PressReader – a hidden gem

So, I was at the Winnipeg library yesterday picking up a couple of books that I’d requested and while I was there I thought I’d pick up a couple of magazines for some casual reading. I picked up a copy of Popular Mechanics, a magazine I had a subscription to thanks to my grandparents for most of my childhood. As I took it off the rack I noticed this sign.

I knew that many library materials were available digitally and I’ve used Overdrive’s Libby to read and/or listen to these digital resources. I found that these apps on my iPhone or even the largest screen iPad Pro was a little difficult. There is typically a lot of scrolling and zooming to make the text readable so I generally gave up on reading library materials on the iPhone/iPad and stuck with the Kindle for reading digital materials.

Enter PressReader! the app is amazing and there is a very good chance you can use your local library card to sign into this app and read a huge number of magazines and newspapers for free!

The best part is the interface. Read in the original published format or tap an article and it pops up in a window where you can focus on just that article in a scalable font that you can adjust to your liking and even have the article read to you! Super cool! And even better it’s a Canadian company, how good is that!

Tap on an article…
… and get it in a nice scrollable window with scalable text

Check it out on you iPhone and or iPad. If you’re a newspaper or magazine reader you won’t be disappointed.

p.s. also available in a browser

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