CyBook - so frustrating!

[gerraldo]

Originally Posted by Snuffi

The progress bar is absolutely useless for that as it only gives you a very rough indication of where you are in the book (like about 1/3 through) and while in theory any book should open with the last read page next time this doesn't always work and doesn't seem to work at all with some formats (e.g. PDF).

Stop the press!

The open with the last page read feature has ALWAYS worked for me (some hundreds of times with several books)!

BTW: As I just use MOBI/PRC files (importing all others via MobiReader on PC), I can't judge HTML, TXT or PDF, but apart from "go to..." bug MobiReader has never let me down.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by gerraldo

Stop the press!

The open with the last page read feature has ALWAYS worked for me (some hundreds of times with several books)!

BTW: As I just use MOBI/PRC files (importing all others via MobiReader on PC), I can't judge HTML, TXT or PDF, but apart from "go to..." bug MobiReader has never let me down.

It's not really an issue that bothers me much as under normal circumstances it happens very rarely. I have experienced it when I get interrupted while reading and when I come back the Cybook has powered off to save energy (I have set auto-off to 1 hour). It is rare but has occasionally happened.
It is reproducible when the battery gets very low. With low battery I could consistently get the behaviour that I switch it off but it didn't save the last read page.

It's not really an issue, I just wanted to point out that there are some cases where it would be neat to have page numbers..

[Godzil]

[

Originally Posted by Kino

Hi,
3. I have a comicbook comprising about 250 jpeg images and each one has it's own thumbnail and library entry! It takes forever to scroll through. Why can't there be a simple tree-like folder\directory?

But Gen3 (nor any other eReader I know) have been made for such use. You hijack the image viewer to read comics. It's normal for all the "bug" you have with. Cycling to the first page is normal behavior. Have no "page number" is normal behavior (there is NO page number on a picture) etc.

At least there should be a CBZ/CBR like reader or transform all images to PDF or Mobi/PRC or any other format that could handle pictures, but using the picture viewer is not the correct way to do..

Edit: wrong quote, I will correct... Edit2: Corrected

[K-Thom]

But Gen3 (nor any other eReader I know) have been made for such use. You hijack the image viewer to read comics.

Ahhh, sorry to object, but Bookeen itself advertises the Cybook with a manga page, thus targeting at a comics reading audience and appearing as a suitable device. Which it is not, at least not for comics/mangas.



That image was one of the reasons I bought a Cybook.

cbz/cbr support simply would be great and solve all the troubles.

[Godzil]

Reading comics in a well made format is OK, using image viewer is not OK.

The embedded comics/manga in the Cybook are in mobipocket format, not tons of JPEG

[HarryT]

The CyBook is really not an ideal device for image viewing, due to its 4-grey-scale screen. This is one area where an 8 or 16-grey-scale device is a lot better.

[K-Thom]

Mobipocket prc was NEVER EVER meant for creating comic ebooks! The Mobipocket Creator reduces any larger image files to 64KB while converting.

Even a black&white jpg of a manga needs about 100-150KB roughly for a satisfactory resolution, in color you'd need about 200-300KB.

The image displayed in my last post has been present on Bookeen's homepage for about a year now, long BEFORE their cooperation with Foolstrip (although I don't find any hint that their comics are actually in prc, the only one I could find on their website was in pdf, so go figure ...).

You're absolutely right, a pile of jpgs is no solution. But ... - with that long ago promised folder support, it still would be a lot easier.

And Bookeen just should stop advertising the Cybook with that manga image, if they know very well that their device doesn't offer a satisfactory solution for displaying comic books.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Mobipocket prc was NEVER EVER meant for creating comic ebooks! The Mobipocket Creator reduces any larger image files to 64KB while converting.

Mobi Creator does, yes, but there are other Mobi tools available which don't. Images >64k work just fine on modern versions of the Mobi reader, but they aren't compatible with versions of the reader on ancient Palm devices, which had a 64k segmented memory architecture, hence for "safety", Mobi Creator reduces the size of images below 64k.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

And Bookeen just should stop advertising the Cybook with that manga image, if they know very well that their device doesn't offer a satisfactory solution for displaying comic books.

A PDF out of the images should be good enough.

[GUIZMOW]

Hi,

for me it is perfect for right size pdf or even jpeg (even a lots) of manga or comics (folder view will be nice when lots of jpeg).
The only things that i can't really like is that i bought "the new york times 25th year of comics" that comes with 2 cd and for the moment i can't find the good way to read it.
Maybe with a scrop of blank border....

Guiz

[Krystian Galaj]

I have read mangas on my Cybook without problems, if you don't count lack of folder support and file deletion. If it remembered where I was in a folder upon entering it, and would update my position in folder as I switch from page to page, I could simply place every manga jpegs in different folder, and it would remember my position in manga as position in folder.
I wonder if they'll surprise me positively this time, or if their implementation of folder support won't include remembering position in folder, or file deletion...

[K-Thom]

@ HarryT: Could you please tell which tools you are referring to? I'd sure give them a try.

Indeed I myself also have no problem reading jpg files on the Cybook. I don't bother if the image viewer wasn't supposed to be used that way. Add some folder support, and it would be fine (it takes quite a whiiile when in 20-titles-per-page mode to load the thumbnails).
cbr/cbz/zip support would be great, but I wouldn't count on that in the next update.

A large pdf based on images is IMHO too clumsy and slows down the Cybook dramatically. But that's just my experience. Might work well for others.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

@ HarryT: Could you please tell which tools you are referring to? I'd sure give them a try.

html2mobi in MobiPerl can do it. But I also thought that Mobipocket Creator could do it since a lot of HarryT's books have images larger than 64K.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

html2mobi in MobiPerl can do it. But I also thought that Mobipocket Creator could do it since a lot of HarryT's books have images larger than 64K.

I think it's simply that, for whatever reason, Mobi Creator is occasionally unable to reduce the size to below 64k. It will always attempt to do so.

I suspect it's not really that much of an issue any more. How many people still use 8-bit Palm devices for reading? Certainly nobody's ever told me that they've not been able to read one of my books.

I don't know what a Palm device would do in that circumstance. Refuse to display the book at all, or just fail to display the "offending" image?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think it's simply that, for whatever reason, Mobi Creator is occasionally unable to reduce the size to below 64k. It will always attempt to do so.

Strange, I seem to remember you writing that it was something you could choose in a menu somewhere...

I don't know what a Palm device would do in that circumstance. Refuse to display the book at all, or just fail to display the "offending" image?

It fails to open the book (at least my Palm T5 did that). I would want that behavor to be on all devices so that ePub will come to dominate as a format faster.