Augen The Book: Preliminary evaluations

[Donnageddon]

Thanks for the info!

[Refom1]

You can probably forget about ever being approved for the forum. It appears all the threads are locked and the Founder has changed from "MarkTech" to "Abandoned". I was about to buy one of these but after reading all the complaints and hearing about their disgustingly poor customer service I am very hesitant to do so.

[VentureForth]

What's the date on the firmware?

[dixieknits]

Crazy, how we all have such different experineces. I LOVE my Augen. I read from it every night out on the porch or in bed, start off my mornng with a coffee and chapter of a good mystery.
I love the backlit screen, the choices of fonts, the case the buttons. I like EVERYTHING about it. It does pdfs as though they were epubs. I use it landscape quite alot and have NOT ugraded the firmware. I reformted my sd card and it is beng seen also. I will be reading from it when my husband drives our motorhome back home next month and won't have to bother him with my light.
My page turns are fast, it boots, quickly, holds more than I"ll read in a couple of lifetimes, plays audio books and movies very well and has kept it's date, though that is not a feature I use. I 've read here the wifi is slow,but honestly, I've not used it either and the only library book I have on it did read.
If you want a mobile tablet, this is not what you want, but it's a NICE ereader..

[kilohertz53]

Originally Posted by VentureForth

What's the date on the firmware?

The file was posted to the Augen website on 8/26, and it's definitely not the same as the rapidshare file(s) from 7/21 and 7/22. However, after doing the update, my System Info still shows a date of 2010-07-20. Go figure.

The accelerometer works now for everything except Digital Editions epubs. No other changes are evident.

[Kurt]

i've been pretty happy with my TB too until today
finally got my first ebook from the library
downloaded it after installing whatever it was from adobe and it opens fine on the computer

moved the book over to TB with calibre but it wouldn't open of course - found the manual online (think mine got tossed in a cleaning frenzy) and tried to activate TB with my id and password - get a response that it is authorized but an error with activation

augens update instructions read as gibberish to me

maybe i can find the book on the "darknet"

gave it a shot but i can't even get the computer (might be a windows 7 thing) to do the new device pop-up - - - or it is a TB thing as pressing alt and power doesn't do anything since when i let go TB just comes on - one out of 6 or 7 shots when i release the keys the screen stays off but still no reaction from computer
no DRM books for me i guess (not that i would buy any but was hoping i could use the library)

[Metal Mick]

Hi Kurt, et al,

I don't blame you for being frustrated, and yes, the fractured english of the instructions is far from easy to decipher. To me it points to laziness (or apathy) on the part of Augen.

I too had a frustrating time with the new firmware - it took Win XP quite a number of goes to wake up to my TB's presence, and I was thinking for a while that there was something I was doing wrong. (Like I was in need of remedial classes in button pushing.) The "search for driver" bit just hung as it looked in vain for a driver file on a CD that wasn't there. Once I by-passed this by telling my machine to look in a specific directory, things went far better.

I also got something of an error message when I tried to register my TB with ADE - already registered or similar, but it worked okay despite that. When you opened ADE, was your TB recognized as a device/location in the left-hand panel? If so, you can drag and drop your library book onto it, and then you're good to go. Don't know how your library works, but mine lets me download an *.acsm file (or similar), and when I double click on it, it triggers ADE to download the DRM book. I have no trouble reading the library book I "borrowed."

If you need more help, or if I've been obtuse, just ask me to have another go at explaining things, although I suggest there's a couple of more experienced members here who could make a better fist of things.

Cheers,

[Kurt]

Hey Metal Mick
thanks for the suggestion

tried opening ADE with TB plugged into the computer - opened and did show TB as the "U" drive but the program was frozen (tried several times) and nothing was actually clickable or dragable
but

after that when i actually went to read the book in question on TB i still got the message with "file may be damaged or file not supported" error but after saying ok the book opened - interesting change just because i opened the ADE program without actually doing anything else

now i have several copies of this particular title as i managed to find "other" versions of the book on the internet - guessing the DRMed library copy would have the best formatting - we shall see

at least now i don't need the download/update - which i can't get to work anyway

[Metal Mick]

Hi Kurt,

sorry you're still being driven up the wall by this. I did need a multitude of attempts to get my TB upgraded, but my wife's went first time. I wonder if it is a quality issue with the ALT button on the TB? I forget which button I was pushing when registering my Adobe user i.d. with the TB, but I really had to push it with venom to get it to work. (And if I get my hands on the turkey who thought the "shift" characters should go below the key rather than above it...)

Adobe's DRM on the TB is broken, and needs the upgrade to fix it.

It seems you've been able to cope though.

If you want to give the upgrade another try, I'll help as much as I can from this distance.

Cheers,

[Kurt]

well, just got weirder

i can only access the DRMed book after the error message if TB is plugged into the computer

lordy

yes, i was suspicious of the "alt" key since most of the time TB just turned on like normal after pressing it and the power key together (which means pressing the alt key first then power)
not gonna try to do the update anymore - enough is enough - but

[Metal Mick]

Hi Kurt, et al,

it would seem the TB excels at weirdness: my wife's TB would not allow her to open a DRM'd pdf novel until after she connected to the web (with her TB) while it was plugged-in to her PC. (Discovered by accident!) My (used, and previously ADE registered) TB worked like a charm... go figure.

It further takes the shine off what could be a pretty good device.

As an aside, already, I feel apathetic about picking up a printed novel for it just seems... dunno... archaic? Mentioned this to my wife yesterday, and she said that I should probably take my library books back (early for a change ).

Take care everyone.

[RadioMan52]

Originally Posted by kilohertz53

Okay, I applied the new update. The Adobe DRM works like it did after the first (unofficial) update. I tested it on an epub I downloaded from Kobo, and the text is all there. The accelerometer function is restored for e-books in the "My Books" and the "Free eBooks" folders, BUT I have a problem with epubs in the "Digital Editions" folder -- the first page rotates into landscape mode, and all subsequent pages in landscape mode are blank. So landscape mode is still pretty useless for DRM'ed epubs.

Can someone else confirm my findings?

Looks like another round of submitting service tickets to Augen customer support...

(One more thing I should mention: the installation instructions provided are very badly written, and there is no need to do either a "/Restore" or "/Format" after the hard reset. These actions do not change the result of the update. If you choose to do them anyway, make sure you've copied your data (like the free eBooks, for instance) to your computer's hard drive, and be prepared to reauthorize the TB for ADE, and reset your timezone and other preferences.)

Kilohertz53;
I confirm your observation this is just a fix to the fubar with the accelerometer and the obvious problem that can be a “killer” to a e-book reader that is not capable of playing in the “Pay” world public domain can go just so far thus the DRM change and nothing else.
Must have been a interesting “interesting” back and forth conversation with the outsourced software provider as to who is going to pick up the tab for this “change order” repair.
I have three of the puppies so I decided to "play". The gurus are telling me that all of the problem was that someone used the wrong library (looks like it was for the prototyping model) when they recompiled for the “DRM” fix, which BTW is not fixed since it is using data from a previously stored address that may be faulty, oh and the Clock is still not fixed (similar problems on all units).
I was hoping for a bit more at least in the basic WiFi setup but it looks like this is the only “break fix” that we will be seeing for “The Book” any time soon.
Any way for a $65 dollar unit the unit makes a decent inexpensive video player, audio if you can stand only a monolithic file structure and It makes a excellent public domain e-book reader that actually talks.
The way Augen is working the problems I am sure that this will be a orphan unit in the near future, I guess the buyer at Sears was impressed with the “demo” unit but never sent it for eval before sending in the PO.


Radioman52 Over and Out"

[kilohertz53]

I did a on-line live support chat with Mark at Augen earlier today. He says that there will be a third firmware update, but couldn't give a date or details. He also claimed that the G-sensor should work for Digital Editions epubs. I thought I'd give it another try before redownloading and reinstalling the new update. I tranferred a few more epubs (with and without DRM) through ADE to the TB, and suddenly, for no reason I can figure, landscape mode has begun to work -- no more blank pages. Now I almost feel bad about the letter I faxed to the CEO of Augen about the crappy customer support and the dubious quality of the software updates.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by kilohertz53

I did a on-line live support chat with Mark at Augen earlier today. He says that there will be a third firmware update, but couldn't give a date or details. He also claimed that the G-sensor should work for Digital Editions epubs. I thought I'd give it another try before redownloading and reinstalling the new update. I tranferred a few more epubs (with and without DRM) through ADE to the TB, and suddenly, for no reason I can figure, landscape mode has begun to work -- no more blank pages. Now I almost feel bad about the letter I faxed to the CEO of Augen about the crappy customer support and the dubious quality of the software updates.

Hi Kilohertz53, et al,

I haven't seen the letter you wrote, but it will not be dissimilar to mine. I express similar sentiments to you and I have not regrets whatsoever.

The truth is, the support has been atrocious and the firmware has obviously never seen even cursory quality control checks.

Do not feel bad in the least - you have exercised your rights, and I am sure you expressed yourself in a civil manner. The more people who follow your lead, the better the TB will be.

Many thanks for your efforts.

[Refom1]

Wow, how unfriendly you guys are. I made my first post 5 days ago and it was completely ignored. Is this how all new members are treated?