MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - poll: What would you pay 25% more for if your ereader had this feature?

Xenophon · 07-06-2011, 02:53 PM

I'd pay 25% more for really good built-in support for on-device OPDS catalogs. Assuming, that is, that the device allows me to load my own catalog. That'd give me the kind of on-device access to a large library that should have been there from the beginning.

Existing devices are totally inadequate (out of the box) for navigating through a multi-thousand-book library. Think, for a moment -- How many eBooks can I fit in 2GB or 4GB of memory? If I were to fill up that memory, how would I navigate through that many books? A flat list (all that most readers provide)? I don't think so! A directory structure? That's better, but slices the books only on one dimension. I want access by author, by title, by date added, by series, etc. With hierarchical drill-down, so I never ever have to scroll through more than about 2 pages to make the next selection.

Such capabilities are totally absent from current readers! Consequently, I have to hack my nook and install trook, just to be able to use my library. Note that calibre and calibre2opds combine very nicely to support the off-device part of this picture. But I shouldn't have to hack the device to get this kind of core functionality; it really ought to be built-in from the start.

Build it with a really convenient user-interface, provided out of the box in the standard firmware.
Document how third-party tools can talk to it. That way, the various open-source folks will support it very quickly.
Fix bugs when reported. Best if it is possible to upgrade the OPDS navigator without needing to upgrade the rest of the firmware. That allows faster turn-around on bug fixes, and decouples the navigation software from the book viewing software and the OS -- both of which are much larger, more complex, and more expensive to update (in terms of programmer effort).

Xenophon

P.S. Note that OPDS is a nascent standard with an active working group. Supporting it also eases the problem of communicating with various online stores (hint, hint).

07-06-2011, 02:53 PM	#23
Xenophon curmudgeon Posts: 1,487 Karma: 5748190 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Redwood City, CA USA Device: Kobo Aura HD, (ex)nook, (ex)PRS-700, (ex)PRS-500	I'd pay 25% more for really good built-in support for on-device OPDS catalogs. Assuming, that is, that the device allows me to load my own catalog. That'd give me the kind of on-device access to a large library that should have been there from the beginning. Existing devices are totally inadequate (out of the box) for navigating through a multi-thousand-book library. Think, for a moment -- How many eBooks can I fit in 2GB or 4GB of memory? If I were to fill up that memory, how would I navigate through that many books? A flat list (all that most readers provide)? I don't think so! A directory structure? That's better, but slices the books only on one dimension. I want access by author, by title, by date added, by series, etc. With hierarchical drill-down, so I never ever have to scroll through more than about 2 pages to make the next selection. Such capabilities are totally absent from current readers! Consequently, I have to hack my nook and install trook, just to be able to use my library. Note that calibre and calibre2opds combine very nicely to support the off-device part of this picture. But I shouldn't have to hack the device to get this kind of core functionality; it really ought to be built-in from the start. Build it with a really convenient user-interface, provided out of the box in the standard firmware. Document how third-party tools can talk to it. That way, the various open-source folks will support it very quickly. Fix bugs when reported. Best if it is possible to upgrade the OPDS navigator without needing to upgrade the rest of the firmware. That allows faster turn-around on bug fixes, and decouples the navigation software from the book viewing software and the OS -- both of which are much larger, more complex, and more expensive to update (in terms of programmer effort). Xenophon P.S. Note that OPDS is a nascent standard with an active working group. Supporting it also eases the problem of communicating with various online stores (hint, hint).