A truly magnificient application.  
By: ChilliPapa - 18-Dec-2008
Version: 2.0
I have always adored poetry and only now, at the tender age of 30, am I re-discovering the unsurpassed majesty of Shakespeare. This application allows me, better than any book could, to examine, contemplate, ponder and even recite the great Bard's works. I have only one complaint: men have dedicated their entire academic careers to Shakespeare, and few people indeed could begin to appreciate to enormity of wit, wisdom, skill and breathtaking talent evinced in his entire body of work. I include myself in that category! (Please, read The Rape Of Lucrece. I implore you! Again and again!)

The ONLY way to read Shakespeare on the iPhone  
By: Nik FrieTeB - Aug 11, 2009
Version: 2.2
This is the only version of Shakespeare on the iPhone which has made an effort to lay out the text in a way that is pleasing to look at on the small screen. All the eBook versions for Stanza and Kindle mash together the text, cram footnotes in odd places, and generally make the reading experience unpleasant. This app is smooth, easy to read (given the iPhone's limitations), and good looking, to boot!

Amazing! Exactly what I've been waiting for.  
By: ramparts - Jul 16, 2008
Version: 1.0
Wow! I've been looking for a way to get Shakespeare's complete works on my iPod Touch for ages now, and I was resigned to waiting for eReader to let you upload text files from your computer or just shelling out $15 for their complete works, until this came out. Beautiful! The only thing it's missing is the lyric poems - otherwise it has all 38 of his plays and even Edward III and Sir Thomas More (contested authorship) just for fun. Thanks a lot, Readdle!

Navigation Solutions  
By: dbspeer - Jul 15, 2008
Version: 1.0
At first I was experiencing the same kind of navigation issues as mentioned in other comments. I discovered that if I use two fingers rather than one to swipe, scrolling works much better. Also a double tap will move the text up one screen.
While I wish it would save where I was in a particular Act so that I could pick up there immediately when I return, the availability of the material with the aforementioned scrolling techniques warrants a top rating.

Four and a half for features. 5 for being complete and free and functioning superbly  
By: WinkyWankyWoes - 24-Sep-2009
Version: 2.2
What an amazing free 'gift' all 29MB of it and Shakespeare's works. It works superbly and is readable and searchable. Thoroughly recommended.
Bill the Bard is eminently quotable - according to Bill Bryson he occupies a 10th of the "Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. So - a copy and paste facility to other apps would be good. The facility to insert multiple bookmarks to various passages is also desireable. That would make it perfect. I am being honest - but also feel mean in writing that - having downloaded something superb for free. I recommend you get it now.

WOW!!!  
By: blackberry21 - Jul 14, 2008
Version: 1.0
Okay... just the fact that this is free astonishes me. I was so excited to see this on the list of new apps for the day and being a huge fan of Shakespeare, this was a must to download.
I've looked through a few of the plays and read bits and pieces and it's very nicely laid out for the iPhone. My favorite feature is the font size adjuster in the upper right corner. That is so useful and I wish that was available for more text-based apps. I love how you can just tap the bottom of the screen for it to "page down" and it's nice to not have to swipe the whole time.
Overall I couldn't be more pleased with this. For a free app, this one belongs on top of the charts. I own a book of the complete Shakespeare works that I bought at borders a few years ago. I wouldn't necessarily say that this app replaces that, however if I ever want to take it with me when I travel, that huge book stays home!
I gave this 5 stars and couldn't complain about anything... well, except for the lack of being able to bookmark a spot you left off at. You can just hit the "Home" button to exit where you stopped and it'll start there when you go back to the app, but in the event you wanted to stop reading mid-way through and act and go back to read something else, you have to scroll back down to get to where you were before. It's such a minor issue though and not worthy of being a legitimate "con" in my opinion.

Quick, clear, invaluable!  
By: Shakespeare on Toast - 04-Dec-2008
Version: 2.0
This is a great app. Well-presented, clear, quick, and if you use the right font-size (Tiny, or Large if the iPhone on its side) then the all-important metre is laid out as it should be, too.
Inclusion of all 39 plays officially attributed to Shakespeare (I was happily surprised to see Edward III) is a relative first.
As an actor, writer and giver of workshops on Shakespeare, this is invaluable. It'd be perfect, though, if there was an option to pick a particular scene within an Act, and a bookmark facility.
A previous reviewer jjmizon, asked 'why do we want more Shakespeare?' My answer is we're lucky we still have him. Shakespeare looks at what it is to be human, rather than English or British, so he's open to everyone across the world, and he goes straight to your heart. But he's not for the classroom, he's for the theatre. Look at my book Shakespeare on Toast, and I bet you'll be downloading this app soon after.
Ben Crystal

A terrific application  
By: DavidB215 - Mar 3, 2009
Version: 2.1
Hard to believe this is free. It works beautifully, and it's up-to-date on scholarship about what Shakespeare wrote -- it includes Edward III and Sir Thomas More, for example, because the consensus is that Shakespeare wrote parts of those plays (which don't appear in many older print editions).
It needs only one feature to make it perfect: A way to bookmark a spot in the canon for a quick return. After all, Shakespeare had a way with words. It would be great to be able to mark a great and/or famous phrase while reading, to be able to find it later.

Fantastic Resource, Needs Search and Line Numbers  
By: Raygan - Feb 27, 2009
Version: 2.1
I was pleased to discover that this app sources its texts from the really pretty good copies organized by PlayShakespeare.org. Those who care about such things will realize that these texts are primarily based on the First Folio, which many Shakespeare scholars prefer. It also does a good job of showing shared lines, and uses updated but sensible punctuation. Nice going!
However, it is impossible to seek within a play short of by act. The program will remember your place within each play, which is nice, but it is difficult to use the program as a ready reference without the addition of search, or at least line numbers.
I will DEFINITELY be keeping this on my phone, but I'm hoping for an update to include search and/or line numbers.
And I'll just say now, that I'd pay BIG MONEY (probably upwards of $20) for a version that had a good set of hot-linked footnotes. Perhaps a deal with one of the big Shakespeare editors or publishers would be in order?

Excellent app!  
By: cordelia's dad - Feb 15, 2009
Version: 2.0
Amazing! I love this app, and use it daily. I study Shakespeare for a living, and, I no longer have to access my Complete Works, while riding mass transit, juggling my bags, packs, and other poet-road-warrior trappings. Amazingly, it is free. All of the plays, all of the poetry, a short bio, easy to read, modern spellings and punctuation, make this absolutely essential for anyone with any sort of interest in Shakespeare's work!
As a suggestion it would be nice to have numbered lines. Or perhaps have the ability to search for lines by number?? It would make it nice when cross-referencing sections, to either find lines by their number, or know what lines are being read. This is a very, very minor issue, and, it is really more of request, or a "wish-list" item...
If this app cost something, it would be worth every penny!! I just cannot believe that this is free!!

Amazing app, few flaws Highly recommended  
By: EpicSaga - Feb 12, 2009
Version: 2.0
This is basically the complete works of Shakespeare in easily understandable text. Though there are no pictures, the text is easily readable and of a good size. Only problems I found are reading it while in landscape mode, as scrolling up and down seems laggy. Otherwise, highly recommended app if you like Shakespeare or just want something to read. The fact that its free is a huge, huge bonus, considering the amount of material.

What a great thing to have on the iPhone  
By: PopsicleChief - Feb 10, 2009
Version: 2.0
I downloaded this the instant I saw it and don't regret the impulse. The developers did a great job formatting all of Shakespeare's works for the iPhone. And it works in both portrait and landscape mode! My only issue is when I start to scroll down the page by sliding my finger from the bottom 20-25% of the iPhone screen, nothing happens. I find that I need to start scrolling from the vertical center of the screen, which makes it hard to skip down a screen-length page at a time. Other than that, this is a fantastic app.

A Treasure  
By: Brainspoon - Dec 28, 2008
Version: 2.0
This is one of my first, and still one of my favorite apps. It's even more lovely with the artwork now. I can hardly believe it was free, so thank you very much!
The tap-screen page movement is the only thing that throws me, because I tend to visually lose my place. However, it does stop me from my bad habit of re-reading sections over and over. Perhaps if you kept at least one line on-screen from the previous section people will stop griping about it (I know it would help me keep my orientation).
There's nothing like being able to sit there and say, "I think I'll read a little Hamlet!" and having it right on hand. I'm happy just to see that icon on my iPod and know it's all there at my fingertips.

Great - Once you figure out how to scroll  
By: Bard Enthusiast - 19-Jul-2008
Version: 1.0
This is a great application, but only after you figure out how to scroll.
Here is the key:
**if you want to scroll DOWN, you double tap anywhere on the BOTTOM of your screen. This moves the script exactly 1 page down. Do not attempt to scroll the "normal" way through dragging. This is not supported.
**if you want to scroll UP, you DO drag the "normal" way. Pull the page down by dragging your finger.
It's strange that the program doesn't use the same rules for going up and down, but there it is.
Once I figured this out, it made using the program a great pleasure. Before, it was completely frustrating because I couldn't figure out how to consistently scroll down.
I hope this helps out!

Indisputable Must-Have  
By: DataByne - Dec 10, 2008
Version: 2.0
All complaints that you may read about in some of the other reviews have, for the most part, been fixed. There is a search feature, font size can be altered, there is an intuitive table of contents for each play, transitions are smooth, and the missing poems have been added. What could very easily be over $35.00 on the iPod and well over $100.00 in print, is available to you for free. Everyone should have this application. There are still no line numbers (an acceptable absence) and yes, the language is most definitly not modern. Infact, I might be so bold as to venture that the works presented in this application are well over twenty years old. However, maybe that reviewer was simply lamenting a lack of annotations or footnotes that explain certain aspects of each piece. Regardless, that's not fixed.

fantastic!  
By: asj1253 - Dec 6, 2008
Version: 2.0
I love this program! If I could, I'd give it a 4-and-a-half stars for two reasons: the text does not feature line numbers, and you cannot move from scene to scene (only from act to act). But I'm rounding up to five because this free app is great in all other regards.
Hopefully Readdle can make those adjustments in a future version. (Heck, I'm such a bard-nerd, I'd even PAY for such things!) If I had to choose between the two, I'd prefer the option to advance from scene to scene -- adding line numbers is just icing on the cake for this English teacher!
Thanks for a truly exciting addition to my iPhone!

What an extraordinary freebie!  
By: benny727 - Dec 4, 2008
Version: 2.0
Whoever put together this wonderful application deserves a big thank you! Imagine having all of the bard's words on your ipod touch in a smooth running application! This looks like it was a work of love. The tap function (to scroll to the next page) is very good. Font sizes are perfect. There's even a search function. One suggestion? How about making a good quotation pop up every time you open the app? Or allowing this as an option? I'm not complaining; you folks did a wonderful job!

FREE ! ! !  
By: ICEMAN COMETH 88 - Dec 2, 2008
Version: 2.0
This is a great app! The fact that it's free is astonishing. I got this app a few months back and it was GREAT. Now there are additional features: Search, Settings, Last Page, Pictures of the Books . . . If you have any interest in Shakespeare or have to read a play for class this is definately one to get; you don't have to carry big bulky books around, not that books are bad, but this is great for the new generation getting familiar with William Shakespeare.

OMG!!!!  
By: jc90 - Nov 25, 2008
Version: 2.0
This is the best app ever!!! I love Shakespeare's works and now I'm finally able to have them all for free on my iPhone!! And this part is for those JERKS who do nothing but complain about every single app. I am SICK of people complaining about apps. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL!!! YOU ASK FOR TOO MUCH!! Don't you also wan't an app that cooks for you? That feeds you, that it cleans your houses, etc? Understand that developers work hard on their apps so YOU can enjoy them. If you don't like them, or if they are insufficient, just shut the hell up and don't use the app store!

Good  
By: Star struck engel - Sep 15, 2008
Version: 1.2
I love this. But there are a few things that could make it better. 1) I don't like that the names are shortened 2) searching for text or whatever would rock. (like if I wanted to find say: "up and down, up and down, I am feared in field and town, goblin take them up and down.") 3) it'd rock if the app could hold your place even if you opened up a new writing piece. But all in all excellent. I hope you do more authors. (Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Brian Jacques, etc). Keep up the excellent work. I love this app. And am excited to see what else you come up with. :D