Scanned books - a rant - Page 2

vivaldirules · 11-07-2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delphidb96

I believe it's more a case of 'the electronic files might walk out the door in "unauthorized" hands'.

Derek

I know nothing about this but your answer feels quite plausible to me and consistent with the paranoia I sense in the publishing industry. But to discard something as useful as digital copies of your product because you're not sure you can trust the few employees who will have to keep them secure? Does that make any sense? (okay, this one is rhetorical)

Strether · 11-07-2007, 02:48 PM

A week or so ago, I downloaded "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross, a newly published book on Twentieth Century classical music. $24, though $19-something at Amazon. I'm only part way through, but already it's disconcerting to see Leoš Janáček repeatedly referred to as Leos? and his opera Jenůfa rendered repeatedly as Jen ů fa, with the "ů" in a different font. Not a very professional-looking product, though the book is published by Farrar, Straus & Geroux.

Also, the links provided are only one-way. You can get from the TOC to a chapter, but you can't return to the TOC. You have to go through the menu if you want to look at the TOC again, which is a real pain.

Doubt that I'll be going to the Sony Bookstore for anything more than throw-away stuff anytime soon.

Jim

Steven Lyle Jordan · 11-07-2007, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delphidb96

I believe it's more a case of 'the electronic files might walk out the door in "unauthorized" hands'.

Derek

Not that that should make any difference to them, since they hold the rights, and no one else would be able to print and sell their books without their permission...

I don't think publishers were afraid of pilfering employees, as much as they were afraid of the "newfangled computer-dingus blowing a fuse or catching a cold, or something" and screwing up their carefully-crafted business model... uh, books.

bowerbird · 11-07-2007, 04:37 PM

derek said:
> I believe it's more a case of 'the electronic files
> might walk out the door in "unauthorized" hands'.

even with the files, an outsider will have as much (more?)
trouble trying to "piece together" the mish-mash into a
coherent whole that's an accurate rendition of the p-book.

scanning the p-book would be the easiest way, long-run...

-bowerbird

vivaldirules · 11-07-2007, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strether

A week or so ago, I downloaded "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross, a newly published book on Twentieth Century classical music. $24, though $19-something at Amazon. I'm only part way through, but already it's disconcerting to see Leoš Janáček repeatedly referred to as Leos? and his opera Jenůfa rendered repeatedly as Jen ů fa, with the "ů" in a different font. Not a very professional-looking product, though the book is published by Farrar, Straus & Geroux.

Also, the links provided are only one-way. You can get from the TOC to a chapter, but you can't return to the TOC. You have to go through the menu if you want to look at the TOC again, which is a real pain.

Doubt that I'll be going to the Sony Bookstore for anything more than throw-away stuff anytime soon.

Jim

I've had good ebooks and bad ebooks from Sony. From this I assume (1) that it's mainly the publisher who did or did not do a good job checking the quality of what they submitted to Sony, and (2) that Sony doesn't routinely do anything with these except format them for the Reader and then sell them. About returning to the TOC, I didn't know this was possible. Hmmm. I must read manual.

NatCh · 11-07-2007, 05:07 PM

They also buy a lot of their texts via distribution houses such as Rosetta Books, I've noticed ... less than stellar quality in several Rosetta Books titles.

RWood · 11-07-2007, 05:47 PM

Rosetta is not picking on Sony alone, they are routinely bad across all formats that I have used. Most publishers that I have been in contact with recently keep the book in a single file throughout the editorial period and deliver it to production that way. If it is chopped up into pieces it is in the final production stage, not the editorial stage.

Strether · 11-07-2007, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

About returning to the TOC, I didn't know this was possible. Hmmm. I must read manual.

Any of the chapter links in books formatted by BD allow you to return to the TOC. And footnotes are also two-way, else they would be impossible.

Jim

jharker · 11-12-2007, 03:25 PM

I use the iLiad, not Sony, but I have had the same problem. I bought several Mobipocket books from mainstream e-book websites (Fictionwise, Mobipocket.com) and found the quality to be horrendous. The only explanation I could come up with was that they scan/OCR the books from a paper copy and don't proofread it at all.

One book, "The Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut, had obvious and repeated errors throughout, including a lot of stuff that should have been picked up by a simple spell-checker.

The other book, "My Man Jeeves", by P.G. Wodehouse, was actually missing every single quotation mark throughout the entire book.

It turns out that "My Man Jeeves" is in the public domain, so I downloaded a copy from Project Gutenberg, and it was almost letter-perfect.

Needless to say, I haven't bought any commercial e-books for quite a while. I only read public-domain stuff now. If the publishing industry wants my money again, they'll have to publish e-books with the same quality as paper books.

JSWolf · 11-12-2007, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strether

Also, the links provided are only one-way. You can get from the TOC to a chapter, but you can't return to the TOC. You have to go through the menu if you want to look at the TOC again, which is a real pain.

Do know that the 500/505 have a history back/forward feature while reading a book?. So you can go from the ToC to say Chapter 5 and use the history back to go back to the ToC again.

JSWolf · 11-12-2007, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

They also buy a lot of their texts via distribution houses such as Rosetta Books, I've noticed ... less than stellar quality in several Rosetta Books titles.

I've also seen books in Mobi format and MS Reader format that are from Rosetta Books as well. It's not just an issue for Sony.

JSWolf · 11-12-2007, 07:02 PM

I have found books from Simon & Schuster to be pretty good. Granted, I've only read some of their Star Trek books, but at least Rosetta Books had nothing to do with them.

AnemicOak · 11-12-2007, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have found books from Simon & Schuster to be pretty good. Granted, I've only read some of their Star Trek books, but at least Rosetta Books had nothing to do with them.

I've just read a couple of books I got from Simon & Schuster (non-Trek) & they seem fine too.

maxk · 11-12-2007, 09:11 PM

Perhaps they should provide a 1 page extracted sample for those of us interested in checking the quality before purchase? This should be zero effort for them to batch extract a page for each book.

When I'm about to purchase a paper book I usually flick through to find margin and page problems before purchase. We should entitled to a similar preview for digital purchases, especially with paper-book prices a lot of them are charging, or be able to get money back once we've downloaded it and find it too hard to read.

HarryT · 11-13-2007, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jharker

It turns out that "My Man Jeeves" is in the public domain, so I downloaded a copy from Project Gutenberg, and it was almost letter-perfect.

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by downloading a version nicely formatted for the Sony Reader from the book uploads forum section here.

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11-07-2007, 02:48 PM	#17
Strether Guru Posts: 765 Karma: 2825929 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fresno Device: Kindle 1; iPad Air; iPhone 7; Kobo Libra; Kindle Oasis 3	A week or so ago, I downloaded "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross, a newly published book on Twentieth Century classical music. $24, though $19-something at Amazon. I'm only part way through, but already it's disconcerting to see Leoš Janáček repeatedly referred to as Leos? and his opera Jenůfa rendered repeatedly as Jen ů fa, with the "ů" in a different font. Not a very professional-looking product, though the book is published by Farrar, Straus & Geroux. Also, the links provided are only one-way. You can get from the TOC to a chapter, but you can't return to the TOC. You have to go through the menu if you want to look at the TOC again, which is a real pain. Doubt that I'll be going to the Sony Bookstore for anything more than throw-away stuff anytime soon. Jim

11-07-2007, 04:37 PM	#19
bowerbird Banned Posts: 269 Karma: -273 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: los angeles	derek said: > I believe it's more a case of 'the electronic files > might walk out the door in "unauthorized" hands'. even with the files, an outsider will have as much (more?) trouble trying to "piece together" the mish-mash into a coherent whole that's an accurate rendition of the p-book. scanning the p-book would be the easiest way, long-run... -bowerbird

11-07-2007, 05:07 PM	#21
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	They also buy a lot of their texts via distribution houses such as Rosetta Books, I've noticed ... less than stellar quality in several Rosetta Books titles.

11-07-2007, 05:47 PM	#22
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Rosetta is not picking on Sony alone, they are routinely bad across all formats that I have used. Most publishers that I have been in contact with recently keep the book in a single file throughout the editorial period and deliver it to production that way. If it is chopped up into pieces it is in the final production stage, not the editorial stage.

11-12-2007, 03:25 PM	#24
jharker Developer Posts: 345 Karma: 3473 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Device: iRex iLiad v1, Blackberry Tour, Kindle DX, iPad.	I use the iLiad, not Sony, but I have had the same problem. I bought several Mobipocket books from mainstream e-book websites (Fictionwise, Mobipocket.com) and found the quality to be horrendous. The only explanation I could come up with was that they scan/OCR the books from a paper copy and don't proofread it at all. One book, "The Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut, had obvious and repeated errors throughout, including a lot of stuff that should have been picked up by a simple spell-checker. The other book, "My Man Jeeves", by P.G. Wodehouse, was actually missing every single quotation mark throughout the entire book. It turns out that "My Man Jeeves" is in the public domain, so I downloaded a copy from Project Gutenberg, and it was almost letter-perfect. Needless to say, I haven't bought any commercial e-books for quite a while. I only read public-domain stuff now. If the publishing industry wants my money again, they'll have to publish e-books with the same quality as paper books.

11-12-2007, 07:02 PM	#27
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,758 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I have found books from Simon & Schuster to be pretty good. Granted, I've only read some of their Star Trek books, but at least Rosetta Books had nothing to do with them.

11-12-2007, 09:11 PM	#29
maxk Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 14 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: Sony PRS-505	Perhaps they should provide a 1 page extracted sample for those of us interested in checking the quality before purchase? This should be zero effort for them to batch extract a page for each book. When I'm about to purchase a paper book I usually flick through to find margin and page problems before purchase. We should entitled to a similar preview for digital purchases, especially with paper-book prices a lot of them are charging, or be able to get money back once we've downloaded it and find it too hard to read.

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