FDX Reader for iPad Released

When the iPad was first released many users regarded it as an ideal device to read books, comic books, magazines and screenplays. For that last one, your choices were pretty much limited to a PDF format of a script.

If you’re merely reading a script written by someone else, a PDF may work fine for you. But what if you’re a writer and want to read the current script you are writing using the de facto standard screenwriting app Final Draft?

That’s where something like FDX Reader comes in handy. The new app works a lot like iBooks or the kindle app for iPad and allows you to read Final Draft screenplays in their native file format and, more importantly, keep the formatting and page numbering of the script as well as adjust the size of the font — something you have a hard time doing with a traditional PDF file.

It also allows you to flip through pages with a tap or a swipe and jump to a page with a tap on the page number. The app is now available in the iTunes Store for $7.99 and works with the original iPad and iPad 2. Sorry, not the iPhone.

That may seem like a lot ffor what the app does but if you’re a screenwriter this app goes a long way to what we are all looking forward to: a native Final Draft app for the iPad. Until that arrives, being able to read screenplays on the iPad in their native format is pretty much good enough.