Cybook Gen 3 Heeelllpppp! Please

[avid]

Well here is my 2-cents...

I bought a Cybook a few weeks back. Worked fine out of the box - missed some page turns, nothing else. Upgraded to the latest firmware without problem.
Noticed much faster page-turns. Since then, say 2 weeks with reading at least 30 min to 1 hour or more a day, have missed a few page turns, and had 3 freezes on boot. I had left the SD care in place after the firmware update and noted the first freeze, so removed it, but the freeze still happened.

I keep 15-20 books on the internal memory, have not used SD card for books. Use it for backup and flashing firmware. Use the Mobi desktop to transfer, and always use Safely remove hardware...
Also, the books on the device are from this site - Mobi formatted. Nothing I have created or changed.

No other problems, but reading here makes me feel like I am just waiting for more to go wrong...!
Maybe made the wrong choice???

But I love the reader and look forward to more improvements in the future.

[peterbbb]

Cybook seems to be behaving now.

Read all day, switched on and off several times.

Agree that putting ebook files onto the SD card is simple.

I always do the remove hardware bit before removing the SD card form the laptop.

[hmls]

Originally Posted by Mindy

Think it's a matter of personal preference whether you use internal memory or SD card.

It should be a matter of personal preference, but in my case it was a matter of necessity because having to find my place in a book every time I turned the Cybook on was beyond annoying. *Shrug* it is probably the way I would do things anyway, but it does bug me that I can't read a book from the internal memory without fear of losing my place every time I stop reading.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by hmls

It should be a matter of personal preference, but in my case it was a matter of necessity because having to find my place in a book every time I turned the Cybook on was beyond annoying. *Shrug* it is probably the way I would do things anyway, but it does bug me that I can't read a book from the internal memory without fear of losing my place every time I stop reading.

Give it two months and you'll probably be able to read all the ebook formats supported by FBReader and you won't have this problem. Of course, you'll also be running Open Inkpot OS and Madshelf library/bookshelf - but that won't matter as you'll be running all this from the SD card and the Cybook firmware will still be intact on your device.

Derek

[HarryT]

Do you like FBReader, Derek? I tried using it on my iLiad and, much as I tried to like it, I just couldn't live with it.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you like FBReader, Derek? I tried using it on my iLiad and, much as I tried to like it, I just couldn't live with it.

What didn't you like about it?

I used it for about a year on my N800 before getting my Cybook, and I liked it well enough. It won't read DRMed content (but there are..um..Ways Around That ;-)) and it won't do a two-page display like uBook will, so on my laptop uBook still wins, but on screens that are narrow enough to not need that (like my N800) it works just fine for me.

And you can't beat the price :-).

[HarryT]

I found that it handled MobiPocket files very poorly, not respecting a lot of the formatting. It also appears not to support Mobi dictionary lookup (something that's important to me) unless I've overlooked that facility (which is certainly possible!).

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I found that it handled MobiPocket files very poorly, not respecting a lot of the formatting. It also appears not to support Mobi dictionary lookup (something that's important to me) unless I've overlooked that facility (which is certainly possible!).

Well, on the Cybook, Mobipocket doesn't really respect a lot of the formatting. Or maybe the people *doing* the formatting don't give a crap how it shows up. Either way, I spend a lot of time doing formatting to meet my tastes. And when OI and FBReader are installed on the SD card, the basic (*VERY* basic in my opinion) Mobipocket reader app supplied by Bookeen will still be available in the firmware. (Don't know if they'll be accessible under OI, though. Probably have to shut down OI and revert to the Cybook's OS.)

Derek

[PIPO]

Regrettably, we are not warned of the imminent discharge of the battery . To correct during the next firmware...

[hmls]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Give it two months and you'll probably be able to read all the ebook formats supported by FBReader and you won't have this problem. Of course, you'll also be running Open Inkpot OS and Madshelf library/bookshelf - but that won't matter as you'll be running all this from the SD card and the Cybook firmware will still be intact on your device.

Derek

Hmmm... it seems that I am missing something because I have no idea what you are talking about! Please explain because it certainly sounds interesting. Although, as HarryT mentions, no dictionary support is bad. Is Madshelf library/bookshelf something that would give me a decent way to organize and find my books?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by hmls

Hmmm... it seems that I am missing something because I have no idea what you are talking about! Please explain because it certainly sounds interesting. Although, as HarryT mentions, no dictionary support is bad. Is Madshelf library/bookshelf something that would give me a decent way to organize and find my books?

My biggest problem with "dictionary" support is that I can't understand why an average reader needs this! (Okay. I'm willing to admit there *are* people who cannot enjoy reading without having a dictionary to hand. I can't understand *why*, but I accept this to be true. )

Because of this, I don't see the problem.

Madshelf is external to the reading app (in this case FBReader) and deals with things like sorting the display of the library contents, navigating through folders, deleting files - that kind of stuff. One of the big mistakes, in my opinion, is that Bookeen built their library *into* the reading application. After all, having a separate music application, PDF/DJVU viewer application and an ebook reader application - in the case of OI we're talking the MadPlayer/MadMusic (that is hypothetical at this time), MadPDF and FBReader - then Madshelf calls the appropriate app when a file is selected. It's *crazy* to roll the image viewer, the ebook reader and the music player into one app - in my most *humble* opinion.

Derek

[hmls]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

My biggest problem with "dictionary" support is that I can't understand why an average reader needs this!

So you know the meaning of every single word you come across in a book? I certainly don't and I consider myself to have a pretty decent vocabulary. Sure, I can usually get the general gist of a word from the context, but I like to look up words I'm not sure about and get the whole definition.

It's *crazy* to roll the image viewer, the ebook reader and the music player into one app - in my most *humble* opinion.

I can certainly agree with that!

Does FBReader handle html better than the Cybook?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by hmls

So you know the meaning of every single word you come across in a book? I certainly don't and I consider myself to have a pretty decent vocabulary. Sure, I can usually get the general gist of a word from the context, but I like to look up words I'm not sure about and get the whole definition.

I can certainly agree with that!

Does FBReader handle html better than the Cybook?

Let's just say that I've got an impressive vocabulary and leave it at that.

Yes, FBReader handles HTML better.

Derek

[ErwinOtten]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

My biggest problem with "dictionary" support is that I can't understand why an average reader needs this! (Okay. I'm willing to admit there *are* people who cannot enjoy reading without having a dictionary to hand. I can't understand *why*, but I accept this to be true. )
Derek

Very simple, since I'm not a native speaker (of English, I am a native Dutch speaker ) and I like to read my books in English when they are originally written in it, a dictionary is very handy.

I bet you couldn't read a single line in Dutch without a dictionary

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

Very simple, since I'm not a native speaker (of English, I am a native Dutch speaker ) and I like to read my books in English when they are originally written in it, a dictionary is very handy.

I bet you couldn't read a single line in Dutch without a dictionary

The *first* thing that comes to mind is *why* would I read a Dutch novel? Not that there's anything wrong with the language or the people, just that I've got a surfeit of novels available to me in English. I'd have to read something like 300 books per *DAY* if I were to read each and every English-language novel released in a given year. Given that, and that, not living there, I'm not in-tune with Dutch culture, there's no real drive for me to read in that language. That's also why you won't see me reading Chinese, Bangladeshi or Zimbabwean novels. I'm bloody well having to "pick and choose" NOW!

But yes, I can understand why you might want decent dictionary support. Truly I can.

(Of course, given that I *did* study German for three years and Spanish for five, I suppose I could pick up Dutch in a half-year if I were motivated to do so.)

Derek