News from Bookeen about firmware upgrade

[HarryT]

All you have to do is measure the length of your progress bar, and tell your friends "I'm 56mm through the book". That measurement will be independent of the font and size used .

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

All you have to do is measure the length of your progress bar, and tell your friends "I'm 56mm through the book". That measurement will be independent of the font and size used .

They'll think you're half way through the first sentence!

I'm curious to know who'll load the new firmware asap.
(I plan on being one of the penguins near the back, who'll have a reasonable idea just how many leopard seals there are in the icy depths before I dive in.)

[HarryT]

Having already upgraded from v476 to v538 with no problems, I plan to upgrade immediately the new version is available.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given that the progress bar does not show page numbers, how do you know what page number it is you might want?

By guess! By gosh! By golly!

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by tompe

But Bookeen has not done the hardware design and they have not written the operating system. The only thing they have done is written or licensed the application software.

Expecting bug free software is unrealistic. But it is not unrealistic to expect working navigation if you have a couple of hundreds books on the device.

Which is why I'm beginning to learn to accept the FBReader GUI on my WinXP machine. Of course, if someone (who's a better programmer than I) were to add PC1 decryption support to FBReader, I wouldn't have to resort to those standalone Python apps to remove DRM from my purchased Mobi ebooks. (Hint. Hint. ) I'm not saying that FBReader has the best folder navigation interface, but at least it has something!

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JohnnyD

Something not mentioned about page numbers (AFAIK): it gives you an extra way to put a value on a book, like "Wow! This is great, but it's only 200 pages, so I should cherish each and every page (word even)!".

Next to that it gives you a way to plan your bookreading; sometimes it happens that you know beforehand that you won't have much time to do serious reading in the next few weeks; you shouldn't start in a 1000+ page story, it would decrease the value you get from reading it, because it will be so very fragmented. It's perfectly OK however, to read a 200 page story in the same time because you'll easily finish it

...you could compare it to eating in a restaurant: if you've got time (and money) go eat in a fancy restaurant and order a 7-course meal. And go for a single course fish&chips if you haven't got time. Both meals are perfectly enjoyable and for both meals you should know beforehand how much time (=pages) you've got to choose the right one...

So for me, I would really like to have page numbers, including total page count. On screen. Not in the clumsy menus...

Well, DUH! Those thought patterns could just as easily go:

"Wow! You really ought to read this ebook! It's only 250 kilobytes in size!"

or

"I'm going in for life-preserving surgery where I have a 39% chance of dying on the operating table. I think I'd be better off skipping this 1.49MB opus in favor of these five 300KB quickies."

Works for me. :

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

They'll think you're half way through the first sentence!

I'm curious to know who'll load the new firmware asap.
(I plan on being one of the penguins near the back, who'll have a reasonable idea just how many leopard seals there are in the icy depths before I dive in.)

Having done the 0.91 -> 0.95, the 0.95 -> 0.98, 0.98 -> 1.0 version <400, that -> build476 and thence to build 538 - let's just say that I have NO problem with throwing myself on that steel pineapple rolling at my feet.

Derek

[tompe]

Originally Posted by bob_ninja

I don't know about you, but I was aware from reading this site that both Cybook and others have fairly limited features for organization of many books and searching/navigating them. Thus my expectations were adjusted a long time *BEFORE* making a decision to buy Cybook. I knew that folders would be delayed and effective navigation (mainly decent search feature) might never be available in this hardware. Yes, it is a defficiency.

Of course you cannot count ongetting things not originally in the produce. The expectations here are from a blog entry saying they are thinking/working on folders and it will be available in a next firmware release. If this means a release three years from now then it is kind of misleading.

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You don't honestly think that there's no folder view because Bookeen couldn't implement one, do you, or that it's just a coincidence that no eBook reader (other than the iLiad, which is rather a different type of device) has them?

The reason that folders aren't supported is almost without doubt because the market research that these companies do shows them that the typical "non-expert" user gets confused by folders, and loses things put in them.

I can't buy the fact that folders are too complex for any Cybook user. They are a basic feature of any OS. And as for people losing things in them, the default library mode could show books from all subfolders (as is now done) and an option allowed for viewing only the current folder.

Anyway, I'd rather see support for a tag or reading list system. The Mobipocket software on the desktop and PDA's has them, and I actually find them to be more useful than folders, as I can have a book appear in more than one list simultaneously (this would work with folders if links were supported, but that is more complex for the typical user).

But I'll welcome any improved means of dealing with larger libraries.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

I can't buy the fact that folders are too complex for any Cybook user. They are a basic feature of any OS.

You've obviously never worked in any kind of support department. I run my own software business and directly support people using my software. Believe me, the people who lose things in folders are the "advanced" users. It's the ones that you have to try and teach how to use a scrollbar that are the problem. I'm not joking!

The reason Microsoft stuck a "My Documents" folder in Windows and made it the default save location was precisely to deal with this kind of user. Nowadays, you just end up with a million files in "My Documents". In the old days, people used to stick everything in the root, which was a lot worse.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Hunh?!? Clearly we have discovered your 'true identity'! You, my good sir, are a literary critic for the New York Times!

I think I can speak for many readers here. No, I do NOT determine how to 'appreciate' or 'interpret' a given book based upon its length. I don't go into a store and pick up two new books by a given author and say to myself, "Hey. Book #1 is only 173 pages long so I'll have to interpret, process, understand and enjoy it differently than Book #2 which is 327 pages long!"

Derek,
I actually read a pbook that was very popular (Lonesome Dove) that had it been even 2 or 3 times longer, I would have quit reading long before I did. Up until the last chapter, I keep thinking - "This book has potential. Maybe it really get somewhere." For me, it never did. It just stopped. Had it been longer I would not have read past the "original" first 25%.

Of course this example didn't require actual page numbers. I would have been just as happy with a percent number.

Where numbers are needed with the lack of search capability is, as some have pointed out, when you lose your place and must search for it. Yes you can get "close" (and I leave the definition of "close" totally open) with the already included visual scale. However without numbers "close" has larger margins of error.

Besides, I like numbers & .PRC on my Palm TX has both a visual scale & numbers so it shouldn't be too hard to implement on the Cybook.

[Moonraker]

I actually read a pbook that was very popular (Lonesome Dove) that had it been even 2 or 3 times longer, I would have quit reading long before I did. Up until the last chapter, I keep thinking - "This book has potential. Maybe it really get somewhere." For me, it never did. It just stopped. Had it been longer I would not have read past the "original" first 25%.

That really proves how we all have different tastes. I loved Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, it's one of my favourites. But I hated Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and found the writing style irritating and repetitive.

The one thing I wish for in the Cybook is to be able to read when the battery is re-charging.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by slayda

Derek,
I actually read a pbook that was very popular (Lonesome Dove) that had it been even 2 or 3 times longer, I would have quit reading long before I did. Up until the last chapter, I keep thinking - "This book has potential. Maybe it really get somewhere." For me, it never did. It just stopped. Had it been longer I would not have read past the "original" first 25%.

Of course this example didn't require actual page numbers. I would have been just as happy with a percent number.

Where numbers are needed with the lack of search capability is, as some have pointed out, when you lose your place and must search for it. Yes you can get "close" (and I leave the definition of "close" totally open) with the already included visual scale. However without numbers "close" has larger margins of error.

Besides, I like numbers & .PRC on my Palm TX has both a visual scale & numbers so it shouldn't be too hard to implement on the Cybook.

I see. You clearly have no appreciation for the 'finer things in life'! (So states a "Lonesome Dove" devotee. ) Yes, I've not only read LD, but the other novels in the series - although I haven't gone so far as to dress and talk like my fave characters.

Still, while I agree with the need for a 'search' capability or a way to reference footnotes, I have no problem remembering which was the last chapter I started. Thus, if the Cybook does happen to forget my current position, I just jump to the beginning of the chapter. It's not that difficult, especially as remembering 'Chapter 39' is easier than remembering 'page 961'.

Derek

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

if the Cybook does happen to forget my current position,

But why would it? It's certainly never done so in my 6 months-odd of owning it. Even when I had the annoying bug of the machine rebooting or hanging when looking up words in the dictionary, it still remembered what page it had been on!

Might this be related to the issue that some people have with losing bookmarks, I wonder? A dodgy SD card? Corrupted file system?

[slayda]

Originally Posted by HarryT

All you have to do is measure the length of your progress bar, and tell your friends "I'm 56mm through the book". That measurement will be independent of the font and size used .

Shame on you Harry, I would have thought you'd use the English system of measurement, i.e. 2 1/4 inches.