Blio eReader in-depth review

Blio eReader logo

Finally Blio eReader is out and ready for everyone to enjoy. K-NFB Reading Technology have been trying to get this software ready for quite some time now. For many of you that may not know, Blio is an eReader software that was intended to deliver the same or better reproduction of the real paper book experience, much like the nook software from Barnes & Noble or iBook app for the iPhone and iPad, but they claim that unlike other eReaders, Blio preserves the book’s printed format including layout, fonts, and images true to the book’s original form and color. You can also highlight, take notes, add pictures, and even web links to the notes section of each book. Blio has others advanced capabilities like fancy 3D page turns and text-to-speech. It has a great user interface and the home page is a grid of all the books or other reading materials.

Blio eReader software in now available for free! Moreover, from the Blio’s online Bookstore there is available over a million titles for free and they also partnered with Baker & Taylor to provide another 10,000. They also have thousands of publishers from which you can purchase content. Right now Blio is only available for PC but really soon there will be Android, iPhone and iPad apps among others. They are also promising large quantity of partnerships with device (i.e. tablet, laptop) manufactures, retailers, carriers and educational institutions.

How do I get Blio eReader software?

How do I install Blio?

1. After you downloaded the file from Blio’s website, locate and double-click it to launch the program installation wizard.

Blio Welcome screen installation

2.  Click Next, and provide user information.

Blio installation User Information

3.  Click Next again to choose the destination folder, Click Next once again and Next one last time!

Blio destination folder section

4. Wait until the program is fully installed in your computer and click Finish to end.

5.  Surprise! There is one more thing to install, PlayReady PC Runtime Setup is going to launch now.

6.  Click Next, accept the agreement, click Next, Next again and Install.

7.  And click Finish to end.

8.  Launch Blio software from the Windows Start menu.

9.  Accept the licensing.

10.  Hang in there, we are almost done! Now we need to create an account (this is optional).

Welcome to Blio

11.  Fill out the form, click Create Account and now we are done!

Blio create account

Enjoy!

In this Blio review I am going to show you how does Blio looks like:

Blio main User Interface.

Blio User Interface

 

Blio Free Books section.

Blio free book section 

Blio reading a book section, you can also take notes and fancy 3d page turns.

Blio open book section

 

Blio online Bookstore.

Blio open book section

Which are Blio eReader features?

  • Blio displays books in full color, with fonts, pictures, and layout as the publisher intended.
  • Blio lets you sync up to 5 devices so your books can go wherever you go.
  • Blio’s BookVault lets you access all of your content, and download it to your device from anywhere you have an internet connection.
  • ReadLogic mode intelligently zooms to the next logical text block to simplify reading even on the smallest devices.
  • Multiple reading views, including: text only mode, single page, dual page, tiled pages, or 3D “book view” for realistic page turning.
  • Create a personalized list of reference websites for one-touch look-up of highlighted phrases.
  • Look up phrases or topics in the included browser, without ever leaving the context of your book.
  • Have Blio read the selected book to you (text-to-speech), highlighting each words as it does.
  • Insert text, image, or hyperlink notes directly into your content. These are saved, and can be exported to create lists or study materials.
  • Full support for audio and video embedded within interactive books.
  • Supports touch interaction for touch-enabled devices.

Wrapping up this Blio review

Over all the software seems to be pretty stable, responsive, easy to navigate, really nice and clean user interface, and feature rich. The installation was not hard to follow and it took less than 5 mins to get everything setup. The only down side I have found is that it does not have support for PDF file format, and if you are like me, you have many of eBooks in PDF, and last Blio software it is a little bit CPU and memory hungry.

Blio eReader wants to change in a whole new level the way we consume printed out and digital books today. K-NFB Reading Technology — creators of  this software — through Blio is promising to revolutionize the digital reading experience with full-color, interactive and immersive content. Not only we are going to have a great experience, but Blio will also make it possible to access all our content from any internet connected device that works with Blio. You can also download the ebooks and read them when internet isn’t available. If you lose your device you can restore all your content from your online library. Now, fully enjoy the subtlety of design originally intended by the publisher.

Source Blio

Remember leave a comment on what you think about Blio eReader software. Thanks!

Sept. 29, 2010 Update:

If you want to import PDF eBooks into Blio try this Trick: How to convert PDF to XPS file format in Windows

Oct. 20, 2010 Update:

Learn about NOOK and NOOKstudy e-Reader software from Barnes & Noble that support PDF eBooks out of the box.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.