Another benefit of the CyBook which may be of relevance to people with vision problems is that it offers a much larger range of font size options than any other reader I'm aware of. You can make the text pretty much as large as you wish (and I mean ridiculously large).

My 94-year-old mother has used the original CyBook for several years. Unfortunately, I recently had to disassemble it to resolder the power supply connector, and I lost the MobiPocket Vision reader software when it reset. I do not have a copy of the low vision software that CyBook provided me at the time, and they are not answering their email.

Does the new CyBook scale the fonts for DRMed MobiPocket books like hers does (or did)? The MobiPocket Vision version would enable fonts as large as perhaps 100 points or more. If the new CyBook will do that, I'll buy one for her tomorrow (or as soon as they are available).

Thanks,

Bob

My 94-year-old mother has used the original CyBook for several years. Unfortunately, I recently had to disassemble it to resolder the power supply connector, and I lost the MobiPocket Vision reader software when it reset. I do not have a copy of the low vision software that CyBook provided me at the time, and they are not answering their email.

Does the new CyBook scale the fonts for DRMed MobiPocket books like hers does (or did)? The MobiPocket Vision version would enable fonts as large as perhaps 100 points or more. If the new CyBook will do that, I'll buy one for her tomorrow (or as soon as they are available).

Thanks,

Bob

I'll have to see if I can get some of the 'large-size' fonts captured on my dSLR. It will go large enough to put just three or four lines (very SHORT lines, I might add) on the display at a time. For all intents and purposes, I believe they are either 60pt or larger. But then, it can also display at about 6-8pt. So small that I can't *comfortably* read even using my prescription reading glasses. I think it displays between 50-60 lines at that size. Nope. This isn't the font-size-limited debacle A.K.A. Sony PRS. (Just kidding you Sony owners. :) We have a 500.) :D

Derek

Here are some images of the same text displayed on my Gen3, first at the size I normally read at, then at the smallest and largest font sizes. I think the range of available sizes should be enough for anyone!

Here's an extra picture - a "close-up" shot of the text at the smallest font size. As you see, although small, it's still perfectly readable in good light.

And, for comparison, a similar close-up of the text at my normal reading size. You can see that, at larger sizes, the fonts are much better formed and more attractive.

Here are some images of the same text displayed on my Gen3, first at the size I normally read at, then at the smallest and largest font sizes. I think the range of available sizes should be enough for anyone!

Thanks for the pictures. A few more questions: The reader (does it have multiple readers like the old one?) for the MobiPocket books offers these oversize fonts? Can you load new fonts? Can you read in landscape mode?

Thanks again,

Bob

The largest size seems to be about 24pt. I enclose screenshots of Word documents at 24, 36 and 48 pt on a page size approximating a 6" screen. These are using the Georgia font. I did not justify the text, because full justification does not work well for this layout.

The Kindle uses a different font, but its largest size is smaller - probably 18pt.

The screenshots will be larger than real life on most desktop screens, but can be printed at 3.6" by 4.8" to get a very close approximation to a generic 6" E-Ink screen.

Thanks for the pictures. A few more questions: The reader (does it have multiple readers like the old one?) for the MobiPocket books offers these oversize fonts? Can you load new fonts? Can you read in landscape mode?

Thanks again,

Bob

There's only one reader, which handles all the different formats (well, presumably different software actually handles them, but it's all done through a common library interface).

You can load any TrueType or OpenType font onto the machine, and view any book in any font at any of 12 different font sizes; I've illustrated the smallest and largest in the photos above (well, technically the next to smallest - the very smallest is the same size text, with wider margins).

You can read PDF docs in landscape, but not (at least with the current firmware) Mobi books.

72 point on a computer monitor is different then 72 point on an eink screen.

72 point on a computer monitor is different then 72 point on an eink screen. The desk-top publishing point is 1/72 of an inch, and so a 24pt font is therefore 1/3 of an inch high on the grid used to define the font (which is larger than all actual characters). Fonts are always eventually mapped to bitmaps, and then the number of pixels per inch come into play. If there is a mismatch between the actual number of pixels per inch on the screen and the assumed number of pixels per inch in the font bitmap, then the on-screen size will be different than expected.

So far as I can tell, the largest font size on the Cybook is a DTP 24pt (i.e. the same size as 24pt would appear in a printed Word document). I don't know what the Cybook calls this size.

72 point on a computer monitor is different then 72 point on an eink screen.

I just shot the screen using Verdana (plus one at Book Antiqua). The four shots, left to right, are Verdana at smallest, largest and my preferred size along with one of my favorite font at my preferred size. And I've got a 6" ruler held to the Cybook for measurement.

Derek

Based on your photos with the ruler, the 24 point font does indeed appear to be about 1/3 of an inch, as you would expect. My mother typically reads her original Cybook with fonts of about 3/4" or greater, i.e., at least 54 points.

Anyone know of any other options?

Thanks,

Bob

The iLiad is much more expensive than the Cybook, but it has a larger screen and its maximum MobiPocket font size is about 30pt. See the attached screenshot (you may need to click on it twice to get the full image size in your browser). To see the actual size, print it to paper at 4.7" by 6.2". There are only two fonts available for MobiPocket Reader.

I am going through this same decision process for my mom too. Mine can read to a point but needs more contrast then provided by any of the eink devices. If your mom's old machine was not eink perhaps you can take her by a Borders, where they sell the Sony's, if you have one nearby. You can let her checkout the display for viewability and see of she can see distinct letters. She prolly won;t be able to read the content but she might be able to at least see distinct letters aobive the background. The letters will be too small for her to read but if she can make out the characters then I would think the Cybook is at least a possibility.

Many people don't consider contrast ratio's when looking for low vision devices. Many vision issues increase the need to high contrast, especially for reading.

So far my best option is to get her a 13" or so tablet PC with a good reader app installed. Of course we are now a lot more $$ and also makes the device much more fragile. This is why I was hoping for a Kindle that might work. But the background is just not white enough. I tested my mom on both my laptop (17" beast she could NEVER manage) and also my new Nokia N800. Suprisingly she could read on the N800 if I made the font very large around 60-70pt with a very slightly off-white background color. Still using the small N800 would never happen since she could not see the menu's and what not to open a book.