MR Reader Meetup in Paris on Friday, July 18th

[zelda_pinwheel]

maybe i should leave my notebook at home !!

i promise, i'll try hard not to scare anyone off !!

[BKeeper]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i have been delegated on the french thread as the official question-asker for all the people who can't come,...
... the best plan is to get them good and drunk, then they will agree to anything. "folders ? sure !"

Uhh the apéro...sadly I won't be able to make it this time. (damn, I'll probably be in Paris in august...)
Queen Z since you are the official "inquisitor " (and now mod) could you please remind Bookeen about the battery life bug. It really is the one bug that bugs me.

Please all of you have fun tomorrow and be nice (i.e. get them drunk first...).
Relationships do change when one meets in person.
Wish I could be there...

[slayda]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

maybe i should leave my notebook at home !!

i promise, i'll try hard not to scare anyone off !!

Or maybe send them a list of the questions so they can be better prepared, but keep the sneaky ones to surprise them with.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by BKeeper

Uhh the apéro...sadly I won't be able to make it this time. (damn, I'll probably be in Paris in august...)
Queen Z since you are the official "inquisitor " (and now mod) could you please remind Bookeen about the battery life bug. It really is the one bug that bugs me.

Please all of you have fun tomorrow and be nice (i.e. get them drunk first...).
Relationships do change when one meets in person.
Wish I could be there...

too bad you can't come ! hopefully you'll be able to next time. i'll try to ask about the battery life.

Originally Posted by slayda

Or maybe send them a list of the questions so they can be better prepared, but keep the sneaky ones to surprise them with.

that could be a pretty good idea. maybe not for this time (rather short notice...) but for next time. or, perhaps i'll send them the list just *after* the apéro, for all the ones we didn't answer.

[DixieGal]

EVERYONE: Son't forget cameras! I want to see lots of pics from the party tonite!

Have Fun!

[zelda_pinwheel]

just a short recap since it's rather late and i just got home, but since i know you're all waiting just for that (and since you probably wake up earlier than i do... ) here we go.

there were about a dozen of us : Hadrien of course but also Loïc from Feedbooks ; Guillaume from Bookeen ; Alain Pierrot ; Tebaldo ; and a handful of other people (members of MobileRead or interested members of the public). absent were notably Martin Gorner from Mobipocket and the journalist who contacted me ; perhaps they will be there next time.

among the devices we traded around :
- an eb1150
- several Cybook
- Sony 505
- Sony Librié
- Ganaxa
- several ipod touch (alas... the list of my "coveted gadgets" just keeps getting longer... note to self : please remember to play the loto)
- the wifi (or 3G ??) dongle (heeheehee) from the Orange beta test
...and even the maquette (made of paper !!) of the appareil used for the offer by Les Echos, of which tebaldo explained to us that it did not work.
EDIT : oh yeah, there was a kindle too !!

i wish i could have followed all the different conversations because they were all fascinating !! alas i have but 2 ears... but as a good delegate i did corner Guillaume from Bookeen to ask him a few questions... ^^ and even better than that, he proposed that i email him the complete list, and he will try to have some concrete answers ! too kind of him !! along with Pauline, he's my new best friend.

basically, the answer to all your questions about the Cybook is : they know, and they're working on it, and they're doing everything possible to fix things quickly.

more specifically :
folders : YES !!! they are coming !! they were hoping to include them in the first update, but apparently it's a bit complicated to put into place. but they are coming !

lower prices : as soon as possible ! but no doubt not before the arrival on the market of the Epson / Plastic Logic products, because for the moment it's PVI who is blocking everything.

page numbers : yes, with epub (it's a mobipocket flaw, as we saw).

start up directly in the book you were reading when you turn on the device, instead of going through the library view every time : they are working on it.

update without SD card : not for the moment.

Cybook available in shops : already there !!! and i admit i am falling down on the job here because i knew that and i forgot ! arg !! they are already available at Brentano's in paris for example, and they are in negotiations with other bookshops, including some big ones (without naming names, follow my eyes...) and some small ones (including my friendly neighborhood bookshop, where i just bought the latest Fred Vargas in paper (snif) since it's not available in ebook, starting next week, when we will go together to test the waters). you can also see a list of bookshops on the bookeen site.

other very important information : Guillaume had such a great time tonight that he wants everyone to do the same. so he can't wait for us to have another MR apéro in Paris (end of october, mark your calendars... in fact i had to hold him back, because when i told him the proposed date, he said "but it's so far away !!" héhé !), and everyone not living in Paris, you should also do the same in your own town ! try it, it's a lot of fun, you'll see ! and especially he thinks (and i agree) that it would be really great if people using liseuses could meet each other, or meet people who don't yet have a liseuse but are curious. a bit like the system of the Kindle users "see a Kindle in your city," where people who have one offer to meet people who want to see one, and give a demo. so ? who's willing ? maybe we could create a thread to say "i live in this city, and if you buy me a drink i'll show you my Cybook / Sony / Iliade / ipod touch with stanza on it / etc."

we also talked amongst ourselves about the problems of publishers who aren't getting on the train (they'll have to eventually ! but maybe we should give them a little push, so please don't hesitate to write to them and tell them how frustrated you are lack of content / overpriced content !), about the ebook / liseuse experience, about what it will take for ebooks to take off in France (lower prices, more content, more devices on the market) and we all were very excited to think that all that is coming soon or maybe even on the way already, but at the same time we're a bit tired of waiting. but it was good to get it off our chest !

and i also mentioned to Guillaume from Bookeen the threads about our suggestions for future updates, and i also mentioned the MR Worldcon 2009 contingent (i said to check the site about that). Guillaume was quite interested to hear about that, he likes Science Fiction.

i've probably forgotten some things so i'll add more tomorrow. i hope also that the others who were there will add some stories, since unfortunately i couldn't follow EVERYTHING !!! despite my best efforts !!

oh and did i mention, it was a great evening and a lot of fun to meet everyone and discuss and exchange our experiences ! i hope everyone who was there tonight will come back for the next one, and i hope there will be plenty more as well !!

[BookishDreamer]

That's fabulous! I'm glad the evening was a success.

Dreamer

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

lower prices : as soon as possible ! but no doubt not before the arrival on the market of the Epson / Plastic Logic products, because for the moment it's PVI who is blocking everything.

Sure. They're the sole source for eInk screens, and how quikly prices drop depends on how fast they can ramp up production to meet demand.

Guillaume had such a great time tonight that he wants everyone to do the same. so he can't wait for us to have another MR apéro in Paris (end of october, mark your calendars... in fact i had to hold him back, because when i told him the proposed date, he said "but it's so far away !!" héhé !)

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

maybe we could create a thread to say "i live in this city, and if you buy me a drink i'll show you my Cybook / Sony / Iliade / ipod touch with stanza on it / etc."

"I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours!"

and i also mentioned to Guillaume from Bookeen the threads about our suggestions for future updates, and i also mentioned the MR Worldcon 2009 contingent (i said to check the site about that). Guillaume was quite interested to hear about that, he likes Science Fiction.

Since it's in Montreal, in French speaking Quebec, perhaps he'll be motivated to come over. (Though the variant of French they speak in Quebec is quite different from the Parisian dialect.)
______
Dennis

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Sure. They're the sole source for eInk screens, and how quikly prices drop depends on how fast they can ramp up production to meet demand.

yep, exactly.

Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

i admit it was really gratifying !!

"I'll show you mine, if you'll show me yours!"

hee !! i almost wrote exactly that !!!

Since it's in Montreal, in French speaking Quebec, perhaps he'll be motivated to come over. (Though the variant of French they speak in Quebec is quite different from the Parisian dialect.)
______
Dennis

not to worry : guillaume says he is bilingual french / english.

[Greg Anos]

ZP, I'll buy you drink anytime, and you don't have to show me anything....

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

ZP, I'll buy you drink anytime, and you don't have to show me anything....

that's very kind of you, Sir !

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i admit it was really gratifying !!

It was pretty much what I expected, and why I suggested you invite Bookeen. The best stuff tends to come out of precisely this sort of informal gathering where folks are relaxed and happy.

not to worry : guillaume says he is bilingual french / english.

Which means he might do better in English.

I heard a story a while back about a big construction project in Montreal. Most of the workers were French speakers, so they imported foremen from Paris, thinking work would go better with French speaking supervisors. Soon after, they sent the foremen back to Paris and hired English speaking foremen, so at least it would be explicit that different languages were in use...
______
Dennis

[RickyMaveety]

Man, I would love to find a valid excuse to go to Paris in October!!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It was pretty much what I expected, and why I suggested you invite Bookeen. The best stuff tends to come out of precisely this sort of informal gathering where folks are relaxed and happy.

definitely.

I heard a story a while back about a big construction project in Montreal. Most of the workers were French speakers, so they imported foremen from Paris, thinking work would go better with French speaking supervisors. Soon after, they sent the foremen back to Paris and hired English speaking foremen, so at least it would be explicit that different languages were in use...
______
Dennis

hee, i confirm this... just one example, the time i saw a québecois film in the cinema here (called "un 32 août sur la terre", "august 32 on earth" : brilliant film, by the way ; i highly recommend it), which was in french of course. it was also subtitled in french, and thank heavens for that, because i didn't understand a word until about 2/3 of the way through.

[Patricia]

I would definitely like to come to the next one.
Given the chance of a weekend in Paris, my partner says he'll come as my personal translator. But if the men are very handsome then I might just leave him at home.