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Old 07-08-2009, 03:44 PM   #79
mgmueller
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Posts: 3,308
Karma: 13024950
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany
Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets
Quote:
Originally Posted by ould View Post
First off thanks to mgmueller for the comprehensive list of devices and their inherent usefulness or lack thereof.

I currently have an older Sony PRS-500. Which I love and use daily on my commute and before bed and whenever else I can squeeze in reading time. Now, while I really enjoy my Sony reader it is far from perfect and I have a few questions on some of the other units.

1. I don't keep too many books on my reader at any given time but I usually have between 20-40 mainly due to lack of proper organization. With the Sony it can sort by author, title or collection. I do use collections for Series so I like that feature but I really wish there were more options to search/sort. Genre, author, read/unread/partially read, length, year etc. Do any of the devices offer this type of support for organizing your collection? I guess it would need to be database driven for this type of organizing. I am probably asking way too much here. But even just to know which books I haven't yet read quickly would be nice.

2. I always liked being able to pick a book from a pile and reads the short description on the back/inside jack. Do any of the readers support this? I know calibre pulls this data when entering in the metadata but as far as I can tell my Sony doesn't make use of this unless I am missing a menu item, which is entirely possible.

3. Being able to delete a book from the reader when finished? I know there is a hack for this for the Sony but I remember reading not to use it if you use collections.

Those are really currently my only shortcomings of my Sony and I am likely just being picky here but now that I know I enjoy the ebook reading lifestyle I could see picking up a newer unit as I originally bought the Sony due to it being cheap as it was used and an older model. I didn't want to drop $300+ on 505 at the time only to find out I didn't like it.


Thanks,

Kevin
Question 1: "...more options to search/sort. Genre, author, read/unread/partially read, length, year etc..."
You can sort on iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S by file date, for example. And you can generate folders and subfolders.
Usually, I don't need more than 2 hirarchical levels, i. e. folder "thriller" and subfolder "james patterson".
On Kindle 2 and Kindle DX it's even less comfortable than on Sony 500, as you describe it. And without Whispernet I can't even access the settings. So my internal clock dates to 1970 and all my already (partially) read books are moving to the end of the list. You CANNOT generate any folders.
I only have about 150 ebooks on each so far and it already isn't too comfortable anymore.
The others are similar to what you describe.


Question 2: "...reads the short description on the back/inside jack. Do any of the readers support this?..."
That's solved brilliantly on Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. By simply moving the "jogdial" to the right, you see the short description. With Whispernet (which I can't use over here in "old Europe") you even could expand that short description to the longer one on Amazon or Wikipedia or...
No similar technology on the other readers.
You could do something similar to that on iRex iLad. With "Manifest reator" (Java App) you can add cover graphics or comments. Manual process (PC or MAC), but at least, when checking a book months after having acquired it, you would have that description directly linked to the book.

Question 3: "Being able to delete a book from the reader..."
There's a hardware button on Cybook for that, but it's not implemented (yet?) into the OS.
You can do so on Sony 505 and Sony 700, by entering the context menu of the book. You can delete the reading history, bookmarks or the entire book.
It's even easier on Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. Pressing the "jogdial" to the right enters the description, described under question 2. Pushing the jogdial to the left enters the menu for deleting the book.
On iRex iLiad and iRex 1000S you can do so simply by the context menu via it's touchscreen.

Last edited by mgmueller; 07-08-2009 at 06:37 PM.
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