Same SD card in JBL and Libre Color: Help!

[Catlady]

When I got my Libre Color, I popped in my SD card from the JBL. The Libre Color took at least five minutes to read the card, then included the files in its library. When I went to the LC's file explorer and clicked on the SD card, it didn't show me the file structure after at least another five minutes, and I gave up and created a ticket at Aluratek to see what the problem was.

I'm getting nowhere with them.

It's a 4gb card, nearly full, with mostly epub files, none of them with DRM. (Nor have I authorized the LC with ADE.) The issue isn't opening a file--I can do that if I just drag and drop a few files to a different card). It seems to be that the LC is having a problem with the sheer number of files, or maybe with the file structure (I have mostly three levels of folders--Genre, Author, Series). I asked Aluratek if the folders are the problem, but they didn't answer that and their latest is telling me to go through ADE, even though I keep saying the files are NOT DRMed.

Any ideas here? I just would like to be able to pop the card out of one and into the other. Shouldn't I just be able to do that? If not, why not? I'm not a techie, so I really don't get why there should be any problem here.

I do have up-to-date firmware in the LC.

Thanks!

[cromag]

I don't have an LC, but my first guess would be the multi-level folders. The ability to deal with these would be covered by the software (firmware). I'm sure the first line customer support people are probably just reading from a script -- and may not even know what a multi-level file structure is.

[Catlady]

Thanks--the initial support person had gone through some basics, then kicked it to someone else, who asked me about the kinds of files I had on the card. After I answered, I never heard from him again, despite a couple of additional tries on that ticket (three days of nothing!). So I opened a new one (referencing the old ticket), and now I'm back to the same first-line person.

I really just want to know if my device is having a problem, or if I'm asking it to do something it can't do. If the latter, I wish they'd just say so!

[Ken Maltby]

You might try an experiment, if you have a 2GB SD card on hand you could try putting
a copy of half of what you have on the 4GB card. Just make a folder on your PC to
copy half of the same file structure and files, then it should be easy to see when you have the right amount, it should be maybe 40MB short of the 2GB to fit on the test SD.

That won't tell you which problem it is though, but it well give you a start. It could
be card type compatibility, or make or model compatibility, or something else, but you
will know that it isn't the file structure or nature of the files, if it works.

Luck;
Ken

[Catlady]

Hi Ken,

I actually tried something similar earlier today. I copied the files from my computer to a fresh 16gb card, rather than just using the JBL's 4gb card. The 16gb card loaded slightly more quickly, and I could access the files through the Libre Color's main library (just a listing of all the separate files--more than 600 pages' worth).

Then I went to the File Explorer feature, where I should be able to see the file structure, and after another wait, I had about 60 pages' worth of folders. I thought, great, problem solved, but turning pages to go through the folders took forever--probably 10-15 seconds each page turn there. So really, really slow.

I looked at some of the nested folders, and there was no problem getting to them, once I paged to the proper main folder. So now it seems to me that the Libre Color just doesn't like the sheer volume of files I have. And I admit it's excessive--but it's what was on the JBL, and the JBL performs just fine.

At this point, I'm more curious than anything else about why it's so SLOW. I can just copy books I'm currently reading to the LC instead of swapping out the card. (I like the backlighting for nighttime reading, so I've been switching back and forth between the two e-readers.)

What do you think?

[Ken Maltby]

While this "LC" has made more of a successful approach to ereading support, than most
of the other 7" media player crowd, it is perhaps still better suited to the larger files of
video media, than the relatively small ebook files. At least in regard to its file handling.

You might consider using a small SD card for ebooks and save the larger ones for the
larger audio/video files. I can't think of a way to make the LC do a better job with such
a large file structure.

I know you don't like to use the sync process, but it would be easy to have a folder on
your PC set as one for your "current reads", then just copy into that what you want be
reading. Once you had that it is easy to make a folder pair between that folder and the
drive letter of your SD card reader. (With SyncToy the pair actually works with the SD
card, even though the drive letter is what is indicated. If you use a different SD card
you need to set a folder pair for it, even though the same drive letter is used.)

Luck;
Ken

[Catlady]

Thanks, Ken. You've been much more helpful than the Aluratek people!

I may just have to give in and try SyncToy one of these days ...

[Catlady]

Ken, Aluratek is telling me that I should authorize the Libre Color through ADE, and then it won't be so slow reading the JBL's card. This doesn't make sense to me when all the books on the card are DRM-free, which I keep telling them. (I did authorize the JBL when I first got it, but not the SD card.) And when I loaded that second completely clean card from the computer, I still had a problem with the LC being slow.

But I am not a techie, so maybe they are right and it would help? What's your opinion? Thanks!

[Ken Maltby]

I can't see their logic, the two should have nothing to do with each other. The only
thing I can think they may be suggesting, would be if their LC makes some special use of
the manifest.xml file in loading the ebooks, but that would be a stupid thing to do. It
shouldn't cripple their SD file handling, in any case.

I don't guess it would harm anything if you were to have it authorized in ADE, but I don't
see how it would help, either.

Luck;
Ken

[Catlady]

Thanks--I didn't want to bother to authorize the Libre Color for what seems like no reason. Just didn't want to deal with ADE any more than I had to!

[cdntinpusher]

If you have 3 levels of folders (Genre, Author, Series), are the books duplicated in each one? I am wondering if the LC has trouble with multiple copies of the same book when it re-indexes the library with the data from the SD Card.

The only thing I can think is to try authorizing the LC and see if it makes a difference. You never have to use the LC with ADE again, after you do, and it doesn't make sense that it will make a diff, but who knows?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by cdntinpusher

If you have 3 levels of folders (Genre, Author, Series), are the books duplicated in each one? I am wondering if the LC has trouble with multiple copies of the same book when it re-indexes the library with the data from the SD Card.

The only thing I can think is to try authorizing the LC and see if it makes a difference. You never have to use the LC with ADE again, after you do, and it doesn't make sense that it will make a diff, but who knows?

No, the titles aren't duplicated. What I have is a structure like this:

JUVENILE SERIES [folder]

Hope, Laura Lee [subfolder]

Bobbsey Twins [sub-subfolder]

01 Bobbsey Twins.epub
02 Bobbsey Twins in the Country.epub
03 Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore.epub

Moving Picture Girls

01 Moving Picture Girls.epub
02 Moving Picture Girls at Oak Farm.epub
03 Moving Picture Girls Snowbound.epub

Outdoor Girls

01 Outdoor Girls of Deepdale.epub

The LC is OK with integrating the titles into its main library. And I can page through that fairly easily. But since there are so many titles (600 pages' orth in the library), I really need the folders to find anything. And it's when I go to the File Explorer function and click the SD card that the LC slows down to a crawl, where just trying to page through takes forever (several seconds for each page turn).

It's not a big issue--I've just copied whatever book I'm currently reading to the LC's SD card instead of swapping out the JBL's SD card. I may try authorizing the LC, or I may just leave things alone.

[GrandmaVS]

There is a new update for the Libre colour on the Aluratek site. I installed it a couple of days ago. It seems to make accessing the SD card quite a bit faster. Haven't had time yet to check it out much, but this is what it says on the Aluratek site:

"A new firmware update (version 4.23.1) is now available for download. This update improves audio output, improves support for large SDHC cards and restores the full screen view while viewing videos. It is available for download from our support library:

http://aluratek.com/cms/legacy/support-library.php "

Didn't have any problems installing from my Vista 32 system.

[Catlady]

Oh, great, thanks so much. I'll see what happens.