Cybook,or BeBook?

[orwell2k]

Hard to really say if one is "better" than the other - they are both good devices. I'm very happy with the BeBook and I cannot compare directly with the CyBook (as I have never used one) but I chose the BeBook for

(1) the wide range of formats supported, and

(2) the active development of the BeBook (since buying it the Mobi support has been added as well as PDB support (with a number of other reader tweaks as well).

I really like using FB2, and BeBook has a great implementation of FBReader. I use a number of other formats from time to time (LIT, RTF, HTML, CHM, TXT, PDF, PRC, ...) and wanted a device that had some ability to handle all these, and more. As already mentioned some reader implementations are not great - Mobi is a clear example, although it can be considered as V1.0 for the BeBook, and any x.0 software release tends to by crappy! I'm waiting [impatiently] for the next Mobi update which I am confident will clean up a lot of the gaps in the current implementation (the support forum at BeBook is very active and even if they only address some of the issues discussed it will be a big improvement).

I liked the fact that "simple" formats like TXT, HTML, RTF are supported quite well (good formatting, zoom features, link following, etc.) as I use them sometimes without having to convert to say FB2 just to read on the BeBook. MS Word and PPT docs can also be read, although quality depends greatly on the document contents (of course). CHM handling was recently updated and works quite well (with the caveat that the device is not a web browser, so baturally some CHM docs display better than others). Also as mentioned PDB support was recently added and works quite well (for me it is currently more of a convenience than a necessity).

Handling ZIP and RAR formats at first appears strange (they are archives, not book formats) but one nice thing about this feature is that you can leave an HTML file archived in RAR or ZIP (so with all images, etc.) and the document can be read from the archive. Sure it's just like dumping it in a Folder, but I like having the option to leave them in archives or use folders.

The removable battery for both devices is a big plus, and the battery life of both devices is more than adequate (forget the 7000 page turns or whatever - suffice it to say you can travel for a week without even thinking about the reader battery, and even if you do need to charge it any USB port will do - no need to connect, use dedicated software, etc.). Or you can just carry some extra batteries - it's a standard Nokia mobile phone battery, cheap and easy to buy.

One concern I do have regards Mobi and their exclusivity conditions. I have asked this specific question of BeBook but have not received an answer. Supporting multiple formats is very important to me (much like dictionary support is HarryT's pet peeve), but this should include DRM as well as non-DRM. We can all agree that DRM sucks in many ways, but the added limitations of DRM dedicated devices is a further pain. Why shouldn't I be able to buy DRM books in LIT, MOBI, eReader or whatever format and use one device to read them? Granted, many eBooks are available in multiple DRM formats, but not all. The support of multiple open formats is great, but if BeBook is bound to supporting only one DRM format, whilst MOBI is a good choice, it would be very disappointing. We'll have to see what the future holds - BeBook may be one of the trail-blazers in offering multi-format DRM support.

Bottom line is both readers seem to be very good. The ultimate choice will come down to which suits your individual reading needs.

P.S. As for aesthetics, I kind of like the matte utilitarian finish of the BeBook. I like the silver Sony 505, but the BeBook doesn't come in silver (yet). The silver trim and button finish on the CyBook does not appeal to me - like they're making an effort to dress up the device or something. I prefer the BeBooks neutral finish with no flashy trim - do something sexy with the BeBook logo and it will look much nicer! It's a very personal choice, but since looks have been mentioned and much made of the silver screen trim, I thought I'd add the other view.

[tompe]

What is the battery time for the Bebook if it is turned on but not used? For the Cybook it is irritatingly short (3-4 days). I have read claims that it should be weeks for the Bebook but I might have misunderstood that.

[Slite]

Originally Posted by tompe

What is the battery time for the Bebook if it is turned on but not used? For the Cybook it is irritatingly short (3-4 days). I have read claims that it should be weeks for the Bebook but I might have misunderstood that.

Nope, I've had mine laying around for like almost 2 weeks and never even noticed any change in battery status.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Slite

Nope, I've had mine laying around for like almost 2 weeks and never even noticed any change in battery status.

And it is on? Zero "boot" time to start to read?

[Slite]

Originally Posted by tompe

And it is on? Zero "boot" time to start to read?

Yes, it must have been on, I just picked it up and started reading

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by tompe

What is the battery time for the Bebook if it is turned on but not used? For the Cybook it is irritatingly short (3-4 days). I have read claims that it should be weeks for the Bebook but I might have misunderstood that.

I read it every day for approx 3-4 hours. In between reading I lock the buttons (i.e. leave it on but push the power button to lock the keypad and avoide accidental page turns, etc.) - I usually get to 5-7 days before I go from 4 bars (full) to 3 bars. Then usually another 3-4 days to go to 2 bars. I think about charging at this time, so usually by the time I get around to pluggin it in (can be 1-3 days later) it's on 2 or 1 bars when I charge it (~8-11 days minimum).

Truth is the bar display is kind of flaky - after some days it reads 3 then jumps back to 4 for a while, then 3 again - I guess it can't decide. Eventually it stays at 3 then does the same for the transition from 3 to 2. At least it has never suddenly gone from 3 to 1 or anything like that!

I'm going to leave mine unplugged now and see how long it takes to go down with normal reading, etc. then update this post.

[HarryT]

It sounds as if the BeBook has a very efficient "standby" system!

[carrie]

Oh help!

Ok I've read through the whole thread and I'm still unsure. There seems to be plus and negatives to each reader. It seems to be a very individual thing.

So rather than trying to answer the general question of which one would you buy I'm trying to go with which one would be suitable to me.

I am pretty easy going, I am looking simply for an ereader to read my books, I'm not too bothered about RSS feeds and newspapers etc.

Up to now I've been using 'Microsoft Reader' on my laptop but as stated it is an eye killer. This means that almost all my currently stored ebooks are in .LIT format, I also have a few .PDF files that I read in Adobe.

So I'm thinking that I may be better off with the BeBook as this supports .LIT but the Cybook doesn't.

Any opinions.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by tompe

What is the battery time for the Bebook if it is turned on but not used? For the Cybook it is irritatingly short (3-4 days). I have read claims that it should be weeks for the Bebook but I might have misunderstood that.

Took it to the US recently where I read 3 and a bit books, never fully powered it down, just used the "lock" option. Only charged it once in those two weeks and that was just before getting the plane back "just in case", it was still at about 50% battery at that point too

It sounds as if the BeBook has a very efficient "standby" system!

Seems that way

Taking it out of standby is pretty much instant, as opposed to a full shutdown/power up which takes several seconds.

I really like the Hanlin (inc variants) because of it's support for library browing via physical folders. I have all my authors organised by Genre and Author which makes it nice to find the books I want no matter how many I'll eventually have on it. No reason the Cybook can't add this feature, I've heard they're planning to, but if/when who knows.

I also really like the fb2 viewer and wish the epub, .lit and mobi viewers were as good. Usually I convert from lit/mobi to fb2 instead of using the built in viewers for those. If I were only buying mobi books, I might have chosen the Cybook instead for the currently better viewer, but as I don't mind converting to fb2, I'd rather the Hanlin viewer. Hopefully they'll get the mobi viewer up to a similar standard then there'd be no need to convert.

Both readers are good though. Any real differences between the two are pretty minor, unless you have specific requirements such as dictionary support (cybook) or physical library browsing / accurate page numbers (hanlin using fb2). For that reason I wouldn't always recommend the Cybook or Hanlin to everyone, there are times when one or the other would be the better choice, but it depends on the buyer.

So I'm thinking that I may be better off with the BeBook as this supports .LIT but the Cybook doesn't.

Any opinions.

It supports .lit, but in my opinion you'd be better served by converting from .lit to fb2. Pretty painless to do with LitConvertor to extract to html+images then any2fb2_gui to take that and turn it into fb2. The viewer is just better imho. You could of course convert to mobi to use on the Cybook too if you wanted.

That said, the lit viewer isn't _that_ bad. You may find it's perfectly fine and skip the hassle of converting your books.

[ProDigit]

HarryT, I was just comparing the matrix.
For you certain things might not matter that do matter for me. Having more or better is always better. Eg: 8MB RAM could translate into faster pageturns than 2Mb flash memory.

Second, the SDHC as far as I know I haven't seen any SDHC devices on a USB1.1 controller.
I do have seen them on USB2.0 controllers running on USB1.1 speeds.
I expect Sony to have already had a SDHC device build in their PRS-505 reader, only not the firmware to support it at initial release.
I think the Hanlin has only a SD card reader, which is not compatible with SDHC. I don't know of the Cybook.

Tompe: I think MicroSD cards will be around for a while. MicroSD cards are non SDHC as far as I know of. You just need an adaptor.
Also the standard SD cards will be available in 2 (?and 4GB?) for maybe a few years.

Patatan: You can convert ebooks on both devices. I give points for the support the device itself gives without conversion. You can always convert using a pc on either both devices.

About the battery, maybe I didn't say it well enough. One (replacement) battery is easy to get, the other one is less (probably costs more too).
This is all a factor that comes into play here, that changes the score scale against the cybook.

I'm not saying Cybook is bad, and BeBook is the best; I'm just looking into functionality.
Though truth being I'll probably never use anything like wolf or prc; still, you never know when all of a sudden you'll start discovering a site with books in this format (or something)...

[carrie]

Originally Posted by JoeD

It supports .lit, but in my opinion you'd be better served by converting from .lit to fb2. Pretty painless to do with LitConvertor to extract to html+images then any2fb2_gui to take that and turn it into fb2. The viewer is just better imho. You could of course convert to mobi to use on the Cybook too if you wanted.

That said, the lit viewer isn't _that_ bad. You may find it's perfectly fine and skip the hassle of converting your books.

Thanx for your imput Joe. I've never heard of fb2 files before coming on this site today. I'm trawling through the other sections trying to understand it but it's all a bit confusing I'm giving the conversion thing ago but I'm not sure what program to use, I tried ConvertLIT but don't think I did it right.

If people think other types of files are better use than LIT I would rather give them ago than stay with what I know.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by carrie

Thanx for your imput Joe. I've never heard of fb2 files before coming on this site today. I'm trawling through the other sections trying to understand it but it's all a bit confusing I'm giving the conversion thing ago but I'm not sure what program to use, I tried ConvertLIT but don't think I did it right.

If people think other types of files are better use than LIT I would rather give them ago than stay with what I know.

Try the link on top, the wiki


It's maybe a bit better than browsing through the forums.
I personally find the forums better to get people's opinions, and the wiki to get things as factual as possible. So if you're looking for info,I'd suggest you to try out the wiki!

[carrie]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Try the link on top, the wiki


It's maybe a bit better than browsing through the forums.
I personally find the forums better to get people's opinions, and the wiki to get things as factual as possible. So if you're looking for info,I'd suggest you to try out the wiki!

Thank-you!!!

Much easier - Tried the ABC converter very easy to use. The types of file ext will no longer dictate which one to choose

Now I've just got to decide based on everything else, not having much luck deciding. Still some time left to decide before christmas. I wish there was a way of having a play with both of them

[T-bag]

Why Bebook ! check it out !

1. It has full hierachical folder structure support.
2. It uses a regular Nokia battery (BL-4C/BL-5C); Easy to find a replacement.
3. Long battery life, more than two weeks if I keep it open during the day hours and read several pages per day.
4. Support for PDF, DOC, WOLF, MP3, HTML, TXT, CHM, FB2, Djvu, PNG, TIF, GIF, BMP, JPG, PPT, EPUB, LIT, PRC, MOBI. it'd support MOBI DRM.
5. It's open，unlike the Sony readers or Kindle.
6. Regular software updates and very active community.

[igorsk]

Some points can be debated, but I'm curious about #5. How is BeBook "open, unlike the Sony readers or Kindle"? At least Sony and Amazon provide the Linux sources used in their readers. Where's Hanlin's source?