New Reader with great pdf-support: Mantano Reader (like aldiko+ezpdf)

[DiapDealer]

Somewhere after 2.4.1 is where things went wonky for me on my Kindle Fire HD. I don't keep that many books on my device, but I do see an empty shelf briefly before my books show up. It also won't keep my book open when I switch between apps. When I come back to Mantano, I get an error message that says "Error opening book." Luckily it still remembers where I was in the book when I reopen it, but it's still a pain in the butt. Going back to v2.4.1 has fixed my issues for now. I've even tried full uninstalls/deleting caches/deleting databases with no better luck. There's really nothing in the newer versions that I'm missing out on, so I have no problem with standing pat on v2.4.1 for a while.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Adoby

Nope, I was wrong. It didn't help to skip the covers. After a restart of the device I couldn't start Mantano. It seemed to work perfectly, but presumably the problem appears when you exit and then open an already imported library of books. Everything works fine so long you don't exit Mantano, after the initial import.

It really sounds like it's the Mantano app I would downgrade to what DD said if you have that or 2.4. See if that fixes the problem then you can rule out if it's your books or Mantano or Mantano's latest release.

[DiapDealer]

Also, I do believe this is an application problem rather than any database issue/corruption/change. I was able to re-install the older version and have it utilize a database that was, in fact, created by the one of the newer, troublesome versions. If there were any database changes introduced by the newer versions, I wouldn't think I'd be able to use that newer database with an old version of the app (without deleting everything and starting from scratch).

I was wrong about 2.4.1, by the way. It's the 2.4.0 version I'm using.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Also, I do believe this is an application problem rather than any database issue/corruption/change. I was able to re-install the older version and have it utilize a database that was, in fact, created by the one of the newer, troublesome versions. If there were any database changes introduced by the newer versions, I wouldn't think I'd be able to use that newer database with an old version of the app (without deleting everything and starting from scratch).

I was wrong about 2.4.1, by the way. It's the 2.4.0 version I'm using.

That's the version I am using other than cloud issues it seems to be working okay. I agree with you on it's the app and not the database.

[Adoby]

I have reinstalled the old version 2.4.0 and imported the books again. (Getting expert on that...)

Everything (that I use) seems to work perfectly. No delays when loading. Easy to switch between apps and return to Mantano. After restart of device everything still works fine. Near instant switches between collections. Fast searches.

Happy reader again!

Big thanks for the suggestion to go to back to 2.4.0!

I have turned off auto update of Mantano...

[RichieTheK]

The recent 2.4.5 release of Mantano Reader Premium appears to have fixed a lot of problems. However, the widget is still broken, although in a different way than before. When trying to open a book by tapping the widget, the message "App isn't installed." appears.

I've tried uninstalling the app and installing it again, but the problem remains.

Ah well, maybe in the next version I'll be able to have my current books accessible from the home screen again.

Update: I reported this problem to Mantano SAS on 11/15 and received a response today (11/16) that the problem will be fixed in the next release. Much thanks to the Mantano staff for their quick response.

Update 2: Version 2.4.6, just released (11/16), has fixed the problem.

[DiapDealer]

2.4.5 seems to have fixed the issues I was having: delays opening, blank library upon first opening, "error encountered when opening book", etc.

Haven't given it a hard workout, but looks promising so far.

[jackie_w]

Unfortunately it was totally unusable for me. I only tried it briefly before rushing back to 2.4.0.

When opening a book via Calibre Companion, Mantano seems to now physically remove the book from my standard epub directory and move it to its own directory. (Previously only the Mantano database was updated leaving the book in situ.) Once the book has been moved, obviously CC completely loses track of it and it can't be opened in any other reading app.

[DiapDealer]

Yeah... I can confirm there is some really weird behavior there with Calibre Companion if you launch your books that way. May want to avoid the update if that's how you use both of those apps like that. I just use CC to get the books on my device via the wireless connection. Then I import with Mantano into the db (it leaves the epub in the folder it found it) and launch from within Mantano's Bookshelf interface. So this doesn't really affect me. Hopefully that gets fixed for others, though.

[Adoby]

I can confirm that 2.4.5 seems to have fixed the problems I had. That M wouldn't start after a reboot. But I'll keep that 2.4.0 apk in store, just in case.

I don't use CC at all. I sync the folder tree with books on my Xoom from a folder tree on my NAS. And import from Mantano. And use the Mantano bookshelf to open books.

I never got any personal response back from Mantano support, to my error reports, but a fix can perhaps be seen as a better response.

[Teknikal]

New update does seem promising the only feature I'd really like added is the ability to hide the Cloud stuff from sight, unlikely to happen but after my disaster of a trial with it I'll definitely not be putting my money into their cloud and don't really want to see it waved in my face.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

New update does seem promising the only feature I'd really like added is the ability to hide the Cloud stuff from sight, unlikely to happen but after my disaster of a trial with it I'll definitely not be putting my money into their cloud and don't really want to see it waved in my face.

What happen with the trial? I had a membership for almost a year on the cloud and it works most of the time.

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by Blossom

What happen with the trial? I had a membership for almost a year on the cloud and it works most of the time.

When I tried it I got flooded on both my devices with sync error messages even on my homescreen, ended up removing the trial and deleting the mantano account pretty fast afterwards.

Possibly I was unlucky with the timing or something like that I suspect the amazon servers were probably to blame but as trials go it did the opposite of convincing me to part money.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

When I tried it I got flooded on both my devices with sync error messages even on my homescreen, ended up removing the trial and deleting the mantano account pretty fast afterwards.

Possibly I was unlucky with the timing or something like that I suspect the amazon servers were probably to blame but as trials go it did the opposite of convincing me to part money.

Well that's not good. It works fine for me most of the time. I have too many devices not to use it. You only allowed like 4 devices with the basic plan though which I can't see paying more but now I have more than 4 devices it's tough picking which ones to sync.

[PatNY]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Unfortunately it was totally unusable for me. I only tried it briefly before rushing back to 2.4.0.

When opening a book via Calibre Companion, Mantano seems to now physically remove the book from my standard epub directory and move it to its own directory. (Previously only the Mantano database was updated leaving the book in situ.) Once the book has been moved, obviously CC completely loses track of it and it can't be opened in any other reading app.

The new version (2.4.5) of Mantano is a disaster for me. The program is just not functioning correctly, with forced closes and the top and bottom menus not appearing when they should in the book view. But then I've had problems with the program for the last 4-5 versions, with covers on some books failing to show up. I wrote them but they say they can't replicate the problem and I haven't had the time to follow up on it further yet.

But I just tested to see whether Mantano was making another copy of a book and I don't see that. I imported 2 books into Mantano from CC, then deleted the books from within Mantano's library. When I went into CC and did a search for books with missing files, those 2 books show up. So it appears CC and Mantano still use the same book files.

--Pat