[Greymage]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've seen Ebook Library 2.0 take up to 68K. That's not that bad really.

Connect took about 600M for me at the 1400 book level... since the laptop I usually use Connect on only has 768M memory, that really slows things down.

I've never had Connect crash and I've had my 500 since sometime in April. I've just installed Ebook Library 2.0 so I cannot comment yet on it's stability overall.

I've had Connect crash frequently when importing RTFs... but usually only on RTFs generated by one of the Amber converters, I haven't had issues with it on RTFs produced by Word. Usually I can load the offending file into Word, save it back out, and then it will import fine. So perhaps something in the RTF is not quite right, but (a) Word can handle it (b) Connect shouldn't crash even if it can't, and (c) a Connect crash shouldn't corrupt the database like it does, or at the least should be able to automatically recover.

It is not a bad idea to make reader specific file in LRF. In fact, it's a very good idea and I will tell you why. If you use Book Designer to make your LRF files, you will have the html0 file which is the source file. You can use BD to create the LRF file. Then if someday in the future you get a device that uses say MobiPocket, you can save out a Mobipocket format PRC. If you use libprs500, you will have the lit, rtf, pdf, html as source still to use to convert to something else. The reading experience on the reader will be better with LRF as you'll have the ability to have a ToC and images.

I can see the advantages of LRF for some types of books, but my library is almost purely entertainment fiction, so lacking TOCs and images isn't really an issue for me, and up to now I've been batch converting my existing library, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time manually processing each book. After I catch up I might try it.

When you update your SD card are you keeping it in the reader and then using Connect to move content onto it or are you taking the SD card and putting it into a card reader to move the content? If you are using a card reader, try installing books on the SD card while it is in the reader and connected to the computer using Connect. I personally have not really use the SD card to store books. I've been finding the internal memory has been enough for me. But I can give it a try and see. I have enough LRF files I can toss on an SD card to test.

I used a USB 2.0 card reader with my 500 since that has a USB 1.1 connection, but I still used Connect to move the content (one of the tips I picked up from this forum ). I tried loading it with the card in the 505 when I got it, but that still seemed slower than the reader for transfers. I didn't notice any difference in the long startup time.

But to be honest, I don't think you are giving yourself a fair chance. You are blaming the software for things it doesn't do. It is designed to do what it does and it does it very well. It runs fast enough and I've never had it crash once. Sure it can take 68K (or maybe more) ram. But it will not go crashing.

I don't think blaming the software for crashing on an import and corrupting the database is unfair. Also I think the memory utilization is excessive - 600M for 1600 books when reading off the SD card? Considering it only takes up 40M when it first comes up, when it has the identical library in its database, I think it has issues.

I am transferring now a lot of books to the reader via the USB to the SD inserted into the 500. So I'll know soon how it responds. I had 42 book internally. I now have 313 book and 122 pictures. It took less then two minutes to read from the SD card once i pulled out the USB cable. So my advise to you is to put the SD card into the reader and use Connect or Ebook Library 2.0 to transfer the content to the SD card. It actually makes thengs much faster then it would if the reader had to do the work.

At 2 minutes for 313 books, that comes out 10 minutes for 1600, which is about the number I have loaded, but I get the impression the actual time is closer to 20-30 minutes. I wonder if lrf books load faster? If so that would be a good reason for me to make the effort to switch everything over. I'll try that someday.

I don't want to give the impression I hate the Sony Reader, I love it, warts and all (and very few warts on the hardware itself). I love the 505 even more than the 500. Part of it is that I'm a programmer, so I'm offended by shoddy workmanship in a shipped product... you can't get rid of every bug, but I just get the impression the Connect software was done by a bunch of junior programmers.