Mobipocket Reader V5.0 Beta released

Alexander Turcic · 06-28-2005, 06:35 AM

Although Mobipocket Reader V4.9 was only released last week, there's already a beta of the forthcoming V5.0 available for download. New features include library management, various new book display options, new toolbar icon customization, enhanced annotations, hardware button mapping, and most importantly better VGA support.

What worries me a bit is that according to their changelog, the Hardware PID is now supposed to be resistant to hard resets. How does that work? Are they changing some part of the underlying ROM? I'd be happy if someone could answer this.

Palm users can also download the new beta from here and there's even an alpha version available for Blackberry devices.

Thanks to gmc for the tip!

gmc · 06-28-2005, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander

Although Mobipocket V4.9 was only released last week, there's already a beta of the forthcoming V5.0 available for download. New features include library management, various new book display options, new toolbar icon customization, enhanced annotations, hardware button mapping, and most importantly better VGA support.
Thanks to gmc for the tip!

The kudos does to Pocket PC Thoughts where I read it first.
Cheers, Greg

dwig · 06-28-2005, 10:50 AM

What, to me, is the encouraging thing here is that they are working on the eBook reader portion of the software. The various 4.x updates hardly touched any issues with the library or the eBook reader component. They merely dealt with the news and other components; portions of the software I never use.

Alexander Turcic · 06-28-2005, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwig

The various 4.x updates hardly touched any issues with the library or the eBook reader component.

Exactly. I uninstalled Mobipocket Reader half a year ago and never looked back. Since then, for reading DRM-protected works, I've been using eReader or a combination of .LIT + ConvertLIT, for the rest iSilo and Plucker.

jlariviere · 06-28-2005, 11:32 AM

I just hope it will be a free upgrade... I just purchased the Pro version (Memory card management should be free anyway...), and I don't want to have to pay for a new version unless it is really spectacular!
Jeremie

Alexander Turcic · 06-28-2005, 11:34 AM

Even if there is an upgrade fee, I suspect for those who just bought the Pro version the upgrade will be free. At least that is what I would expect from a decent company.

cheshire · 06-28-2005, 12:44 PM

It does look encouraging, because it was such a long (too long in my opinion) wait between v4.8 and v4.9; I almost thought that they had stopped development on the Reader.

I think what "hardware resistant PID" means is a PID based on the hash code of the Pocket PC (similar to Microsoft's activation scheme), so that even if you hard-reset your PPC, you won't have to key in your new PID and re-download the DRMed ebook.

Alexander Turcic · 06-28-2005, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheshire

I think what "hardware resistant PID" means is a PID based on the hash code of the Pocket PC (similar to Microsoft's activation scheme), so that even if you hard-reset your PPC, you won't have to key in your new PID and re-download the DRMed ebook.

Ahh that makes sense and would indeed be better than having to recalculate the PID each time new.

06-28-2005, 06:35 AM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 12,730 Karma: 71589 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Sony Portable Reader	Mobipocket Reader V5.0 Beta released Although Mobipocket Reader V4.9 was only released last week, there's already a beta of the forthcoming V5.0 available for download. New features include library management, various new book display options, new toolbar icon customization, enhanced annotations, hardware button mapping, and most importantly better VGA support. What worries me a bit is that according to their changelog, the Hardware PID is now supposed to be resistant to hard resets. How does that work? Are they changing some part of the underlying ROM? I'd be happy if someone could answer this. Palm users can also download the new beta from here and there's even an alpha version available for Blackberry devices. Thanks to gmc for the tip! __________________ Follow MR on Twitter

06-28-2005, 10:50 AM	#3
dwig Enthusiast Posts: 37 Karma: 37 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Paradise (Key West, FL) Device: Clie - UX50, T415, ...	What, to me, is the encouraging thing here is that they are working on the eBook reader portion of the software. The various 4.x updates hardly touched any issues with the library or the eBook reader component. They merely dealt with the news and other components; portions of the software I never use. __________________ ----- dwig

06-28-2005, 11:32 AM	#5
jlariviere Member Posts: 17 Karma: 11 Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Rocklin, CA, USA, Earth, Solar System, Galaxy, Universe Device: palmOne Tungsten T3	I just hope it will be a free upgrade... I just purchased the Pro version (Memory card management should be free anyway...), and I don't want to have to pay for a new version unless it is really spectacular! Jeremie __________________ Jeremie Lariviere eMail 1 \| eMail 2 --- 01001010011011110110100001101110001000000011001100 1110100011000100110110 ---------------- palmOne Tungsten T3

06-28-2005, 11:34 AM	#6
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 12,730 Karma: 71589 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Sony Portable Reader	Even if there is an upgrade fee, I suspect for those who just bought the Pro version the upgrade will be free. At least that is what I would expect from a decent company. __________________ Follow MR on Twitter

06-28-2005, 12:44 PM	#7
cheshire Fence Sitter Posts: 51 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Singapore Device: Asus P525	It does look encouraging, because it was such a long (too long in my opinion) wait between v4.8 and v4.9; I almost thought that they had stopped development on the Reader. I think what "hardware resistant PID" means is a PID based on the hash code of the Pocket PC (similar to Microsoft's activation scheme), so that even if you hard-reset your PPC, you won't have to key in your new PID and re-download the DRMed ebook. __________________ HP OmniGo100 -> HP320LX -> Palm III -> iPaq 3660 -> iPaq h1910 -> O2 XDA II Mini -> Asus P525

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