BeBook Review - really a great device...

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Thanks for your detailed analyses of the whole rights issue - do you work for the Sony (or Amazon) legal department?... just kidding!

This is not a criticism of you, but rather the whole "rights" explanation - it seems like so much sophistry to provide an ex post facto justification of a somewhat bizarre decision. The logic seems to break down for me - by the "rights" logic you explained:

Amazon, Sony (or whichever US corporate behemouth you wish to insert here) do not have the right to set up a store-front in UK, Sweden, Australia, Timbuktu, etc. So why distinguish between paper books and eBooks in this case?

Since 1998 I have ordered books from Amazon US, but have never lived in the US. They have never refused a sale, claiming they have no "rights" to sell to me in my place of residence. This is in accordance with your from side of the equation, as I understand it - they are selling from the US a product they have the right to sell there.

So why differentiate when it comes to eBooks? Why can't I buy the "US edition" of an Amazon or Sony eBook and have it shipped to me (i.e. download it) somewhere else, just like a paper book? After all, Fictionwise or whoever, sell PDF, MOBI and LIT eBooks which are "tied" to specific readers (in principle). The argument of "bundling" books with a reader (e.g. Sony or Kindle) doesn't really make sense either.

And why, oh why, if I live in Europe can I order the 505 and Sony eBooks from Waterstones online? What happened to the whole UK rights issue there? You could argue EU rights, but last I checked Saudi Arabia and Madagascar are not part of the EU, yet they're on the list of possible address locations I can select, amongst others.

But we can go round and round dissecting the various issues - suffice to say that decisions have been made which happen to disadvantage me (and others) outside the US market. Then again, this is not an isolated incident (I can't buy an Apple dual English/Russian keyboard because I live in Western Europe, and they are only sold in Eastern Europe - go figure!).

To quote your signature: "DRM is like saying if you want to read our book, you have to wear our glasses. If you want non-DRM content vote with your dollars and buy it. No one will offer it if there's no market."

I agree regarding DRM. I think DVD regions are similarly wrong. And I feel the same way about the Sony and Amazon artificial restrictions against all those avid readers outside the US. Hence, I choose to send my hard-earned Euros elsewhere... BeBook and iRex are some choices for now...

[/rant]

I'm not in anyone's legal department - I wish - but I used to manage a bookstore in Canada, so I had to deal with rights and territory issues. Now that I'm making a living as a freelance writer I have to pay attention to rights and contracts too.

The contracts they are using now are just modified versions of the ones that predate the existence of e-books, and so they carry a lot of baggage. One thing any author will tell you is that their goal is to sell as few rights as possible to any one publisher so they can sell the rights the first publisher didn't use to someone else.

I don't know the exact details of which rights are going to which country from which publisher- as this can vary on a per book basis.

In the end it all comes down to one thing - they do things the way they do not how we may want it because that's what the contracts say they can do.

(As to US/UK books in other countries - those books are generally not distributed to those foreign stores through what's called "the book trade." The stores are buying them from middlemen, not the publishers directly in the same way US and UK stores buy books from their own publishers and distributors.)

[ProDigit]

On the original post:

The disappointments?

I'm kind of looking for 'the disappointments' in the review!
It's great to have a (long) positive review, but every device has a catch ( like screen refresh rate,maybe buttons that are not set in a handy way,or quality of the case).

Generally I don't buy 'All positive' comments. Musiciansfriend is good in that too, that they sell their products with only the positive comments, and as negative comments they put things like: I wished the device was available in silver pink with blue dots to fit my house interior...(things that most users don't really care about).

Seriously mentioning the refresh rate of this device is nearly twice that of a Sony PRS-505 would be appreciated!

I mean, facts are facts, and I'd rather find out beforehand,and then make my decision, than figuring it out when it's too late!

[mrdini]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Seriously mentioning the refresh rate of this device is nearly twice that of a Sony PRS-505 would be appreciated!

If you wanted him to write a more complete review comparing the BeBook against the Sony PRS-505, maybe you'd like to lend him your PRS-505?

Seriously - do you expect a private individual to buy each & every e-ink reader on the market, so that he can write a comprehensive review of the BeBook?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Seriously mentioning the refresh rate of this device is nearly twice that of a Sony PRS-505 would be appreciated!

A refresh rate twice that of the Sony would be a major benefit of the BeBook - a "rate" is a frequency; high numbers are "good".

However, given that the two machines share an identical screen, I seriously doubt that this is actually true .

One not so great aspect of the BeBook at the present time is its Mobi support - it is rather lacking in features compared to other Mobi implementations, with no dictionary lookup, no justification options, no hyphenation support, and no ability to load your own fonts. This may, of course, improve in the future.

[Greg Anos]

Another problem in reviewing is that different people have different needs. Harry T. want good dictionary support. I never use that feature. What is good button placement? Each person has his own idea. Furthermore, if you don't usually use a feature, you'll most likely gloss over it.

I have a bebook on order, eventually I'll provide a Cybook/ Bebook comparision of the features I'm interested in. I can't really do justice to features I never use, and will state so on the comparison.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

I have a bebook on order, eventually I'll provide a Cybook/ Bebook comparision of the features I'm interested in. I can't really do justice to features I never use, and will state so on the comparison.

I very much look forward to reading that, Ralph.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A refresh rate twice that of the Sony would be a major benefit of the BeBook - a "rate" is a frequency; high numbers are "good".

However, given that the two machines share an identical screen, I seriously doubt that this is actually true .

One not so great aspect of the BeBook at the present time is its Mobi support - it is rather lacking in features compared to other Mobi implementations, with no dictionary lookup, no justification options, no hyphenation support, and no ability to load your own fonts. This may, of course, improve in the future.

I meant that the youtube samples I saw of the Bebook switching pages took longer than the PRS-505

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Another problem in reviewing is that different people have different needs. Harry T. want good dictionary support. I never use that feature. What is good button placement? Each person has his own idea. Furthermore, if you don't usually use a feature, you'll most likely gloss over it.

I have a bebook on order, eventually I'll provide a Cybook/ Bebook comparision of the features I'm interested in. I can't really do justice to features I never use, and will state so on the comparison.

I'd definitely be interested in reading that as well! I considered the CyBook but felt more comfortable with the features and formats offered by the BeBook, and their "can do" attitude to implementing new features (so far, they've done well).

Firstly I can't compare a Sony because I can't buy one (at least until recently!). Sony's xenophobic sales restrictions ticked me off no end, and although the 505 looks sexy, I'm too annoyed to consider it now (esp. given the limited format support).

Refresh (i.e. page turn) on the BeBook is approximately one second (could be 0.8s, could be 1.1s, depends on doc type, page content, etc.). I find it quite good, and would be surprised if the 505 was 0.5s. Essentially I hit the page button while reading the last line, and then it flips and I'm good to go.

The Mobi support is still a little primitive. I have used a few DRM Mobi books from Fictionwise, and whilst the reader implementation is OK, it lacks a few nice features (as mentioned previously) like font options, justification options, search, and yes dictionary lookup (as we all know, a certain board member has a dictionary fixation, but he is right - it would be nice to have the option).

I find the Mobi reader OK because I'm happy to use the Times New Roman font (the other choices are Arial and IBOOK), medium size, and the left justification doesn't bother me so much. But I expect some big improvements in future firmware updates from BeBook.

And for the avid eReader fan there is also the OpenInkpot option, which is also in the early stages but promises to provide some really nice features for the BeBook (and V3), and later other eInk devices. Keep watching the OI development, because I can see that sometime soon I may choose to switch firmwares and actually use it full time (at the moment I'm trying the "Live" implementation from my SD card, which is a little unstable).

I am very impressed with the FBReader, and as I have a lot of FB2, HTML and CHM docs, this is nice for me. Book Designer is a great tool for creating FB2 ebooks (or just about any other format!) and I have been using this for years to convert just about everything to FB2 for reading on Haali Reader on my PC and PDA, and Stanza on Mac OS X.

One surprise for me was the PDF support. Most gripes with 6" devices are to do with PDFs, and perhaps because of this I had low expectations. But I have tried numerous work documents, all formatted A4 PDFs, and I'm quite pleasantly surprised. It is not as good as the source, for sure, and not as good as A4 paper, but as a portable means to review documents and carry bundles of PDFs around, it's great. I posted some example pictures on another thread (by request) and I think the results are pretty damn good.

Physically I have no complaints about this device. I love the matte surface feel, as it provides good adhesion when holding the device one-handed, and out of the case it is light enough to do this. The case itself is nice and once you get used to the back-to-front magnetic clip, it's easy to use. The device fits securely and doesn't slide around during transit, etc.

Of course I would love to have a built-in screen light (as with the 700), as I think anyone would. I like the buttons - they have a positive feel so I haven't experienced any double clicks or such. Button position is a very individual preference, but I'm comfortable with the BeBook, although I did mention that the main buttons seem to be on the left side (for lefties it's good) so I share my time between thos buttons and the other set bottom right (the "9" and "0" keys double as page back/forward).

My review was positive because I was very positive. So far very few gripes about the device - Mobi support being the biggest, and more Font flexibility overall would be nice.

And although I've never used one I would not recommend a Sony, in protest of their bizarre sales restrictions (devices and Connect access). Sony may make nice toys, but it's only recently that they relented and started adding memory card options other than memory stick to their devices (talk about resisting a clear industry standard!). And now they are doing the same with LRF - maybe it's a good format, but it's proprietary so it sucks. The only thing worse is DRM itself.

If anyone's got any questions about the BeBook they can post in my threads or PM me, and I always try to give honest info. But at the moment, for me, it's really a great device!

Cheers!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

justification options, search, and yes dictionary lookup (as we all know, a certain board member has a dictionary fixation, but he is right - it would be nice to have the option).

I am not impressed at all with the justification support on the Cybook. It nearly never is used and you get big hole in the text. Before they introduced justification the text looked much nicer since they allowed that some lined was not justified.

So for OI people or other, that would be a nice feature on the Bebook. Allow only a certain word spacing and allow lines not to be justified. Seems very easy to implement...

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

On the original post:

The disappointments?

I'm kind of looking for 'the disappointments' in the review!
It's great to have a (long) positive review, but every device has a catch ( like screen refresh rate,maybe buttons that are not set in a handy way,or quality of the case).

Generally I don't buy 'All positive' comments. Musiciansfriend is good in that too, that they sell their products with only the positive comments, and as negative comments they put things like: I wished the device was available in silver pink with blue dots to fit my house interior...(things that most users don't really care about).

Seriously mentioning the refresh rate of this device is nearly twice that of a Sony PRS-505 would be appreciated!

I mean, facts are facts, and I'd rather find out beforehand,and then make my decision, than figuring it out when it's too late!

Actually this needs further review...

I didn't check Sony specs because Sony have some kind of Anti-American thing going and won't let me buy one from Australia, Europe, wherever (well, now they have expanded to Canada and UK - wow!).

And even if I do circumvent this absolutely astounding restriction and buy one on eBay or from a rebel reseller that ships to other parts of the world, there is no shop access to buy there crazy LRF format (Sony Connect needs a US credit card - WTF??).

So I read a review (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/22423...er-prs505.html) that said: "...eBook readers are unique in that they are not going to live or die by their looks or even technical specifications, so much as their ability to deliver an absorbing reading experience..." I'm wondering how, when I can't actually officially buy the reader or any books to read on the damn thing??

Then the review goes on to say: "...And while a two-second delay turning pages can be accommodated, that leniency does not extend to the menus which can be four pages deep before you get anywhere near the eBook you're after..."

So we have a 2 second delay turning pages - is that right? Well my BeBook pages in about one second flat - menus, books, settings, whatever - so either the review is wrong or the 505 is slow. Which is it?

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by tompe

I am not impressed at all with the justification support on the Cybook. It nearly never is used and you get big hole in the text. Before they introduced justification the text looked much nicer since they allowed that some lined was not justified.

So for OI people or other, that would be a nice feature on the Bebook. Allow only a certain word spacing and allow lines not to be justified. Seems very easy to implement...

I took a closer look at the BeBook Mobi reader, and in fact the justification depends on the book. "The Black Swan" is left justified and looks pretty good, especially in Times font. "A History Of Western Philosophy" is full justified and looks a bit cheap, and the same font selection looks not so good. In contrast, the FBReader is full justified with hyphenation, and looks great (although I would like to be able to control the hyphenation format a little better, because it sometimes doesn't split words as you would in English, but rather just based on characters per line, but I'm used to it now).

So in fact it may be the Mobi source formatting that causes more problems than the BeBook implementation - I'll have to try some more!

[igorsk]

I wish you stopped mentioning the "unability" of getting Sony and that it "requires" buying books from Sony shop. There are several places that will sell a Reader to anyone in the world, and plenty of alternatives for ebooks too (at least two of them actuall sell LRFs).

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by igorsk

I wish you stopped mentioning the "unability" of getting Sony and that it "requires" buying books from Sony shop. There are several places that will sell a Reader to anyone in the world, and plenty of alternatives for ebooks too (at least two of them actuall sell LRFs).

I second this:

I have at least 250 bought and paid for eBooks from two sources that I could download in LRF.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by tompe

I am not impressed at all with the justification support on the Cybook. It nearly never is used and

I meant "hyphenation support" here but that is only used when right justified I suppose.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Actually this needs further review...

I didn't check Sony specs because Sony have some kind of Anti-American thing going and won't let me buy one from Australia, Europe, wherever (well, now they have expanded to Canada and UK - wow!).

And even if I do circumvent this absolutely astounding restriction and buy one on eBay or from a rebel reseller that ships to other parts of the world, there is no shop access to buy there crazy LRF format (Sony Connect needs a US credit card - WTF??).

So I read a review (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/22423...er-prs505.html) that said: "...eBook readers are unique in that they are not going to live or die by their looks or even technical specifications, so much as their ability to deliver an absorbing reading experience..." I'm wondering how, when I can't actually officially buy the reader or any books to read on the damn thing??

Then the review goes on to say: "...And while a two-second delay turning pages can be accommodated, that leniency does not extend to the menus which can be four pages deep before you get anywhere near the eBook you're after..."

So we have a 2 second delay turning pages - is that right? Well my BeBook pages in about one second flat - menus, books, settings, whatever - so either the review is wrong or the 505 is slow. Which is it?

Well, I only assumed from the pages they showed on youtube that the bebook had a page refresh (PDF manga) of what? 4 to 7 seconds?
Swapping text pages takes 2 to 3 seconds,count yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NIpGpeq9ZI

I mean it seemed ridiculously slow compared to the Sony reader.

Ofcourse, this could be a setup, and the guy uploading the video might actually slow down the playbackspeed, but I doubt he'd do that...

However if you tell me the 2 to 3 seconds delay is not on your Bebook reader,you might have an upgraded device (or the youtube guy a downgraded version?), or maybe changed some settings to make it refresh a lot faster.
Beneath 1 second seems very reasonable for an e-ink screen!...

I only wrote the text above because on youtube it seemed so clear that simple black and white text was refreshing in about 2 to 3 seconds per page,and you didn't mention that on the review... Then again, if it where so, I'd immediately notice that on my reader,and review the topic....

I don't own the bebook, but have to conclude from what I see on youtube, and read on this forum.
I doubt that I've ever seen the sony take more than 1 second per page...at least not yet...

As far as the reader goes, I think the reader is the only device sold in multiple stores to multiple countries. ebay.. you name it.
Even the kindle you generally only can buy it from Amazon, and to buy from Amazon you need a USA card.
The reader is sold in USA and Japan, and needs a USA bankcard to pay for the books (which is only natural).
The software Sony delivers with the reader is perfectly able to convert a various of (non-drm) extensions to LRF format,so you're not stuck to the standard 5 (or so) filetypes the reader can read without conversion.

Plus the sony store only has about little over 50.000 books available; an average of 20 to 25 books per section. I doubt you'll miss not being able to pay for sony books.

For truth man,the reader is the most sold e-ink ebook reader in the world right now,so it doesn't make sense to say you can't get it (when in fact USA is one of the few countries the reader DOES ship to).

I think it's way harder to get a Bebook in USA than a PDF reader in the rest of the world...