari if you are online.  Since I use a wi-fi only iPad, I can't depend on being online all of the time.

GoodReader supports other formats too :

  • MS Office - .doc, .ppt, .xls and more
  • iWork'08/'09
  • HTML and Safari webarchives
  • High resolution images
  •  audio and video

GoodReader is a good purchase.  It is 99 cents "for a limited time" according to GoodReader.

Update (same day) : Forgot to mention, if you want to read your PDF's in the iBooks app, this LIfehacker.com post tells about the Calibre application to convert PDF's to  EPUB files readable by iBooks.
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