I asked iRiver about being able to get better zoom control in display of ePub books - either increase the number of levels beyond 3, or customise the size of font each level is set at. (I find that in most books, the smallest zoom setting results in type that is just a little too small, and the middle zoom is a bit too big. At the risk of sounding like Goldilocks, something in between would be just right!)

The tech bloke I was talking to (via e.mail) said he gets 5 zoom levels on ePubs. I've never seen this. Does anyone else get more than 3?

I didn't get a lot of detail from him, and there was a bit of a language divide, but I got enough to confirm he was using an EB01 (the first non-WiFi release of the Story) with the same firmware I have (1.71), so he should have been getting the same result I am. Nearest I could get from what he said was that "certain types" of DRM or markup coding in combination gave him the extra zoom levels, but he couldn't tell me any details. But he was adamant he gets 5 zoom levels on ePub documents.

Does anyone else here have any experience of this?

Does anyone know what he was referring to, or what might make the difference between 3 zoom levels and 5 in the way an ePub is displayed?

Nope, I get 3 levels over epub as well.
Surprisingly, PDF has 5 levels.

Thanks for the reply, isaak.

Can I ask: are these commercial epubs, or ones you've maybe converted yourself with something like Calibre?

Nope, I get 3 levels over epub as well.
Surprisingly, PDF has 5 levels.

The PDF doesn't zoom, does it? Not on my Story.

It does, greenapple, but only in portrait mode, not in landscape.

The zoom is a clumsy process - though I'm not sure how they could make it much better, without a touch screen. When you press the zoom button, there are prompts at the bottom of the screen that step you through blocking out the area of the page you want it to zoom to.

Ok, I got it. :) It does have zoom, but only if you turn the reflow on.

I have some comics in pdf format. Would've been great if zoom also works when reflow is off.

Thanks for the reply, isaak.

Can I ask: are these commercial epubs, or ones you've maybe converted yourself with something like Calibre?

The epubs are mainly conversions or "news" output from calibre.

The zoom level limitation and the troubles I have to get accented greek characters out of calibre, make epub worse than a reflowable PDF for me. So I use calibre-generated PDFs most of the time on the Story, although I have to live with ugly paragraphs or half-complete pages.

I only get 3 zooms on commercial ePubs too...ie: books mainly purchased from
Waterstones

Yeah, I thought the guy was making things up.

Or, to be generous, maybe we simply weren't really talking about the same thing. I tried very hard to be clear what we were talking about, but it's getting to be such a problem here in Australia that fewer and fewer of the support people you get to talk to have English as a native language. It's clear you're not being understood, and it's *so* frustrating! More than that, it means you can't be confident of anything you're told.

I didn't get a lot of detail from him, and there was a bit of a language divide

Just came back to this thread, and noticed the above statement, Bran. Rolled on the floor till my sides ached. This is a big problem with Iriver. The manual, the help desk for Europe. I get a little better help from the Swedish agent, but I can read between the lines of some replies that they're fighting the language divide, too. :)

The epubs are mainly conversions or "news" output from calibre.

The zoom level limitation and the troubles I have to get accented greek characters out of calibre, make epub worse than a reflowable PDF for me. So I use calibre-generated PDFs most of the time on the Story, although I have to live with ugly paragraphs or half-complete pages.

Two thoughts here, Isaak. Can you format pdf's for a six inch screen, or even for a width x height screen, which might give you a better viewing experience. (I don't know that much about pdf's as I have stuck with epub up to now.)

Alternatively can you get better results by embedding your font? This is not easy if you make stupid mistakes, as I did at first, but dead easy when you stop doing foolish things. Makes your epub a bit bigger, but with 2 GB of native memory, who's counting?

//James

This is a big problem with Iriver. The manual, the help desk for Europe. I get a little better help from the Swedish agent, but I can read between the lines of some replies that they're fighting the language divide, too. :)

This is maybe going to sound a bit esoteric, but I find myself getting a bit frustrated with iRiver -- not solely because the information flow to us as users is so sparse, and the help for user problems so hard to come by, but because in having spent our money on iRiver, we have a kind of vested interest in seeing the product do well and a sort of joint expectation that the company will do its best to see the product develops to its potential. (Yeah, I said it was esoteric.)

I think if there's such a thing as intellectual property, there's also such a thing as intellectual investment -- which is what you make in a company when you buy its products, or even (by way of example) go to work there. In a real sense, you've said "I'm throwing in my lot with you." So it's crap when the company doesn't make the effort, when you realise the product was just a market placeholder to draw revenue and ...

Oh look, it doesn't matter. I know what I mean, but putting it in words overstates it and makes it sound more impactful than I actually mean it. And I'm having trouble articulating it in the face of my expectation that someone will just come along and say "Yeah, get over it." (It is the internet, after all.)

Anyway. I wish iRiver was more proactive. And then they might have a bigger market share, which would only benefit us all.

I hear what you're saying, Bran, but I have to admit I'm putting all my faith in the fact that Iriver has made the firmware open source, and I'm looking to the OS community for further development. To the extent that I can, I'm even willing to help.

Two thoughts here, Isaak. Can you format pdf's for a six inch screen, or even for a width x height screen, which might give you a better viewing experience. (I don't know that much about pdf's as I have stuck with epub up to now.)

Alternatively can you get better results by embedding your font? This is not easy if you make stupid mistakes, as I did at first, but dead easy when you stop doing foolish things. Makes your epub a bit bigger, but with 2 GB of native memory, who's counting?

//James

Thank you James, I'll try your 2nd thought (I've seen you posted something relevant in another thread), as greek pdfs are really unacceptably slow to read.
Sometimes I have to wait for more than 15secs after I press to "turn a page".
To be fair, this is only valid for greek, in english pdf page turns are as fast as epub.

I hear what you're saying, Bran, but I have to admit I'm putting all my faith in the fact that Iriver has made the firmware open source, and I'm looking to the OS community for further development. To the extent that I can, I'm even willing to help.

I'm afraid you expect too much. iriver did not "open" the firmware; they were forced to put this disclaimer that part of the firmware was open source, as they used open source code, and it is illegal to use it in a commercial product and not declare it.

I'm afraid you expect too much. iriver did not "open" the firmware; they were forced to put this disclaimer that part of the firmware was open source, as they used open source code, and it is illegal to use it in a commercial product and not declare it.

That's my understanding too, isaak. And ironically the open-source question highlights the need for a market presence: if the product doesn't have sufficient traction and a certain level of recognition, there's no incentive for open-source developers to spend any time on it.

I was hoping the firmware might get made over by a group like rockbox, but there doesn't seem to be much chance of that. And I certainly don't have the skills to do it, or contribute to it, myself. :(