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pieter · 10-26-2009, 10:53 AM

What I really like about the Cybook Gen3:
The hardware.
The device itself is just a very cool piece of equipment. It has a certain retro-technology thing going imo. People with iPhones and other gadgets don't really know how to respond to a stylish leather (fake, but who cares) bound grey screen, that only displays letters.
It feels perfect in the hand when reading on it. Weight is good.
And I love the fact that I hardly ever need to charge it. I charge more by having it hooked up by usb because I want to put a book on it, than I actually hook it up just to charge it.

What I don't like:
The Software
The whole setup of the software on the device and how different formats interact with the device is just as retro as it's looks.
The reason it gets charged more while I'm putting books on it, is because hardly ever am I pleased with how a book looks on the device. Reformating or changing the ebooks format hardly works satisfactory, with font sizes randomly seeming to get messed up, page endings acting weird, and paragraphs getting lost. In my experience there has always been a big difference between ebook intended for the device and those converted for it.
In the first months I found it a fun challenge to get my favorite books, pdf's and comic books converted onto the device, but nowadays I find it a very tedious and slow process with a barely satisfactory result.
Also my Cybook crashes at least once a week, which does not help the overall user experience of it.
Now with epub becoming the defacto standard in Europe, and the device unable to read epub files, the overall feeling of retro software is only getting bigger.

Next to the software my other little "hate" about the Cybook is it's company. They seem as ancient and archaic as it's software. Impossible to reach with questions which they don't like answering, and unable to deliver even on their simplest of promises concerning firmware updates. Two of my questions on their blog have been censored without any reason given.
They come across as a company that isn't coping and that will fail sooner or later, making me unsure if I'd like to stay with this sinking ship, or start already to convert my ebook collection to the epub format and just buy a less "retro" machine.

10-26-2009, 10:53 AM	#7
pieter Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 501 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: CyBook Gen3	What I really like about the Cybook Gen3: The hardware. The device itself is just a very cool piece of equipment. It has a certain retro-technology thing going imo. People with iPhones and other gadgets don't really know how to respond to a stylish leather (fake, but who cares) bound grey screen, that only displays letters. It feels perfect in the hand when reading on it. Weight is good. And I love the fact that I hardly ever need to charge it. I charge more by having it hooked up by usb because I want to put a book on it, than I actually hook it up just to charge it. What I don't like: The Software The whole setup of the software on the device and how different formats interact with the device is just as retro as it's looks. The reason it gets charged more while I'm putting books on it, is because hardly ever am I pleased with how a book looks on the device. Reformating or changing the ebooks format hardly works satisfactory, with font sizes randomly seeming to get messed up, page endings acting weird, and paragraphs getting lost. In my experience there has always been a big difference between ebook intended for the device and those converted for it. In the first months I found it a fun challenge to get my favorite books, pdf's and comic books converted onto the device, but nowadays I find it a very tedious and slow process with a barely satisfactory result. Also my Cybook crashes at least once a week, which does not help the overall user experience of it. Now with epub becoming the defacto standard in Europe, and the device unable to read epub files, the overall feeling of retro software is only getting bigger. Next to the software my other little "hate" about the Cybook is it's company. They seem as ancient and archaic as it's software. Impossible to reach with questions which they don't like answering, and unable to deliver even on their simplest of promises concerning firmware updates. Two of my questions on their blog have been censored without any reason given. They come across as a company that isn't coping and that will fail sooner or later, making me unsure if I'd like to stay with this sinking ship, or start already to convert my ebook collection to the epub format and just buy a less "retro" machine.