[Librie] LIBRIe or not

[tdk]

Hi all,

I've been looking at the LIBRIe for a bit now and was considering purchasing one on my upcoming trip to Japan in 2 weeks time. Now I see thanks to engadget that there is another player in the market and has thrown a little spanner in the works

I have a few questions that maybe some people could answer in order to help me make my mind up.

1) How do people find the size of the LIBRIe. alot of the photos of it make it look rather large (although judging by the dimensions it isnt much begger than a paper back novel.

2) How easy is it to convery PDFs to the LIBRIe format. I have a number of computer books in PDF format that I would like to read on it. these will also have images in them, is that much of a problem.

3) Is the page refresh really as much of a problem as people make it out to be.

I guess most of those questions for the most part can be answered when Iget some hands on with it but any input on the matter is appreciated. Then its just going to be a matter of keeping an eye on the competitor

[Henrycat]

Originally Posted by tdk

Hi all,

I've been looking at the LIBRIe for a bit now and was considering purchasing one on my upcoming trip to Japan in 2 weeks time. Now I see thanks to engadget that there is another player in the market and has thrown a little spanner in the works

I have a few questions that maybe some people could answer in order to help me make my mind up.

1) How do people find the size of the LIBRIe. alot of the photos of it make it look rather large (although judging by the dimensions it isnt much begger than a paper back novel.

The whole device isn't very big, about 12,5 by 19 cm. The actual screen is 9.2 by 12.3 cm, good for text but not for comics (manga ok if the fonts aren't small). What usually surprises people is its weight.

Originally Posted by tdk

2) How easy is it to convery PDFs to the LIBRIe format. I have a number of computer books in PDF format that I would like to read on it. these will also have images in them, is that much of a problem.

You will have to extract the text from the pdf to a txt file; the images you will need to make sure that they are 600x800 or smaller.

Originally Posted by tdk

3) Is the page refresh really as much of a problem as people make it out to be.

Go take a look on the files/videos section of my site to see a small video of me page flipping to get an idea of the screen refresh

Originally Posted by tdk

I guess most of those questions for the most part can be answered when I get some hands on with it but any input on the matter is appreciated. Then its just going to be a matter of keeping an eye on the competitor

Hope the competition does take off next year so that everyone will have his "Librie"

[Henrycat]

Seems people here are also "burned" in what matters to the Librie

[Colin Dunstan]

There was a lot of talk about E Ink releasing its SDK and making it available to other 3rd parties beside Sony. Plus there was rumor of a Chinese company working on a Librie-like e-book reader. Honestly, given these latest developments, I would still wait instead of spending too much money on an e-book reader that gives too little (Librie, expensive to export, only supports memory sticks, DRM-polluted).

[Henrycat]

Originally Posted by Colin Dunstan

There was a lot of talk about E Ink releasing its SDK and making it available to other 3rd parties beside Sony.

Yep, at least it's on their site (http://www.eink.com/kits/), wouldn't mind getting my hands on one of those

Plus there was rumor of a Chinese company working on a Librie-like e-book reader.

Seems it will be released only next year (maybe). Don't have a prototype ready the imas at mobileread are cgi

Honestly, given these latest developments, I would still wait instead of spending too much money on an e-book reader that gives too little (Librie, expensive to export, only supports memory sticks, DRM-polluted).

Well at least now you can order it from dynamism (in english), not like me who had to order from the other side of the world, just compare portugal and japan
Suppose memory stick will be a pain in the a$!, but i still haven't needed it.
I usually only have six or seven on it so...

Currently Drm isn't an issue (unless i was to buy official japanese books), i simply convert my texts, rss feeds, etc, and up them to the librie.

Right now the main grip against the device, in my opinion, is the price. If they were to drop it to 300 or 350(i also wouldn't mind less it would probably sell well.

Like i said before, the librie got burned when it got out, but it really doesn't have all the problems from then.

[tdk]

Well I bit the bullet, had a play around with it in Shibuya over the last few days and bought one today for 306euro (before having 5% TAX free). Unfortunately I have a powerbook with me at the moment so most of the playing is going to have to wait until I get back

A bit of a case of more money than sense. Almost walked out with a Zaurus cl3100 as wel...

[Henrycat]

Damn

Was that the local retail price, or did you go somewhere specific?

Could you post a guide so that i can pass it out to some friends that were thinking on going there?

[tdk]

That was local retail price and I bought it specifically from Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku, looking at the receipt I got it for 39,715 when I showed my passport, it was about 41735 with TAX. Not all shops give visitors TAX free shopping though.

You take the west exit out of the station. Leaving the station and walking straight ahead you should see Yodobashi Camera down the first road to your right. Unfortunately I didnt get the exact name of the street (very few street names are sign posted). The shop is mentioned in the Tokyo Lonley Planet guide as well as on their very handy maps (bring a compas though )

From what I saw it seems to be a pretty standard price for it right now. I've seen mention of being able to get them second hand around Akihabara but did not see any when I took a walk around.

On a side note, it looks like Shinjuku and Shibuya are better for electronics now than Akihabara as alot of the larger electronics stores are moving out to the two locations.

[Henrycat]

Thanks, will pass it along to my friend if ehe ever decides to actually go there

[ookii]

Originally Posted by tdk

Unfortunately I didnt get the exact name of the street (very few street names are sign posted).

Actually they don't really use street names in Japan. They have a system of numbers and divide places into small areas called "chome". For example, 1-chome, 2-chome etc.


Yodobashi Camera in Umeda (Osaka). Pretty damn big isn't it? It's near JR Osaka, Umeda subway and Hankyu Umeda station. JR Osaka is behind Yodobashi Camera in this photo.