Page Numbers in electronix text formats

[pilotbob]

Great post on a blog I read about batteries and chargers... and reco's on which type to get.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001078.html

BOb

[bob_ninja]

Harry,

There has been 2 primary development directions for batteries, such as Lithium Ion based chemistry. A lot of electronics batteries have been pushing for the maximum capacity in order to provide the longest runtime. One of the tricks for increasing capacity involved using thinner separators. It is shorts caused by broken separators that caused those fires and other accidents. So the end results was higher capacity and more fragile batteries that would not last very long. This problem was made worse by having devices like laptops drawing a lot of power (due to bigger LCD screens and more functionality like WiFi). The end result is batteries that last only a few years.

So your statements is correct regarding this design approach. Even so, they can last 5 and 10 years even when power draw is lower, such as eReaders. I fully expect our Cybook batteries to last 10 years, probably more. So while lifespan is limited, there is a big difference between 2-3 years and 10+ years.

More recently the new Lithium chemistries are being developed for power tools and cars. These sacrifice some capacity (lower) for a much more robust design that lasts much longer. So for instance GM Volt car demands that its batteries last at least 10 years, while supplying much higher power demands from a car. These should easily last 10 to 20 years.

So while all batteries do have a limited lifespan, they can differ a great deal. Some people reported their 20+ year old NiCd batteries still working!

What I was trying to say that there is again a tradeoff being made. More functionality causes more power draw that both reduces battery runtime and battery lifespan. Personally I prefer that device designer is more selective about functionality. Most makers these days just keep putting in more and more and couldn't care less about battery.

[bob_ninja]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Great post on a blog I read about batteries and chargers... and reco's on which type to get.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001078.html

BOb

Yes, decent link. Just glimpsed it quickly.

Couple of notes. Like he said go with the lower capacity LSDs (low self discharge rate) batteries like Eneloop and hybrids. Most 2500 mAh and higher capacity batteries tend not to last.

BC900 is a nice charger. However, make sure to increase the charge rate. Default 200 mA rate it too slow. For instance, for a 2000 mAh battery go with a 1000 mA rate.

[HarryT]

Thanks Bob - that's extremely interesting information.

[James Bryant]

I am currently reading a book with well over 3000 pages - and when I turn it on it always goes to a page around 2700, irrespective of where I turned it off. It is a monumental pain to have to find the place again (for some reason the bookmarks don't work, either) and a running page number display would be a real help.

Incidentally the justifications [A] that adequate pagination uses too much power and processing, and [B] that too few readers require it, do not hold water. It is all very well to be understanding about the costs and complications of developing an ebook to a price with limited resources but if the product does not do what the customer expects it will not sell. This was the problem with a number of Clive Sinclair's world-changing innovations - they were the first, but their defects were such that as soon as there was any competition the Sinclair device was so obviously inferior that they lost out quickly.

Readers of paper books expect them to have page numbers to simplify navigation. If migration from dead tree to ebook is to be successful the new medium must offer all the same conveniences and more, anything missing is a scourge for the backs of the ebook promoters. And if some ebooks have the feature the ones that do not will lose out.

If real pages (one screenful) are too really much trouble, it is likely that an "epage" of 512 words would be acceptable.

James

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by James Bryant

I am currently reading a book with well over 3000 pages - and when I turn it on it always goes to a page around 2700, irrespective of where I turned it off. It is a monumental pain to have to find the place again (for some reason the bookmarks don't work, either) and a running page number display would be a real help.

Incidentally the justifications [A] that adequate pagination uses too much power and processing, and [B] that too few readers require it, do not hold water. It is all very well to be understanding about the costs and complications of developing an ebook to a price with limited resources but if the product does not do what the customer expects it will not sell. This was the problem with a number of Clive Sinclair's world-changing innovations - they were the first, but their defects were such that as soon as there was any competition the Sinclair device was so obviously inferior that they lost out quickly.

Readers of paper books expect them to have page numbers to simplify navigation. If migration from dead tree to ebook is to be successful the new medium must offer all the same conveniences and more, anything missing is a scourge for the backs of the ebook promoters. And if some ebooks have the feature the ones that do not will lose out.

If real pages (one screenful) are too really much trouble, it is likely that an "epage" of 512 words would be acceptable.

James

As long as you're having this problem when returning to the last page you read, I'd agree that knowing what "page" to jump to is important. And it indicates there's a problem in the program. I'd like to know if, when you say "3,000 page", you mean 3,000 e-book pages or 3,000 dead-tree pages. Could be that a 3,000 page book (in TPB or HC format) falls out to a much larger page count on an ebook - maybe even large enough that it violates Mobipocket's preconceptions about page count. I know that the David Weber book "Empire from the Ashes" runs to 784 pages in HC but runs to well over 2,400 on the Cybook when I use Georgia font and the font size that works best for me. That's a 3x page-count multiplier. Perhaps there's a limit for the bookmarking software where it presumes nothing higher than 8,000 pages???

Derek

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by James Bryant

I am currently reading a book with well over 3000 pages - and when I turn it on it always goes to a page around 2700, irrespective of where I turned it off. It is a monumental pain to have to find the place again (for some reason the bookmarks don't work, either) and a running page number display would be a real help.

Actually, what would help is if the reader properly remembered your last read page. I never have this problem on my Sony. It remembers the last page for every book on it and choosing "continue reading" after selecting the book brings me right to that page.

Frankly the Sony does have page numbers, but I don't really pay attention to what page I am on.

So rather than asking for a bandaid I think CyBook users would want a fix for the autolastpage remembering (or whatever you'd call it) feature which to me is MUCH more basic than displaying page numbers for an ebook reader.

BOb

[Prospect]

The issue with remembering bookmarks and the last page was resolved when I replaced the SD card delivered by Bookeen with one from SanDisk. The same has been reported from others.

I have started on a wiki entry for page numbers, that could need further contributions.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

So rather than asking for a bandaid I think CyBook users would want a fix for the autolastpage remembering (or whatever you'd call it) feature which to me is MUCH more basic than displaying page numbers for an ebook reader.

The reason for wanting some numerical indication of were you are in the book are not to work around this bug. But having these indicators and possibility to jump to numerical positions will be a work around for the bug or design misfeature. There are no confirmed instances when problem with bookmarks was not caused by a corrupt file system. Switching to another card of course solves the problem since the file system is not corrupt on the other card.

With the current design file corruption will sometimes cause the Cybook not remembering the last position. So when you have fixed the file corruption you need a way to jump to where you were in the book.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by tompe

There are no confirmed instances when problem with bookmarks was not caused by a corrupt file system.

I've experienced this several times. It was solved after switching off the Cybook and then on again, so if it was a filesystem corruption, it was a temporary one. It has happened with books in the SD card as well as in the internal memory.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Jellby

I've experienced this several times. It was solved after switching off the Cybook and then on again, so if it was a filesystem corruption, it was a temporary one. It has happened with books in the SD card as well as in the internal memory.

If you have some corruption and you try to write to that position then I think the file system is remounted read only. Rebooting will then mount it read/write and if you do not trigger a read only remount it will work.

[James Bryant]

The book in question is all Miller & Lee's "Liaden" books and chapbooks condensed into a single "book" so it's probably about 2500 pages on paper. I use the smallest practicable font size in my ebooks, but have not yet taken the step of reducing line spacing from standard.

James - who has also "compressed" Bujold's "Vorkosiverse", Moon's "Familias Regnant" series, and all John Buchan's Leithen, Hanny and McCunn novels, and is working on other favourites.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by James Bryant

The book in question is all Miller & Lee's "Liaden" books and chapbooks condensed into a single "book" so it's probably about 2500 pages on paper. I use the smallest practicable font size in my ebooks, but have not yet taken the step of reducing line spacing from standard.

James - who has also "compressed" Bujold's "Vorkosiverse", Moon's "Familias Regnant" series, and all John Buchan's Leithen, Hanny and McCunn novels, and is working on other favourites.

Y'know... I *have* that set of books, but I chose to download them as individual ebooks and haven't bothered to 'condense' them into one book. Not sure I'd want to do so after hearing about your problems!

Of course, these wouldn't be issues if we could get decent folder/sub-folder navigation which would allow us to store all the Liad stories into one sub-folder.

Derek

[James Bryant]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Y'know... I *have* that set of books, but I chose to download them as individual ebooks and haven't bothered to 'condense' them into one book. <SNIP!>

Derek

There is much less need to condense with the Cybook - with the REB1100 there is a size limit of 200 books set by the firmware. The 128 MB card will hold more but there are only 200 "slots" in the index. So combining several books as one "book" allows me to carry more books on one card.

James - whose initial interest in ebooks was sparked by the wish to be able to carry more books with him as he traveled

[Happy Reader]

I would love page numbers, or word count, or percentage. This is partly because to get me through parts of books I find less interesting I try to get through a certain number of page turns in a sitting. However one measure no-one else seems to have mentioned is stitch count. Only available for those with the standard cover and very arbitrary - however I find it useful to note that I am say 141/2 stitches out of the 24 that align to the progress bar! Bizarre but possibly helpful to others I hope! HR