Zondervan Stops Running Into Brick Wall, Joins Logos

I've never understood why Zondervan tried to keep electronic versions of its titles in house by producing its own software. It certainly couldn't have made any financial sense, and definitely didn't serve their customers.

Well, they've finally seen reason and gone into partnership with Logos Bible Software. This means, of course, that Pradis is kaput. Nice job, Zondervan. You've managed to produce your very own vaporware.

A few months ago, I seriously considered purchasing the Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. It's certainly not the ideal Hebrew dictionary (that would be the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament) but given the dearth of what's available in electronic format, and it's cheap price ($69.95) I thought long and hard about it.

In the end, having this one title on a third bible software platform didn't make sense. I have both BibleWorks and Logos, but the two complement each other in important ways (BibleWorks for primary exegesis, Logos for its wide range of secondary titles and reference works). Pradis would essentially end up representing expensive bloatware.

In Zondervan's defense, however, I should note that they've promised discounts to people who are current users of Pradis. We'll just have to see how deep those discounts are. Hopefully they are deep enough that users of Pradis don't end up getting hosed from a financial standpoint.

Upon perusing the initial offerings, there isn't much that interests me at this point, but I may eventually spring for the aforementioned Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. However, the suggested retail price has jumped from $129.99 (Pradis) to $199.99 (Logos).

Making matters worse, it is/was often possible to get Pradis products at good sale prices (e.g., $69.95 at Rejoice Software noted above). The Logos price, however, represents the pre-pub price, which strangely doesn't represent a discount from their suggested retail price (also $199.99). Since the pre-pub price normally represents the lowest possible price you can get a title from Logos, this represents a huge jump. The Logos price is also the suggested retail price of the book set ($199.99), but again, usually you can get them at a discounted rate.

On the whole, though, this is good news. The more titles available on a single platform, the better. I like Logos as a portable Library, and the addition of Zondervan titles only strengthens it. Bravo Zondervan, for finally seeing the light. Now, can you do something about the price?

Book of the Year: ESV Study Bible

Congratulations to the folks at Crossway. The ESV Study Bible has been announced as the winners of the Book of the Year (2009) by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

You should also check out the winners in the other categories.

While there are a number of attractive editions of the ESV Study Bible available, it is a rather bulky book and therefore not suitable to carry around. If you're looking for a handy edition to take with you everywhere you go, the best edition is the ESV Study Bible offered by Olive Tree Software on iTunes for the reasonable price of $29.99. It's the only version I own, and the great thing about it is that it fits in my pocket.

BibleWorks 8

I was really tempted to pre-order BibleWorks 8 when the news hit my email inbox, but I'm now glad I held back. If you peruse the forums at BibleWorks, there appears to be the usual glitches and install problems that accompany new software. I think I'll wait a few months before I get my copy; that is, after all the early adopters have had a chance to show the folks at BibleWorks where all the kinks are.

An upgrade from version 7 to 8 is just $150 which in my eyes is justified by the inclusion of the Greek Pseudepigrapha and the BHS update (4.4 to 4.10) alone. In this regard, I'm really glad I didn't purchase the Logos pre-pub of the Greek Pseudepigrapha when it was offered a few months back since it makes it much easier to justify upgrading to BibleWorks 8.

The Best iPod Touch Bible App

Sorry about the lack of posts. I have a project coming near completion and have been busy the last several weeks. I can now see light at the end of the tunnel, however, so in the near future I'll be back blogging on what I consider a regular basis (i.e., one or two posts a week).

Anyways, I promised a review of Olive Tree Software's Bible Reader, so here it is.

Before I get to Bible Reader though, I must say that if I didn't know how to read the biblical languages (and if Olive Tree hadn't offered me this free beta!), I would definitely go with BibleXpress since it easily offers the best value for the money.

So far BibleXpress has five English translations: ESV, NASB, NRSV with Apocrypha, KJV, and ASV. Ben Spratling (the developer) is also attempting to get the NIV, the Message, the NLT, and a Greek NT and LXX, which would be added as a free update. All of this for the very reasonable price of $30. Go ahead and compare this value with any other bible program that offers a comparable set of core modern translations and texts that isn't tethered to the Internet in some way.

The same five translations already offered by BibleXpress (i.e., ESV, NASB, NRSV, KJV, and ASV) would cost $62.75 on Bible Reader when purchased individually, and this is without factoring in the additional translations that Ben Spratling will be adding for free at some point. In light of this, I think that those Christians who had the gall to complain about BibleXpress's initial purchase price are simply empty-headed.



Having said all that, since I can read the biblical languages, however, I will be adopting Bible Reader as my main bible app for the iPod Touch. While BibleXpress will eventually offer a Greek NT and LXX, it is highly unlikely that Ben Spratling will be able to offer the morphological data to go with these texts, and besides which, the Hebrew Bible isn't in the plans to this point and of all the potential texts available, that's the most important to me.

It appears that Olive Tree Software has a solution to the problem of combining all the various translations and texts into one program. On my beta version of Bible Reader, there is a way to access the store and my Olive Tree account to download translations and texts. On my beta version of Bible Reader, I have the following translations:

• Bible in Basic English*
  
• English Standard Version
  
• Green's Literal Translation*
• Holman Christian Standard
• JPS Tanakh
• King James Version
• New American Bible
• New American Standard Bible.
• New English Translation (with limited notes)*
  
• New International Version
• New King James Version
• New Living Translation (2nd ed.)
• New Revised Standard Version
• Revised Standard Version
• The Message
• Today's New International Version
• Young's Literal Translation

In order to purchase all these translations individually it would cost you just under $225 (* indicates a free translation). If you omit the KJV and Young's Literal translation which are very cheap ($5 and $2, respectively), the average price for the individual translations runs to about $18 each. The good news is that Olive Tree Software will offer many of these translations in combination in a variety of packages, bringing down the cost considerably (indeed they have already begun to do so).

Overall, this beta version (4.02.024) is remarkably bug free (it's the fourth one I've received). There are still a lot of formatting issues for many of the translations, but they are aware of them and are in the process of smoothing those out.



When I got my first bible app, I didn't really expect to use it much. Initially, I refused to bring it to church, since I thought it would be a distraction to those around me, but I noticed that there were quite a few others around me who actually use some sort of portable electronic device for not only referring to the bible, but also to take notes (there's a high yuppie quotient at my church).

So I started bringing it along with me on Sundays. The great thing is that I now have a lot of different translations at my fingertips. This comes in handy because at my church there is no standard translation used by everyone, though a couple of pastors appear to be partial to the ESV.

This can be rather problematic since it's quite rare for the same pastor/person to preach two Sundays in a row (and forget about three Sundays in a row, which almost never happens). For one thing, we have four pastors at our church. In addition, several members of the congregation have attended seminary (I can think of 6 off the top of my head, and I know there are others I can't think of at the moment) and are often called on to speak (I fall in this category). We also regularly have outside speakers as well. In fact, this past September we had four different outside speakers giving the sermon on four successive Sundays.

This generally means a different translation is used each Sunday, even if it happens to be the same pastor, since I've noticed that some of the pastors like to use different translations on different occasions.

In the past I simply had to follow along in my ESV regardless of the translation used by the pastor. So, for instance, when Eugene Peterson's The Message was used, as is sometimes the case (a couple of the pastors were students of his), trying to follow along in my ESV was next to useless. This is no longer a problem, thanks to Bible Reader.



Anyways, since it is a beta, rather than lauding the numerous things that the Bible Reader does right, I figure it would be far more useful to offer constructive criticism. Here are a list of some modest improvements in the interface that I would like to see:

1. Adjustable margins. I put my iPod Touch in a leather flip case that protects it. However, one drawback is that the protective leather tends to crowd the edge of the screen. This means that the biblical text runs right up against the leather edges, becoming a distraction.
2. Optional red letter text. It's nice that the font color can be changed. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the red letter text. It stays red no matter what color you change the surrounding text to. Of course, you can change the font to Dark Red, and Jesus' words will be indistinguishable from the rest of the text. However, looking at all that red text is simply annoying.
3. I'm not sure the verse chooser (which I like a lot) needs to go down to the verse level. I'd like to see this as an option you could toggle on and off.
   
4. There has to be a better way to switch chapters rather than scrolling downwards through the text to the next chapter. Perhaps a sideways swipe to change chapters could be implemented. Ben Spratling's BibleXpress already has such a feature.
5. There should be an easier way to change font sizes, rather than going to the setup menu. Perhaps a pinching motion on the screen could be implemented. Ben Spratling's BibleXpress already has such a feature.
   

Apps for iPod Touch/iPhone

Here are a few Apps you might want to check out from Apple's new App Store. To find these apps, simply type in the bolded/italicized terms in the search field and it should be the first item in the results list:

• The aforementioned BibleXpress will soon have version 1.1 update available with many improvements in the user interface. BTW, ignore the negative reviews on the iTunes store; it basically boils down to a bunch of Christians whining that the program is too expensive. On the contrary, I believe that for the number of translations being made available (eventually), the price is very reasonable. The biggest disappointment so far is that the program is buggy, but that is apparently being rectified.
  
• AcroBible is selling individual translations. So far just the ESV ($17.99) and KJV ($9.99) are available. This program makes these translations available offline. While the interface is more polished than BibleXpress' (I've only purchased the ESV and am quite pleased with it), I'd still go with BibleXpress since it will offer many more translations for only $29.99 (ESV, NASB, NRSV, ASV, and several others), and the interface is undergoing many improvements and refinements (none of whom are yet available, unfortunately). BTW, the fact that AcroBible is selling individual translations for as high as $17.99 should give some Christians a clue that it's not cheap to produce these apps, especially given licensing fees.
• If you're interested in original language texts for the iPhone/iPod Touch, go to Olive Tree's website and fill out the questionnaire.
• All of Shakespeare's plays are available in a free offline app. It's very buggy at the moment (scrolling works only intermittently), but it's rather cool to have the bard's works at your fingertips whenever you want.
  
• There are a number of books available for purchase at $0.99 a pop, but these can all be obtained for free if you know where to look. There's a great little program called Stanza, through which you can download most if not all these 99 cent titles for free.

Finally, you should check out Rick Mansfield's post lamenting the lack of decent bible apps.

Logos for Mac

Logos has had an alpha release of a Mac version of their bible software for some time now. Here's a video of the program in action.

For the last couple of years, I've toyed with the idea of switching over to a Mac. However, I have several thousand dollars tied up in my Logos Bible Software and hundreds of dollars in BibleWorks, which would be rendered essentially useless if I switched.

However, if this Mac version is all its cracked up to be, this obstacle might well be removed (at least with regards to Logos, which is more important to me, as I have much more money invested in this program). It looks as if the licences from the PC version of Libronix' electronic texts can be transferred over to the Mac version. Once the life cycle of my PC laptop is over (probably another year or so), I may very well make the switch.

The idea of having access to Accordance in its native environment (in addition to Logos) is definitely a plus. I could have the best of both worlds.

If you have any suggestions with regard to laptop models and word processing programs (along with tips on any other useful software) I would appreciate it if you'd leave them in the comments.

BibleXpress 1.0 [Updated]

I've finally got the iPod Touch 2.0 update and I've purchased BibleXpress.

This is a very preliminary look (I don't even consider it a review) at this app, which puts various translations (ESV, NRSV, NASB, among others) on your iPhone or iPod Touch so you can access them offline.

All I have so far is the ASV and the NRSV (the 1.0.1 update hasn't made it to the App Store yet I guess). As you might expect in a first edition, the program itself is a little rough around the edges. Even so, I think the program is worth the cost ($29.99).

These are a list of issues/suggestions for improvement that I've found after fiddling with it for a half hour [Update: I emailed Ben Spratling, the author of the program, and he responded to each of these points. I'll simply cut and paste his response--the blue text--under each of the points. I've appended a few responses to his comments in purple.]:

1. The NRSV includes the Apocrypha (thumbs way, way up) but is missing 4 Maccabees 4--yes the entire chapter (thumbs down). It appears that this might represent a wider issue since Colossians 4 is also missing in the NRSV. Looks like the issue has been addressed though. [#1 This is actually a systematic error that affected a few other chapters. It has been fixed in version 1.0.1.]
   
2. There doesn't appear to be any paragraph breaks within the chapters of the NRSV, which is a real shame. I view proper paragraphing as a huge issue. Ever try reading a huge block of text without paragraph breaks in a blog? Not much fun. [#2 The missing paragraphs are a format confusion, they *should* have been fixed in version 1.0.1.
   The poetry formatting is another concern entirely. The iPhone's small screen and the ability to resize text makes most of the poetry formatting just use up valuable screen space. I'll take note that you mentioned it.] [My response: perhaps once landscape mode is included, the space issue will no longer be a problem in terms of line length.]
   
3. The ASV does appear to preserve paragraph breaks but it depends to a large extent on the precise size of the font used (btw, the easy adjustability of font size is a real plus). At many font sizes the paragraph breaks are unrecognizable. In fact, the line breaks in the ASV are really odd depending on the font size, breaking in the middle of sentences and verses with plenty of space left on the line. Sometimes, depending on the font size, the line break will come after one word for no apparent reason (not the end of a sentence or end of a verse). [#3. The ASV data files I have do not include accurate paragraph information, those are the built-in linebreaks from the files. It will be very difficult for me to manually rewrite the entire ASV with corrected paragraphs. The currently copyrighted translations do include paragraph information, and that should be correctly displayed.] [My response: I don't think the ASV is a big deal; I wouldn't waste time, effort, and money on fixing this.]
   
4. There appears to be no simple way to browse text across chapters. Perhaps a side swipe could be programmed to flip between chapters in the same translation. [#4 this is a technical issue on Apple's end. In order to display formatted text, I have to use a "webview" which does not receive touch events that are visible to my proram. While they have suggested a fix, it is very difficult, and will take a lot of coding and testing to confirm it has no bugs. I have been working on that feature for 6 weeks.]
   
5. The line spacing is thrown off slightly whenever there's a verse number because the numbers are in superscript but not any smaller than the biblical text. This is a problem in both translations. [#5 this is actually an error in Apple's code. We're attempting to design a workatound.]
   
6. This isn't really a problem, but rather a missing feature I wish it had: there's no landscape view. This could be useful if for no other purpose than to include some context in search results rather than just a list of references, though they are linked to the texts themselves. [#6 This is another error in apple code that is suppossed to handle autorotation "automatically.". Unfortunately that automatic code assume certain designs that don't fit my application. I have spoken personally with the software engineer who wrote that code, he confirmed it is an error, and promised me he would personally see to it that it is corrected. Until that time, or I can design a workaround, let me assure you that that the errors it caused are much worse than not having landscape at all. Landscape is something I'm committed to for the future.]
   
7. I find it strange that the Apocrypha is placed after the book of Revelation, which is rather counterintuitive. I would have put it between the Old and New Testament. [# 7 this is the order in which the books are listed in their data file. Not being an avid reader of the apocrypha myself, the only oddity I noticed is that even the books within the apocrypha don't appear to be in order! Although it did strike me as odd that these books would be placed after the new testament, not all books in the Bible are arrange in chronological order.]
   

Ben appended this final summary comment as well:

While the first feature update will address certain contractual obligations, like italics, small caps, red lettering and footnotes, I think you'll find I am able to address many of your requests, but the time frame of overcoming bugs in Apple's code is always undetermined.

[It sounds as if Ben is working hard to fix the problems in the program. I look forward to the day when the major issues are addressed. I'd only ask that he make the red lettering a feature that can be turned on and off.]

The program does do many things well but at this point, I feel it's important to highlight some of the problems in the hopes that some of them will get addressed. When I've had more time with the program after its several updates, I'll have a proper review up. It'll contain a far more balanced accounting at that time.

Despite these shortcomings, I'm still pleased to have the program on the whole, since the price is fairly reasonable and it means I'll (eventually) have access to several fine bible translations even when I'm offline. Any of the major problems I expect will be addressed in time.

iPhone and iPod Touch Apps

The iPhone (3G!) is finally coming to my part of the world, and as I contemplate the wisdom of purchasing one (along with the baggage that comes with it in the form of a 3 year contract at no doubt outrageous monthly premiums), I eagerly await the expected flood of 3rd party applications that will finally be released (early July) in a form that isn't tied to a wireless connection of some sort (i.e., cellular or internet). (For examples of what's available right now on an iPhone or iPod Touch that is tethered to some sort of connection, see this post by Mark Bertrand and this one and this one by Rick Mansfield.)

I'm particularly interested in bible software, of course. I'm not sure how much use I'd really get out of it (I can't imagine myself using my Touch in church or in a classroom or devotions), but I'd like to have it just because it would be cool to be able to look things up at a whim no matter where I happen to be at the moment.

I'm sure we'll see a variety of translations made available, but what I'd really love to see is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (27th ed.) on my iPod Touch, with as many goodies included as possible (tagged for quick lemma searches, parsing, diglots, etc.). Of course this assumes that the iPhone will eventually support Hebrew which it apparently does not yet do.

What would be really outstanding is if some enterprising bible software company (esp. Logos or BibleWorks) would make available some of their other primary texts (Josephus, LXX, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, DSS, etc.) available as well, even if it was only in English. But that's probably asking for too much.