Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader

Ever since these devices came out, people have been asking when they will be able to read Universalis on them.

The basic problem is that neither the Kindle nor the Sony Reader is a programmable device: they are designed to read e-books and nothing else. And Universalis is not an e-book. An e-book is a digital file that contains every page you might ever want to read; Universalis is a program that synthesizes the pages you want, at the moment you ask for them.

Some people have suggested that we create and sell Universalis e-books for specific chunks of time – for instance, “Westminster July 2009” or “United States 2010” – on a subscription basis. We’ve gone one better than this: we’re allowing you to create your own e-books for your own private use.

New American Bible

After many months of negotiation and thorough proof-reading, we are now able to provide the New American Bible texts for the readings at Mass, with the permission of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For copyright reasons the NAB texts are not viewable on the Universalis web site. They are included in all the Universalis downloads and in the Universalis application for the iPhone.

Liturgy of the Hours: the Scripture readings continue to use the Jerusalem Bible only.

Readings at Mass: If you are using one of the USA local liturgical calendars, you have a choice between the Jerusalem Bible and the New American Bible. In most versions, this choice appears on the Calendars page that lets you select the local calendar. In the iPhone application, there is a separate Settings page that lets you choose your translation.

St Mary Magdalen and different readings

Two people have asked why their missals show Song of Songs 3:1-4 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 as First Readings for today, while Universalis shows Exodus 16:1-5,9-15.

The answer is that the fact that the missals and Lectionary print those readings doesn’t mean that they should actually ever be used.

Daytime hours now available

The daytime hours are Terce (mid-morning), Sext (midday), and None (afternoon). Collectively they are known as the Little Hours, because they are short prayer breaks for the working day.

These hours are now available on the Universalis web site. If you are using the downloaded Universalis programs, you can get a free update here.

If you are using the Universalis application on the iPhone or iPod Touch, the latest version of the software (1.30) contains a slightly simplified version of these hours. The next version is on the way and should be with you in a couple of weeks: you will be notified automatically when it is ready, and given an opportunity to download it free of charge.

Price reduction

We have reduced the price of a licence for the downloadable Universalis program from £30 to £19.99. On 3 July 2009 this was approximately $33 or €23. (To get an up-to-date equivalent, click on the links).

Prices for the Universalis application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, sold through the iPhone App Store, are cheaper: £14.99 / $24.99 / €14.99.

Of course the web version continues to be free. So does the Catholic Calendar application in the iPhone App Store. For other systems, if you just want a free Catholic Calendar and nothing else, download the Universalis program and don’t bother to buy a registration code for it.