Sony 700 (built-in light) vs Cybook (Mobi)

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

That said, in the US i would always recommend the Kindle first... content, content, content.

Bob, you say it and every Kindle owner seems to say it (as well as some non-Kindle owners) as if it has any real meaning: "content, content, content."

I'm not disputing raw numbers -- Amazon currently has nearly 4 times the numbers of something available for the Kindle (I say "something" because not all of it is books and some are redundant). But that is meaningless. If Amazon or Sony or Fictionwise had 1 gazillion more books available than any of its competitors but not the 1 book I want, what good is it?

Rather than "content, content, content" the advice should be for a person to check each of the stores and discover which has a selection that the individual is interested in reading. For example, I have absolutely no interest in Romance, Horror, Short Stories (omnibuses thereof), or Poetry categories, so even if Amazon offers 100 times the numbers that Sony offers in those categories, it is meaningless to me and the Kindle could turn out to be a poor choice for me because of the number distortion. OTOH, if I mainly read Romance category books, Amazon and the Kindle might be a better choice than the Sony.

The other problem with the content mantra is that it focuses on a single store -- what Amazon offers for its Kindle in comparison, say, to what Sony offers for its Reader. But a better and more realistic comparison if raw numbers are all that count, is to count and compare all ebooks available in all formats that the Kindle can read natively versus those available in all formats that another device can read. I suspect -- but admit that I do not know -- that the numbers gap would be significantly smaller.

And one final problem with the content mantra is that it ignores future trends. For example, we know that Hachette and Penguin plan to release all their ebooks in the ePub format -- not the Kindle or Sony format. Granted Amazon and Sony will be able to convert to their proprietary formats (assuming they have agreements to do so), but if ePub is the future trend and if the idea is to buy a reading device today and keep it for a while, then perhaps a device that can read ePub is a smarter move.

Anyway, raw numbers matter little; the real content question is "Is what I want to read available for the device I want to read it on."

My 2 cents towards the $64 question.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by starrigger

As for font size, I didn't know you could set that in the conversion. But I'm not sure that answers my need, anyway. The reason I want to be able to set to a big font is so I can flop into bed without my glasses and read in the dark until I conk. (Hm. I hadn't thought about conking and rolling over on a $400 reader. So far I've only dropped my PDA once.) But for reading in the daytime, I'd want to set that same book to a small or medium font. So flexibility in the type size does matter to me. (I looked at a 505 in the Sony store and concluded that selecting the largest font on the display books was probably inadequate for me.)

Jeff, I have Calibre set to convert all books to the default font size of 12 points. This means that on the Small setting in my Sony 505 i can read just fine but if i want to read without my glasses (something I rarely do, even in bed), I can zoom to Medium or Large and the zooming begins from the 12 point font, not from a smaller font, so Large can get pretty darn large.

As for rolling over on the device, I suggest you buy (assuming you buy the Sony) Sony's extended warranty that covers accidental damage. I bought a 3-year policy for $70 when I got my 505. Haven't needed it yet, but now I worry less when my wife wants to use the 505 -- she tends to fall asleep while reading and has rolled over on her books .

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Jeff, I have Calibre set to convert all books to the default font size of 12 points. This means that on the Small setting in my Sony 505 i can read just fine but if i want to read without my glasses (something I rarely do, even in bed), I can zoom to Medium or Large and the zooming begins from the 12 point font, not from a smaller font, so Large can get pretty darn large.

As for rolling over on the device, I suggest you buy (assuming you buy the Sony) Sony's extended warranty that covers accidental damage. I bought a 3-year policy for $70 when I got my 505. Haven't needed it yet, but now I worry less when my wife wants to use the 505 -- she tends to fall asleep while reading and has rolled over on her books .

Okay, I see now where you set that in Calibre. Good to know--though I'm not really considering the 505 very seriously. I'm really weighing the built-in light on one hand (700) versus the convenience of sticking with Mobi format on the other (Cybook). Both, as I understand, have more font flexibility than the 505.

I was mentally adding the price of insurance to the already considerable price of the 700.

[starrigger]

Speaking of Calibre, can it be used to convert to epub format? I've seen a lot of references to things like mobi2lrf and whatnot, which I sort of thought were command-line subroutines of Calibre, but I haven't quite caught the full picture.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Speaking of Calibre, can it be used to convert to epub format?

Yes it can.

BOb

[starrigger]

Is there an easy way to say how?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Is there an easy way to say how?

Ah... well then. Click on the hammer icon to the right of the search bar to bring up the config dialog. You will see output format. Set it to ePUb.

Now, when you do a conversion it will convert to ePub rather than LRF. I'm pretty sure that will be the format that is sent to device also.



BOb

[slayda]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ah... well then. Click on the hammer icon to the right of the search bar to bring up the config dialog. You will see output format. Set it to ePUb.

Now, when you do a conversion it will convert to ePub rather than LRF. I'm pretty sure that will be the format that is sent to device also.



BOb

Bob, what does it mean "Format for single save file"?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by slayda

Bob, what does it mean "Format for single save file"?

When you do save to disk with the pull down option. The first two options save all of the formats for each book... but the third option saves only 1 format... that which is selected as the single format save option.

So below.. I have mine set to PRC... so my drop down shows as:



BOb

[starrigger]

I'm curious whether folks who have the Sony readers notice a difference in the quality of the display between a file converted to LRF and one converted to epub. I can't see any difference, viewing in my Sony PC desktop reader; but I don't necessarily trust that.

At Tor they've stopped making LRF formatted books, and are making epub files instead. Are people finding this satisfactory on the Sony devices?

Oh--and thanks for the info, Bob!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by starrigger

I'm curious whether folks who have the Sony readers notice a difference in the quality of the display between a file converted to LRF and one converted to epub. I can't see any difference, viewing in my Sony PC desktop reader; but I don't necessarily trust that.

At Tor they've stopped making LRF formatted books, and are making epub files instead. Are people finding this satisfactory on the Sony devices?

Oh--and thanks for the info, Bob!

ePub allows for much more sophisticated formatting than does LRF. Of course, there's nothing forcing them to make use of the extra capabilities, but they are available should a publisher wish to.

[pdurrant]

I have a CyBook, and also a need for a light that won't disturb my wife.

I tried a paperback-size light wedge, but it didn't really work well, and the light also leaks from the edges, which isn't good.

What I did find excellent, rather to my surprise, was the Mighty Bright XtraFlex 2 LED clip-in light

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TXZIDM/

You wouldn't really expect a LED light to be useful for reading, but the "LumaLenz" actuall does work perfectly to spread the light evenly in a limited area, with very little spill outside that area.

And it's cheap enough it's worth getting to test to see if it will do for your needs.

Originally Posted by starrigger

I know I could use a clip-on light for the 505 or the Cybook, but that gets us into clumsyland (and probably a light more likely to disturb my sleeping wife). I thought about the light wedge for the 505, but one strike against that for me is the limited zoom on the font size.

[Liviu_5]

Originally Posted by starrigger

I'm curious whether folks who have the Sony readers notice a difference in the quality of the display between a file converted to LRF and one converted to epub. I can't see any difference, viewing in my Sony PC desktop reader; but I don't necessarily trust that.

I never used an epub file until now, but I've just converted the book I've finished last night - Peacekeeper by L. Reeve - and I am currently rereading to epub to see the differences between the epub version and the lrf version I used.

I used Calibre default settings for both and the original file was prc.

There are 3 main differences that I see at a glance:

- epub file is smaller in size than the lrf - 250kb against 700 kb for lrf - but is slower on the 700, in search, resize, open. Page turn may also be slower but not noticeably so, it still seems almost instantaneous to me. The 30s continuous page turning test I posted about in the 700 forum probably would show that.

- epub file looks nicer than the lrf one in some ways. That's a matter of taste/settings though. It looks "pdf" like in some ways, so it has a more "polished" look

-epub file has fixed paging irrespective of font - 248 -, but each Sony screen counts for several pages. At S it is 1.5 screen per page number so we get page 14, page 14-15, page 15. At M it is about 3 screens per page number.
That is also similar to how pdf files work on the 700.
The lrf files adjust page numbers based on font size and have one screen per page number always.

Since Fbreader on my 770 has fixed # bytes per page number I am used to screen/page number not being 1-1 so it's not a big deal.

Overall, I like the epub look, more polished, pdf-like quality, and the smaller file size is a plus. The somewhat slower navigation - still reasonably fast - may be a problem though, so I am not sure if I will stay with lrf or move to epub for future books.

[starrigger]

Thanks for the feedback on both the light and the epub output. That's really what I meant--how epub output from Calibre looks on a Sony Reader compared to the lrf. I noticed myself when I did a test conversion that the file size was smaller (than the source prc). Definitely a plus.

One reason I wondered was, if I do go with the Sony, which format to mass convert my prc files to. The epub would have the virtue of being usable on other devices, as well. (For example, if my wife winds up getting the ipod touch she's longing for.)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by starrigger

One reason I wondered was, if I do go with the Sony, which format to mass convert my prc files to. The epub would have the virtue of being usable on other devices, as well. (For example, if my wife winds up getting the ipod touch she's longing for.)

The good thing is that calibre makes it easy to do both. Just convert them to both. Also... with calibre you can run the content server so an iPhone/iTouch can download the books via wireless... it will list all the books in the calibre library that are in epub format.

BOb