E-book Complaints Thread

[John F]

Originally Posted by Dopedangel

... use your own css. ...

strike one, no GUI. I've only used Coolreader on the PC, but something like Stanza on the IPad is what I want.

... It is not perfect but works for most books.

Strike two, most.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by VaporPunk

Lack of "end of chapter" feature.

Help me. I seriously don't know what that means.

[spindlegirl]

When someone complains about the price of e-books, and people respond by pointing out the price of Starbucks/Movie/Fast Food. If someone doesn't like the price of a book which lasts longer, are they really going to go out and spend that kind of money on a cup of inferior coffee?

[Rob Lister]

Dictionary lookup: Cannot look up words used in the dictionary definition. Example: I look up a word in the dictionary and the definition uses the root form of the word without a link to that word's definition.

[Witty Username]

A preview that ends not just in the middle of a sentence but without completing a word!

I have a meeting in fifteen minutes on Sixty-fourth and Mad and I can'

Seriously? The publisher wouldn't allow the final 't'?



(No, I didn't feel the need to buy the book.)

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Dictionary lookup: Cannot look up words used in the dictionary definition. Example: I look up a word in the dictionary and the definition uses the root form of the word without a link to that word's definition.

Just in case you're interested, the Sony PRST1 does have this feature.

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Dictionary lookup: Cannot look up words used in the dictionary definition. Example: I look up a word in the dictionary and the definition uses the root form of the word without a link to that word's definition.

God, yeah, that annoys me about the Nook's dictionary. If I click on "haberdashery," it doesn't help that my Nook tells me it's a "haberdasher's shop." Obviously I don't know what a haberdasher is, otherwise I could have figured it out from the context. At least on the Kobo you can go back, change the word you were looking up to the root word, and then look that up, but on the Nook there's no way to do that.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Just in case you're interested, the Sony PRST1 does have this feature.

My T1 annoys me when, having deleted a book from the Books list, say on page 9, it goes all the way back to page 1, really annoying !
So you have to go through all the pages again.....
Luckily, I try to keep it to 10-15 pages, but if you have say 50 pages, that would be throw it out the window time, I think.

Don't suppose this can be changed ?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

My T1 annoys me when, having deleted a book from the Books list, say on page 9, it goes all the way back to page 1, really annoying !
So you have to go through all the pages again.....
Luckily, I try to keep it to 10-15 pages, but if you have say 50 pages, that would be throw it out the window time, I think.

Don't suppose this can be changed ?

I don't think you can change it, as such, but you CAN zip through your booklist quickly by pressing the 'Page x of y' location at the bottom of the booklist screen. You'll get a slider bar which displays the name of the first book on each page as you slide it, so you'll know when you get close.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

When someone complains about the price of e-books, and people respond by pointing out the price of Starbucks/Movie/Fast Food. If someone doesn't like the price of a book which lasts longer, are they really going to go out and spend that kind of money on a cup of inferior coffee?

OK, my new complaint is books that DON'T last longer than a movie. Seriously, $5.99 for a NOVELLA? Please. 3 novellas or 10 short stories per full-length-priced work, please. And lashes with a wet spaghetti noodle for blurbs/details that HIDE the fact that a work is a novella or short story. It really is much harder to tell in ebooks.

[JohnMorris]

Originally Posted by Witty Username

A preview that ends not just in the middle of a sentence but without completing a word!



Seriously? The publisher wouldn't allow the final 't'?



(No, I didn't feel the need to buy the book.)

I've more or less given up on the Kobo store (and the Kobo), partly for this reason: many supposed previews consisted of the title pages, some copyright blurb, and then - nothing. Not a single word of the actual text.

Originally Posted by Witty Username

A preview that ends not just in the middle of a sentence but without completing a word!

Or previews of books that only include the first chapter. In many non-fiction books, the first chapter is so radically different from the remain chapters that the preview is meaningless. Fiction isn't nearly as bad for this, but there are still substantial differences since they have to set the stage.

If you can't sell a book after the reader has read 20% of it, it probably isn't a good book

[VaporPunk]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Help me. I seriously don't know what that means.

I like to try and finish at the end of a chapter, if at all possible. When I'm nodding off with a paper book, I can easily flip ahead and see how long it is till the end of the chapter. I would kind of like a quick function on my kindle that would do the same.

[AlexBell]

My pet hates are publishers who don't read MobileRead Forums to see these complaints, or take no notice if the complaints are emailed to them, or both.

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I don't think you can change it, as such, but you CAN zip through your booklist quickly by pressing the 'Page x of y' location at the bottom of the booklist screen. You'll get a slider bar which displays the name of the first book on each page as you slide it, so you'll know when you get close.

Thanks, Jackie, neat - at least it's not as annoying ........