Gen3 Obsolete?

emhornbee · 03-06-2011, 02:37 PM

Hi everybody!

I've had a Gen3 for a couple of years now (it was a present from my wife). It came preloaded with Mobipocket and the usual classics and demos and I gradually added titles from various stores online.
I don't know if anyone else has found it as frustrating as I did, but often I'd get to the checkout only to find the books removed from my basket as they were "not available in my territory".
The situation was not helped by the fact that the UK stores dropped support for Mobipocket so the titles I wanted were only available in ePub, so I decided to take the plunge, ditch my library of Mobipocket books and convert my Gen3 to epub.
That's where my reader stopped working- according to the nice lady at Bookeen support (who I had begun to fall in love with) my model is "too obsolete to support the latest ePubs" and I should consider buying a new Orizon or Opus.
So, obviously the budding romance with Elena is off and my confidence in the longevity of readers is seriously shaken. I may be mistaken but I think the Gen3 came out about 2007 so even if mine was one of the last of the first batch has technology come so far in this field to require the purchase of another £200 or so reading device, and will the same be true in another 3 or 4 years?
does anyone have similar experiences or any thoughts on this?

EowynCarter · 03-06-2011, 02:42 PM

What do you mean by "stop working ?"
What version of the cybook do you have ?

ePub is more complex than mobi, and requires more process power.

Quote:

and will the same be true in another 3 or 4 years?

Who knows... publishers might be tempted to add java Script, video and all now...

emhornbee · 03-06-2011, 03:05 PM

When I loaded the new ePub books on the Gen3 it rebooted just when I scrolled to one of them in the library. They're ok on the computer so no problem with the files being corrupted.

My Cybook is v. ARM920T 200MHz . Model No. CYBGEN310B

EowynCarter · 03-06-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emhornbee

When I loaded the new ePub books on the Gen3 it rebooted just when I scrolled to one of them in the library. They're ok on the computer so no problem with the files being corrupted.

My Cybook is v. ARM920T 200MHz . Model No. CYBGEN310B

Well, there is two things that could explain this :
- ePub is badly made, works on the PC becasue it's more leniant.
- ePub is too "big" for the gen3

emhornbee · 03-06-2011, 03:29 PM

By "big" do you mean literally in terms of Kbytes, or in some other way like complexity for example? The one I'm trying to read at the moment is 0.44Mb (Yainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason, published by Random House and purchased from WHSmith uk webstore.

emhornbee · 03-06-2011, 03:29 PM

Sorry! typo, I meant Tainted Blood lol!

EowynCarter · 03-06-2011, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emhornbee

By "big" do you mean literally in terms of Kbytes, or in some other way like complexity for example? The one I'm trying to read at the moment is 0.44Mb (Yainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason, published by Random House and purchased from WHSmith uk webstore.

Both actually.
But mainly Kb. If the XML file is larger than the ram left -> boom ! And the fist cybooks have very little ram.

Flinx · 03-07-2011, 01:16 AM

I know these crashes from some handmade books. The reason was the size of some pictures inside. If you look into the epub file and check the dimensions maybe you can find it.
Short instructions for Windows: Rename a copy of the epub file to zip, open it with a compression program (for example 7zip) or decompress it, then search inside for jpg files, a typical path is OEBPS/images. Look at the picture size with a viewer, for example irfanview. The pictures should not have much more than about 1000 pixel in any direction. If you have too large pictures, then resize, replace it in the epub/zip, or better make this with Sigil.

Godzil · 03-07-2011, 04:56 AM

You have an old Gen3 unit, that have a slower processor, and smaller main memory. It can't handle really large epub file, and since editors tend to make badly formated CSS or html file (epub is made of HTML and CSS files) they can be really to big to handle for such a lowend device, newer gen3 have a better CPU (even if for nowaday devices they are slow) and double size memory from the old one, they are able to handle more complexe files.

The device you have should be able to handle epub files, but the first to blame is the editors who makes bad epub files...

mikelvdb · 03-07-2011, 05:38 AM

I have an old GEN 3 and I use it with Mobipocket (same for my Opus, I use ePub for my PRS350). I made all the conversions with calibre.

Jellby · 03-07-2011, 06:47 AM

I have an old Gen3 too, and it works fine with most ePUBs. Some ePUBs crash the unit, though (it reboots after a while trying to open the file/page). In all cases, I believe the problem was some big image. Sometimes the cover causes the crash, so I can't open the book, but I can create a ".dat" file (with a newer Gen3, or maybe by hand), that causes the reader to open the book past the cover, so I can read the book normally.

In general, for the books I create or download from MobileRead, with 600x800 covers and no much larger illustrations, the Gen3 has no problems.

By the way. This is a bug in the firmware, the reader should never crash and reboot. It might refuse to open the file, or show a blank page, or whatever, but not crash on your face!

HarryT · 03-07-2011, 11:02 AM

One recent example of this that I came across was "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel (a very popular historical novel - winner of the 2009 Booker Prize). The ePub version of this just would not open on my friend's Gen3 at all - it rebooted the device when you tried to open it.

emhornbee · 03-07-2011, 03:54 PM

Thanks for really interesting replies. Unfortunately I'm not very knowledgeable regarding the technical aspects of how ebooks are produced and how to maximise the capabilites of my device. Anyhow, there seems to be little you can do without editing the books in some program which would probably require removing DRM.
BTW, the internal memory of my Gen3 is 495Mb with an sd expansion slot. Is this really too small when most novels are around 500Kb or less? Since I ditched my DRM'd library I'm only using 95 Mb anyway.

fani · 03-08-2011, 01:38 AM

Hi emhornbee,

I was very happy with my Cybook Gen3 and its ability to read epub books, until I ran into the same problems you are describing this past weekend. I tried reading 3 books on it and I got the same reboot cycle you are mentioning.

The solution for me was to go back to Mobi. I used Calibre to convert all my epub books to mobi and everything seems to work fine now. Sure it's not the best solution but buying a new ereader so soon is not an option for me and this gives me the ability to continue buying ebooks and reading them on my Cybook.

Regarding the memory, what you are referring to is the storage capacity of the device which is of course enough for any ebook. The memory that plays part in this problem though is the main memory (RAM), which is only 16MB in the first and second edition of Cybook Gen3.

HarryT · 03-08-2011, 02:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emhornbee

BTW, the internal memory of my Gen3 is 495Mb with an sd expansion slot. Is this really too small when most novels are around 500Kb or less? Since I ditched my DRM'd library I'm only using 95 Mb anyway.

No, you're getting a little confused. We're talking about the about of memory (RAM) the device has - the amount of space available for running programs to store their information in. This has nothing to do with the amount of space available for storage, which is what you're describing.

03-06-2011, 02:37 PM	#1
emhornbee Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NW England Device: Cybook Gen3	Obsolete? Hi everybody! I've had a Gen3 for a couple of years now (it was a present from my wife). It came preloaded with Mobipocket and the usual classics and demos and I gradually added titles from various stores online. I don't know if anyone else has found it as frustrating as I did, but often I'd get to the checkout only to find the books removed from my basket as they were "not available in my territory". The situation was not helped by the fact that the UK stores dropped support for Mobipocket so the titles I wanted were only available in ePub, so I decided to take the plunge, ditch my library of Mobipocket books and convert my Gen3 to epub. That's where my reader stopped working- according to the nice lady at Bookeen support (who I had begun to fall in love with) my model is "too obsolete to support the latest ePubs" and I should consider buying a new Orizon or Opus. So, obviously the budding romance with Elena is off and my confidence in the longevity of readers is seriously shaken. I may be mistaken but I think the Gen3 came out about 2007 so even if mine was one of the last of the first batch has technology come so far in this field to require the purchase of another £200 or so reading device, and will the same be true in another 3 or 4 years? does anyone have similar experiences or any thoughts on this?

03-07-2011, 03:54 PM	#13
emhornbee Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NW England Device: Cybook Gen3	Thanks for really interesting replies. Unfortunately I'm not very knowledgeable regarding the technical aspects of how ebooks are produced and how to maximise the capabilites of my device. Anyhow, there seems to be little you can do without editing the books in some program which would probably require removing DRM. BTW, the internal memory of my Gen3 is 495Mb with an sd expansion slot. Is this really too small when most novels are around 500Kb or less? Since I ditched my DRM'd library I'm only using 95 Mb anyway. Last edited by emhornbee; 03-07-2011 at 04:25 PM.

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03-06-2011, 03:05 PM	#3
emhornbee Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NW England Device: Cybook Gen3	When I loaded the new ePub books on the Gen3 it rebooted just when I scrolled to one of them in the library. They're ok on the computer so no problem with the files being corrupted. My Cybook is v. ARM920T 200MHz . Model No. CYBGEN310B

03-06-2011, 03:29 PM	#5
emhornbee Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: NW England Device: Cybook Gen3	By "big" do you mean literally in terms of Kbytes, or in some other way like complexity for example? The one I'm trying to read at the moment is 0.44Mb (Yainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason, published by Random House and purchased from WHSmith uk webstore.

03-07-2011, 01:16 AM	#8
Flinx Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 12132 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Muse Frontlight, Cybook Odyssey	I know these crashes from some handmade books. The reason was the size of some pictures inside. If you look into the epub file and check the dimensions maybe you can find it. Short instructions for Windows: Rename a copy of the epub file to zip, open it with a compression program (for example 7zip) or decompress it, then search inside for jpg files, a typical path is OEBPS/images. Look at the picture size with a viewer, for example irfanview. The pictures should not have much more than about 1000 pixel in any direction. If you have too large pictures, then resize, replace it in the epub/zip, or better make this with Sigil.

03-07-2011, 04:56 AM	#9
Godzil a pthread?? where? where? Posts: 1,763 Karma: 30462 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Somewhere in EU Device: Newton MessagePad 2100, and only this	You have an old Gen3 unit, that have a slower processor, and smaller main memory. It can't handle really large epub file, and since editors tend to make badly formated CSS or html file (epub is made of HTML and CSS files) they can be really to big to handle for such a lowend device, newer gen3 have a better CPU (even if for nowaday devices they are slow) and double size memory from the old one, they are able to handle more complexe files. The device you have should be able to handle epub files, but the first to blame is the editors who makes bad epub files...

03-07-2011, 05:38 AM	#10
mikelvdb Enthusiast Posts: 27 Karma: 266 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Belgium Device: cybook gen3, cybook opus, sony prs-350, sony prs-t1	I have an old GEN 3 and I use it with Mobipocket (same for my Opus, I use ePub for my PRS350). I made all the conversions with calibre.

03-07-2011, 06:47 AM	#11
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,516 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	I have an old Gen3 too, and it works fine with most ePUBs. Some ePUBs crash the unit, though (it reboots after a while trying to open the file/page). In all cases, I believe the problem was some big image. Sometimes the cover causes the crash, so I can't open the book, but I can create a ".dat" file (with a newer Gen3, or maybe by hand), that causes the reader to open the book past the cover, so I can read the book normally. In general, for the books I create or download from MobileRead, with 600x800 covers and no much larger illustrations, the Gen3 has no problems. By the way. This is a bug in the firmware, the reader should never crash and reboot. It might refuse to open the file, or show a blank page, or whatever, but not crash on your face!

03-07-2011, 11:02 AM	#12
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	One recent example of this that I came across was "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel (a very popular historical novel - winner of the 2009 Booker Prize). The ePub version of this just would not open on my friend's Gen3 at all - it rebooted the device when you tried to open it.

03-08-2011, 01:38 AM	#14
fani Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2008 Device: Cybook Gen3	Hi emhornbee, I was very happy with my Cybook Gen3 and its ability to read epub books, until I ran into the same problems you are describing this past weekend. I tried reading 3 books on it and I got the same reboot cycle you are mentioning. The solution for me was to go back to Mobi. I used Calibre to convert all my epub books to mobi and everything seems to work fine now. Sure it's not the best solution but buying a new ereader so soon is not an option for me and this gives me the ability to continue buying ebooks and reading them on my Cybook. Regarding the memory, what you are referring to is the storage capacity of the device which is of course enough for any ebook. The memory that plays part in this problem though is the main memory (RAM), which is only 16MB in the first and second edition of Cybook Gen3.

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