the unofficial Bookeen Blog - Page 3

AlexBell · 04-30-2009, 07:06 AM

As I've posted elsewhere there is nothing whatever on the Bookeen website about any change to epub. All their comments and news items are about mobipocket.

It's Thursday night in Tasmania as I type, and early morning in Germany. Anyone know whether the promised sale of Cybooks with epub actually happened?

Regards, Alex

Snuffi · 04-30-2009, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Oh. I. See. IOW, we're just dumb bunnies who don't deserve support. Yep. Sure gonna make me want to make my NEXT e-reader a Cybook. Not!

(Of course, I can always buy a BeBook, install OpenInkpot, strip the DRM from my purchased Mobi ebooks and read them on the BeBook.

)

Derek

At least now we know what they have been doing all the time we thought they were working on a new firmware: They really WERE working on a new firmware - just not for us

If they really put out a new firmware where they changed over from mobi-drm to ebup-drm then it would be hilarious to watch the long faces of all the owners of drm-ed mobi books when they have to decide between keeping their mobi collection or having folder support (with a different drm, though).
Honestly, though, I do not really believe they will do that otherwise they could have released the new firmware by the same time they started selling the new Cybook via Weltbild. I assume they concentrated on the new firmware and are now trying to fuse the new firmware minus the epub-drm with the old firmware.

All in all I have to say it's a pretty dumb move (sorry for the harsh words) for the community: Now we have two identical looking devices with the same name which will permanently lead to confusion: people asking for help in this forum who are not sure which Cybook they have (and consequently get the wrong advice), people who buy mobi-drm (or epub-drm) books because they read somewhere on the net that the Cybook supports that format (and then find out that they have "the other" Cybook) and not to forget the people who buy a pre-owned Cybook (who can never be sure which one they will get).
Why they wouldn't give customers some sort of visible indication of what you get (like naming it "Cybook Gen3+", "Cybook Gen3.1" or something like that) is beyond me...

gerraldo · 04-30-2009, 02:31 PM

That's why I never have and never will buy any music or book with DRM!!!

But I still hope for a new Mobi+ePUB firmware...

GeoffC · 05-01-2009, 04:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snuffi

At least now we know what they have been doing all the time we thought they were working on a new firmware: They really WERE working on a new firmware - just not for us

If they really put out a new firmware where they changed over from mobi-drm to ebup-drm then it would be hilarious to watch the long faces of all the owners of drm-ed mobi books when they have to decide between keeping their mobi collection or having folder support (with a different drm, though).
Honestly, though, I do not really believe they will do that otherwise they could have released the new firmware by the same time they started selling the new Cybook via Weltbild. I assume they concentrated on the new firmware and are now trying to fuse the new firmware minus the epub-drm with the old firmware.

All in all I have to say it's a pretty dumb move (sorry for the harsh words) for the community: Now we have two identical looking devices with the same name which will permanently lead to confusion: people asking for help in this forum who are not sure which Cybook they have (and consequently get the wrong advice), people who buy mobi-drm (or epub-drm) books because they read somewhere on the net that the Cybook supports that format (and then find out that they have "the other" Cybook) and not to forget the people who buy a pre-owned Cybook (who can never be sure which one they will get).
Why they wouldn't give customers some sort of visible indication of what you get (like naming it "Cybook Gen3+", "Cybook Gen3.1" or something like that) is beyond me...

Install firmware that interrogates what version of Gen 3 each machine is ....

unless they advise in upgrade instructions and refer to machine serial numbers .....

It would be interesting to know what others have on the labels at the back of machine...

Mine has
Model Number : CYBGEN310B,
serial number 538****
and then another label with bar code and EB001A(P34)

Halk · 05-01-2009, 04:11 PM

If they had put folder support on the Cybook and said "No further features" then I'd be happy. Instead they say folder support is coming! Say there's an update coming soon, and that has me checking nearly every day to see if it's coming. I've not bothered to update mine from the original firmware, I just throw books onto it and read them, and since it does very well at that (bar folder support) I've left it as is.

If and when folder support comes then I'll be able to throw thousands of books on it and it'll be not just a book reading device, but it'll be a library. It's already painful to navigate with the couple of hundred files I have on it currently, but since there's 2GB of card storage on it it could (and should) hold thousands.

Krystian Galaj · 05-02-2009, 05:40 PM

They would also have to modify startup code somehow - presently at startup it analyzes every book you have on the device, so if you have a thousand, you can wait half an hour before it starts.
I hope they'll release folder support soon. And working Delete button.

Joerg_Mosthaf · 05-06-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerraldo

But I still hope for a new Mobi+ePUB firmware...

Well looks like this hope is dashed. I just got a reply from a weltbild ebooks customer support agent and this mail said:

Quote:

Alte Versionen können nur Mobipocket DRM, welches bei dem neuen
Firmware entfernt werden mußte, weil Amazon keine anderen DRM-Systeme
parallel erlaubt.

Translation: Old versions [of the CyBook Gen3 software] only used Mobipocket DRM which had to be taken out, because Amazon does not allow the parallel use of different DRM systems.

Mind you, this is for the german version of the CyBook Gen3 sold by the german Book/eBook store Weltbild. But I don't think Bookeen will release two firmware versions with the same improvements with two different DRM systems.

GeoffC · 05-06-2009, 11:02 AM

i just hope that support is to continue for the 'older' cybooks !

shame, shame, for not making any entries into the Blogs about all this, Bookeen must be aware that customers will pick up on the Weltbild change to spec .....

gerraldo · 05-06-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

i just hope that support is to continue for the 'older' cybooks !

shame, shame, for not making any entries into the Blogs about all this, Bookeen must be aware that customers will pick up on the Weltbild change to spec .....

Or one can see it this way:

- The weltbild.de-edition is a special version only available from this shop. Therefor it can be seen as a different device just using the same hardware. Why it has no new name or even a Weltbild-Edition added, I don't know?!

- The "normal" CyBooks new firmware will have several new features added + the ability to read non-DRM ePUB. This will be the main branch of the firmware (no need to add new features to the Weltbild-Edition).

- As the special Weltbild-Edition is only available in Germany (+ maybe Austria & Switzerland) through weltbild.de, this doesn't interfere with the standard CyBook firmware.

At least I hope so...

GeoffC · 05-06-2009, 11:46 AM

what would the logic be in creating Cybook for geographical areas ? that's one of the issues with the kindle from Amazon ....

Over · 05-06-2009, 11:49 AM

Bookeen takes ages to release a firmware. If they continued to support two diferent versions, that would double their work! You can imagine it would take double time too. That's 2 x infinite!

GeoffC · 05-06-2009, 11:52 AM

sinic ....

K-Thom · 05-06-2009, 01:11 PM

Even worse, they will put ALL current resources in getting the epub-version running, since they have a large customer with Weltbild who will demand a stable firmware. And we Germans aren't well known for our good humour if something isn't working correctly ...

So, we may expect the DRM-epub but no-prc version within the next few weeks.

And that's where it will stop - for a loooong time. Bookeen will add an upgraded version of the epub-firmware, but before they will ever/would ever/could ever provide us with a version for both epub and prc the Gen4 Cybook will knock on our doors ...

So support for the Gen3 will stop anyway.

netseeker · 05-06-2009, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Thom

And we Germans aren't well known for our good humour if something isn't working correctly ...

Do you mean something like the crappy and half-baked ePub-support of the new Weltbild-Cybooks?
Well, at least the new Cybooks support justification in ePubs...Sony, where is a firmware update with a new version of ADE for us poor PRS-505 users?

tompe · 05-06-2009, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by netseeker

Do you mean something like the crappy and half-baked ePub-support of the new Weltbild-Cybooks?
Well, at least the new Cybooks support justification in ePubs...Sony, where is a firmware update with a new version of the ADE for us poor PRS-505 users?

Is the support worse than the Sony support?

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04-30-2009, 07:06 AM	#31
AlexBell Wizard Posts: 3,413 Karma: 13369310 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Launceston, Tasmania Device: Sony PRS T3, Kobo Glo, Kindle Touch, iPad, Samsung SB 2 tablet	As I've posted elsewhere there is nothing whatever on the Bookeen website about any change to epub. All their comments and news items are about mobipocket. It's Thursday night in Tasmania as I type, and early morning in Germany. Anyone know whether the promised sale of Cybooks with epub actually happened? Regards, Alex

04-30-2009, 02:31 PM	#33
gerraldo Anti-DRM Advocate Posts: 351 Karma: 960 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Vienna/Austria Device: CyBook Gen 3, Palm Tungsten T3	That's why I never have and never will buy any music or book with DRM!!! But I still hope for a new Mobi+ePUB firmware...

05-01-2009, 04:11 PM	#35
Halk Fanatic Posts: 534 Karma: 469999 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Sony PRS-650 (PRS+ alpha - thanks Kartu!)	If they had put folder support on the Cybook and said "No further features" then I'd be happy. Instead they say folder support is coming! Say there's an update coming soon, and that has me checking nearly every day to see if it's coming. I've not bothered to update mine from the original firmware, I just throw books onto it and read them, and since it does very well at that (bar folder support) I've left it as is. If and when folder support comes then I'll be able to throw thousands of books on it and it'll be not just a book reading device, but it'll be a library. It's already painful to navigate with the couple of hundred files I have on it currently, but since there's 2GB of card storage on it it could (and should) hold thousands.

05-02-2009, 05:40 PM	#36
Krystian Galaj Guru Posts: 820 Karma: 11012 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Warsaw, Poland Device: Bookeen Cybook	They would also have to modify startup code somehow - presently at startup it analyzes every book you have on the device, so if you have a thousand, you can wait half an hour before it starts. I hope they'll release folder support soon. And working Delete button.

05-06-2009, 11:02 AM	#38
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	i just hope that support is to continue for the 'older' cybooks ! shame, shame, for not making any entries into the Blogs about all this, Bookeen must be aware that customers will pick up on the Weltbild change to spec .....

05-06-2009, 11:46 AM	#40
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	what would the logic be in creating Cybook for geographical areas ? that's one of the issues with the kindle from Amazon ....

05-06-2009, 11:49 AM	#41
Over Wizard Posts: 1,462 Karma: 6061516 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Cascais, Portugal Device: Kindle PW, Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2", OnePlus 6	Bookeen takes ages to release a firmware. If they continued to support two diferent versions, that would double their work! You can imagine it would take double time too. That's 2 x infinite!

05-06-2009, 11:52 AM	#42
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	sinic ....

05-06-2009, 01:11 PM	#43
K-Thom The one and only Posts: 3,302 Karma: 535819 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: yup!	Even worse, they will put ALL current resources in getting the epub-version running, since they have a large customer with Weltbild who will demand a stable firmware. And we Germans aren't well known for our good humour if something isn't working correctly ... So, we may expect the DRM-epub but no-prc version within the next few weeks. And that's where it will stop - for a loooong time. Bookeen will add an upgraded version of the epub-firmware, but before they will ever/would ever/could ever provide us with a version for both epub and prc the Gen4 Cybook will knock on our doors ... So support for the Gen3 will stop anyway.

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