E-book Complaints Thread

[VaporPunk]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Thus far, this is the worthiest whine.

The paper book scenario has always been:

Wife: We're going to be late. When are we leaving?
Me: A little over three pages.

There is no ebook-equivalent response. "In a minute," is typically a lie.

As promised, your reward.

Hmmm, thanks!?! I think? A reward for "whining" is a dubious honor at best, methinks.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by VaporPunk

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.

There seem to be hash marks on the progress bar at the bottom where chapters start/end, depending on whether the book has chapters marked up properly -- I have the Kindle 4 NT.

[DiapDealer]

The problem with the hash-marks on the Kindle's progress bar is that it depends heavily on how the ebook creator chose to build things. They can be completely non-existent (getting somewhat more rare, but not unheard of to be lacking an NCX file), or the ebook can be divided into sections/parts (with no individual chapter points), or even "books" in an omnibus-type ebook. Different NCX points can also be nested, and lurking, for those who suspect, but not available graphically for those who don't.

Those points are certainly most often used as "chapters," but there's no hard and fast rules governing that. Sure, it wouldn't be impossible (or even difficult) to have an X "pages" until the next ebook-creator-inspired NCX point on the Kindle. It just might not always be a "chapter."

[JSWolf]

The only reading app that I know of that show's how many pages left in the current chapter is iBooks.

[John F]

Stanza shows page x/y for a Chapter.

What about Kobo? I believe for KEPubs on the Touch, it has shows page x/y for a chapter? For side loaded EPubs, it usually has hash marks for chapters (and I miss it when it isn't available).

[DiapDealer]

A keypub is a very special, non-standard beast.

[steven522]

I thought KEPubs were for those who use the metric system...

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by VaporPunk

Vaporpunk head hurt bad.

Heh, just kidding and thanks for taking the time to explain this. I'm still relatively new to the world of ereaders. I'm just not sure that it would be that complicated.



The feedback I'm looking for would be pages left until the end of the chapter. Right now I'm reading "The Magic of Recluse" on my kindle. When I click on the menu button, I get - "Page 455 of 501 * Location 8330 of 9157". So the Kindle tracks what page I'm on already, but that depends on the formatting of the book, right, because not all books have the page numbers? The Kindle also seems to be "aware" where the next chapter is because as Nyssa points out, clicking the right arrow brings you to the start of the next chapter. So its just a matter of combining the two, correct?
It would be nice if the information would be available with one click on the menu button. Using the above example -

Page 455 of 501 * Location 8330 of 9157 * X

where X is the # of pages until end of chapter.

This would all depend on the ebook format, if it has pages or not and chapter markers, etc...but most of the books I've purchased direct from Amazon do.

Then again, I have no idea how difficult all this would be to implement. If it is, is there enough demand to justify the effort? Most people don't seem to mind, its just a pet peeve of mine.



Thanks, karma for taking the time to help. I posted my "shortcut" for this a while ago in the Kindle section of MR and its pretty much as you explained above. I am however, an exceptionally lazy individual and want it all with just one click.

Ah, okay. A one (or two) click option would be nice....but I don't see it happening anytime soon, unfortunately.
The way I get around it is by bookmarking the next chapter (or two), then I can go to "View marks" and do the math. Not perfect, but I've done so a couple times in the novel I'm currently reading, which is separated into both chapters and books = 770pgs. My goal is to read one "book" a day so by bookmarking the first chapter in the next book, I know how many pages I have to read by the end of the day.

Originally Posted by John F

Stanza shows page x/y for a Chapter.

What about Kobo? I believe for KEPubs on the Touch, it has shows page x/y for a chapter? For side loaded EPubs, it usually has hash marks for chapters (and I miss it when it isn't available).

I think the OverDrive reader also handles this. It is one of the few features it does have.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Shouldn't these be in the Vent and Rant thread? (And no, that's not my complaint!)

I still get frustrated by magazines that open in my Nook Color, but won't open in my Nook app for phone or iPad.

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Shouldn't these be in the Vent and Rant thread? (And no, that's not my complaint!)

Probably, but I'm still under 1000 posts, so I can qualify as a newbie that didn't know better. Once I hit 1000, I'll magically become anal enough to know better.

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I still get frustrated by magazines that open in my Nook Color, but won't open in my Nook app for phone or iPad.

Is that by design?

[Blossom]

What has irked me really lately is many of the books I bought from Smashwords over 85% of the authors have pulled the books only to offer them at Amazon. Most of the books I purchased had formatting issues that are now fixed but I have no access to unless I buy the Amazon version.

For this reason alone I have stopped buying from Smashwords. There are Authors at Amazon that removed their messed up books and published the fixed version again under a new ASIN.

I now buy with caution because of this.

[Joykins]

While I'm at it, lack of page numbers in many (most?) kindle books.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

Is that by design?

I'd say it's by lack of design, that is, not enough interest by B&N and the New Yorker in making sure the magazine is readable on all platforms (as other magazines are).

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Blossom

There are Authors at Amazon that removed their messed up books and published the fixed version again under a new ASIN.

At this point I'd just stop buying from those particular authors, on the unflattering assumption that if they're not bright enough to figure out how to update their existing book that they want me to spend money on so I don't have to buy a completely new edition to read it as it should be read, without those "value"-added errors and all, then they're not bright enough to write a book I want to pay money to read in the first place.

That is also assuming that they don't secretly believe that you should pay more money to get a different version of their book in the first place, like you were buying a 2nd edition of a paperback or whatever.

As for the Smashwords purchases, some day the authors may return the yanked-for-KDP stuff as I've noticed several trickling back from exclusivity in recent weeks. No idea if they're quietly updating the old versions or just dumping in even newer separate ones, though.

ETA: My complaint is people yanking existing stuff for KDP Select exclusivity.

New works, fine, exclusivize all you like.

But things that are already out there that people bought in series that they may be thinking of going back and getting the rest of and pulling them so that they can't? That's just dumping on your non-Amazon-using customers (and charging extra to your reluctantly-Amazon-using customers in certain regions which get the extra $2 per purchase surcharge).