Cybook Gen 3 with Epub support on Thursday

[EowynCarter]

Well, if bookeen say : no more mobi drm, then i'll switch to epub. And remmber not to buy anything e-bookish from amazon.

[Jellby]

Let us be optimistic, I can imagine this possibility:

The Cybook is sold with a given firmware. This firmware, could be one of two variants: mobi and not epub, or epub and not mobi. Reardless of which version you have, you can always upgrade the firmware by installing a new version wich supports both mobi and epub.

I think this is compatible with what we know.

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Rumour has it that BeBook will soon support DRM ePub in one of their firmware updates. I'll believe it when I see it, but if it should happen I believe it (or them, meaning Hanlin V3 clones) will be the first eReader to support multiple DRM formats.

Which seems to go against the restrictive practices currently imposed, such as the exclusivity agreement Mobipocket requires before allowing DRM Mobi support on a reader - but that's a good (great!) thing.

Could be the first step towards having readers supporting multiple secure formats, meaning consumers can actually have some freedom of choice when these scumbag publishers do their back-deals and agree to only release eBook in a specific format.

Also, if BeBook / Hanlin / Jinke / lBook are doing this, then surely CyBook coulod also support both Mobi and ePub, rather than the either/or situation this thread fears. Granted, the spec page seems to have dropped Mobi and included ePub, but here's hoping they aren't actually the bastards we assume they are.

I guess it's "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

I don't really know what Mobi is fussing about anyway. On my netbook, I can download drmed Mobi and ePub.

[nelsonescorcio]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

I just can't believe bookeen does that to their customers. They have the machine with the best mobi-support in the business........and they just abandon it........

My feelings, exacly.

And it is a little sad that Bookeen costumers know these things (if true) by third parties and not directly from Bookeen itself.

[pdurrant]

Do look at WH Smiths. It's not available in store, only by mail order. Probably cheaper than direct from Bookeen, and includes a case.

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndS...-90010859.html

You might want to ask them about delivery times directly.

Originally Posted by JanG

I was going to order it direct from Bookeen, so I can pay with my credit card and have it delivered to the UK. The relative that is coming to visit is somewhat elderly (mid-80s) and restricted in movement, would not only find it difficult to get to a store but also wouldn't know an ereader if it hit her in the face!

I'm still nervous about waiting.

--JanG.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

My feelings, exacly.

And it is a little sad that Bookeen costumers know these things (if true) by third parties and not directly from Bookeen itself.

But we don't know that it's true. That's why I'm suggesting that people wait and see what the truth is, rather than panic about something that may well be no more than a format missed from a spec-sheet .

[astra]

Originally Posted by JanG

I hear you. But I've already stripped my books of drm. Most of them were .lit and when I found I peferred reading on mobipocket I stripped the drm and converted them all to .prc. Mobipocket is so much easier on the eye to read than MSReader.

And if I wait for the new firmware update and then order, I'd be getting the new version of the firmware and I'd have to re-convert all my books.

--JanG.

It is not only about the book you have converted already, it is about books you will buy tomorrow, or in 3-6-9-12 months time. If they drop mobi support (I doubt), why depend on a format that your reader is not supporting natively? effectively barring yourself from any future firmware upgrades that might add new features and fix older bugs?

[GeoffC]

pffft;

After looking in the Bookeen section on MR for news,
Bookeen blogs sent me to Bookeenvibes,
and from there to here !!

I need to get out more.....

Why wasn't this topic placed in the Bookeen forum, or at least referenced there ?

[wallcraft]

It would be nice if Bookeen came out and told us one way or the other, however Netronix thinks the MOBI exclusivity requirement is still active. See Update on Astak Formats. Bookeen presumably paid its own $75K (per device type) to Adobe for access to the ADE SDK and has its own license for MobiPocket - so they may have a different agreement with MobiPocket than their device provider.

[Vesper]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It would be nice to have folder support, yes, but I can't say that the lack of it actually bothers me. After all, I've been reading Mobi books for more years than I care to remember, on PDAs, etc, and no version of the Mobi reader (other than the iLiad, whose Mobi implementation was so awful that I stopped using it after a few days) has ever supported folders.

Perhaps it doesn't have folders but on PalmOS it has "reading lists" and that's even better then folders imho.

DrS

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Vesper

Perhaps it doesn't have folders but on PalmOS it has "reading lists" and that's even better then folders imho.

DrS

And the MobiPocket reader on my S60 phone also have folder support since you can browse the whole file system for books.

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But we don't know that it's true. That's why I'm suggesting that people wait and see what the truth is, rather than panic about something that may well be no more than a format missed from a spec-sheet .

You really don't believe that do you ?? There being two different firms, one German and one Swiss who both forget to put a format on a spec-sheet ? You know how those Swiss are

I tell you what I think is happening.
Bookeen never being able to penetrate the American market, due to the succes of the kindle, sees Sony opening up the German market right now. Desperate not to miss one of the the largest markets in europe they decide to follow Sony, which means e-pub.
By doing so they learn that mobi (read amazon) is not amused and therefore they (have to) drop mobi like a stone.
That's why we don't have the new firmware yet. I do hope the mobi-module and the e-pub-module are so independant that they can have two firmware-versions, one with mobi and one with e-pub. But I'm afraid bookeen is too small to pull that off.

This ofcourse is all speculation and I wouldn't be doing this if bookeen would just say what's happening... but since they don't I just do it for them

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Rumour has it that BeBook will soon support DRM ePub in one of their firmware updates. I'll believe it when I see it, but if it should happen I believe it (or them, meaning Hanlin V3 clones) will be the first eReader to support multiple DRM formats.

The 505 and 700 supports PDF, ePub, and BBeB all in DRM. So actually, Sony was the first to go with multiple DRM on a dedicated device.

I'm thinking that the BeBook will have ADE for DRM and drop Mobipocket's DRM if they even keep the format.

[elena]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

1. Strip any DRM on your Mobipocket books.
2. Convert to ePUB using calibre.

3. Throw away all your dictionaries...

[GeoffC]

4. be patient ....