Speed Differences between 500 and 505 with 4GB memory stick and 300 books on it

dhbailey · 02-09-2008, 11:07 AM

For those who have both the 500 and the 505, I am very curious about speed differences between the two.

On my 500, when I have the 4gb memory stick (with only .5GB of books, so nowhere near the 2GB limit) with about 300 books (reference books about music and musicians, all in either lrf or txt format), I find that simply setting a bookmark in a book I'm reading from the reader's internal memory takes a very long long time.

Is it any faster with the 505? I have read all the posts I could find which say that the 505 is faster in the memory card department, but none which give any really meaningful comparison between the 500 and the 505 (unless I missed a particular thread or message within a thread.)

Thanks for any insights anybody can share.

kovidgoyal · 02-09-2008, 11:56 AM

Bookmarks are stored in a XML database which is itself stored on the card. The more books you have the larger the XML file that has to be read/written.

dhbailey · 02-09-2008, 03:44 PM

So even though no bookmarks in books from the card, the bookmarks for the book(s) in main memory are stored/accessed from the card, or is it that the reader has to check to see if there are any on the card? I only have 1 bookmark in the reader at the moment and that's for the book I'm currently reading which is in internal memory, not the memory card.

Mostly I'm just curious about this stuff, since it appears that any use of a memory card slows the whole thing down (at least for the 500, hence my question for a comparison from someone who has both) to where it becomes so slow as to be really aggravating.

Interestingly enough, once it deals with the bookmark issue (I turn the bookmark off for the page I'm starting on when I begin reading), the page turns are a very respectable speed even with the memory stick in. And then when I'm done reading and place a new bookmark, it slows to a snail's pace again.

kovidgoyal · 02-09-2008, 04:21 PM

No bookmarks for books on the card are stored on the card.

dhbailey · 02-10-2008, 08:29 AM

Okay, then that doesn't explain why the placing of an internal memory book's bookmark should take so long when I have a lot of books on the card but haven't placed any bookmarks there yet.

Unless the Reader creates the XML file as a potential bookmark holder with an entry for every book, and when any bookmark is placed, it has to update the data for both bookmark files.

But nobody has answered my question regarding whether this is faster on the 505 than on the 500. I recall people mentioning that things seemed to work faster with a memory stick than with an SD card on the 505, but not specifically addressing the bookmark speed issue that I've noticed on my 500.

So I'm back to not using a memory stick at all and the speed is wonderful again.

JSWolf · 02-10-2008, 09:01 AM

Why not take the memory card over to SonyStyle or Borders and see if you can test it out on a 505? The other option is to send me the memory card and I can give it a go.

dhbailey · 02-10-2008, 07:10 PM

What a great suggestion -- I'll take it to Border's and see if they'll let me give it a try.

As a fall-back, if I really want to pursue it, I'll contact you for an address Jon.

Thanks!

02-09-2008, 11:07 AM	#1
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	Speed Differences between 500 and 505 with 4GB memory stick and 300 books on it For those who have both the 500 and the 505, I am very curious about speed differences between the two. On my 500, when I have the 4gb memory stick (with only .5GB of books, so nowhere near the 2GB limit) with about 300 books (reference books about music and musicians, all in either lrf or txt format), I find that simply setting a bookmark in a book I'm reading from the reader's internal memory takes a very long long time. Is it any faster with the 505? I have read all the posts I could find which say that the 505 is faster in the memory card department, but none which give any really meaningful comparison between the 500 and the 505 (unless I missed a particular thread or message within a thread.) Thanks for any insights anybody can share.

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02-09-2008, 11:56 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,856 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Bookmarks are stored in a XML database which is itself stored on the card. The more books you have the larger the XML file that has to be read/written.

02-09-2008, 03:44 PM	#3
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	So even though no bookmarks in books from the card, the bookmarks for the book(s) in main memory are stored/accessed from the card, or is it that the reader has to check to see if there are any on the card? I only have 1 bookmark in the reader at the moment and that's for the book I'm currently reading which is in internal memory, not the memory card. Mostly I'm just curious about this stuff, since it appears that any use of a memory card slows the whole thing down (at least for the 500, hence my question for a comparison from someone who has both) to where it becomes so slow as to be really aggravating. Interestingly enough, once it deals with the bookmark issue (I turn the bookmark off for the page I'm starting on when I begin reading), the page turns are a very respectable speed even with the memory stick in. And then when I'm done reading and place a new bookmark, it slows to a snail's pace again.

02-09-2008, 04:21 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,856 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No bookmarks for books on the card are stored on the card.

02-10-2008, 08:29 AM	#5
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	Okay, then that doesn't explain why the placing of an internal memory book's bookmark should take so long when I have a lot of books on the card but haven't placed any bookmarks there yet. Unless the Reader creates the XML file as a potential bookmark holder with an entry for every book, and when any bookmark is placed, it has to update the data for both bookmark files. But nobody has answered my question regarding whether this is faster on the 505 than on the 500. I recall people mentioning that things seemed to work faster with a memory stick than with an SD card on the 505, but not specifically addressing the bookmark speed issue that I've noticed on my 500. So I'm back to not using a memory stick at all and the speed is wonderful again.

02-10-2008, 09:01 AM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,970 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Why not take the memory card over to SonyStyle or Borders and see if you can test it out on a 505? The other option is to send me the memory card and I can give it a go.

02-10-2008, 07:10 PM	#7
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	What a great suggestion -- I'll take it to Border's and see if they'll let me give it a try. As a fall-back, if I really want to pursue it, I'll contact you for an address Jon. Thanks!

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