Cybook ordering

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by iamcanadian

I would imagine that Bookeen's reader software supports all these formats by using plugins.

Mp3 players support DRM WMA files without having separate software for reading them. All they need is a plugin.

Nope, developed in-house at Bookeen. If it were developed *by* Mobipocket, it would have already supported all the PC-version features of Mobi files, like multiple bookmarks - although it can support lookup of a word if there's a Mobi dictionary file onboard.

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Do you have any specs on this reader?
Does it have pagination?
Does it show total page count?
Does it support bookmarks?
Does it support links with a back button?
How many font sizes?
How many fonts?
Image capability?
zoom?
anything else?

1. Pagination *if* you've embedded a hard page-break in the file. I usually put those in (via BookDesigner) at the start of a chapter and let the Cybook re-flow as-needed whenever I change font family or font size. Works great.

2. Nope. Does *NOT* show total page count. However, it does have a progress bar along the bottom which gives a visual indication of how far you've progressed in the book.

3. One bookmark - auto-generated - which is placed where you left off reading in the book.

4. There *is* a 'Back' menu option, but at this point, all I've gotten it to do is return to the Table of Contents or to where I left off reading after going to the ToC.

5/6. *TWELVE* (12) font sizes and *seven* (7) font families on *my* engineering sample. At the largest size, I can see about 10 lines of 20 characters. At the smallest, well, I gave up counting at 45 lines but got about (and I can't be real sure because the font's characters are so small I need a serious magnifier to *DISTINGUISH* them!) 85 characters!

Derek

[Adam]

Bookeen is a OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture). They went to Mobipocket and bought a license to make a reader using their drm tech. They probably paid money up front and a royalty to every device they sell for the license. Mobipocket tells them how to decrypt the drm'd files and Bookeen builds software for the reader with that know how.

What I would like for Bookeen to do is do the same thing for other drm like adobe digital editions and then sell the software to then be able to read those files. This is fair since Bookeen has to pay the drm tech owner and should see a profit for their extra work to make the software for the other type of ebook. It would be neat if they sold the cybook cheaper with no drm reading software or you could choose to have several types of drm formats supported for extra cost. This would appeal to the people that have other ebook formats or just want to read the drm free formats.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Adam

It would be neat if they sold the cybook cheaper with no drm reading software or you could choose to have several types of drm formats supported for extra cost. This would appeal to the people that have other ebook formats or just want to read the drm free formats.

This would be something nice for sure.

[JSWolf]

One thing that would help capture a big market is eReader format on an eink device. A lot of people have a lot of eReader books that they would lose should they give up using eReader. But if they could take them along, then it would be OK.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

One thing that would help capture a big market is eReader format on an eink device. A lot of people have a lot of eReader books that they would lose should they give up using eReader. But if they could take them along, then it would be OK.

I've mentioned it to them several *DOZEN* times in emails to their marketing and tech departments. Of course, I got absolutely *NO* feedback. This even after pointing out that Bookeen has developed a Mobi-supporting eInk device.

Shame, really... I think eReader's going to fall behind the tech curve on this one.

Derek

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by penty

If you read any of the information that Derek or I have posted all that is answered. But in brief.

4. Simple HTML only at this time, no links. This will improve after the initial release.

Hi Penty,

When you say "no links", do you mean "no links to other documents" or "no links at all"? If simple hyperlinks WITHIN a document don't work, that's very bad news indeed - it means that none of the tables of contents, footnotes, etc, in the MobiPocket books we've created here are going to work

[tompe]

Originally Posted by penty

I
3. One bookmark only at the place you exited the book.

Will more than one bookmark per book be available later? I sometimes read a book to discuss it later in a book circle. Then it is very good to be able to bookmark places you want to discuss. And I have friends that wanted to use a facility to mark many places in cookbooks to make it eaisier to lookup things when cooking.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

although it can support lookup of a word if there's a Mobi dictionary file onboard.

Is this working now or will it work in the future? How do you choose a word to lookup?

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

I've mentioned it to them several *DOZEN* times in emails to their marketing and tech departments. Of course, I got absolutely *NO* feedback. This even after pointing out that Bookeen has developed a Mobi-supporting eInk device.

Shame, really... I think eReader's going to fall behind the tech curve on this one.
Derek

Maybe eReader doesn't want to license their DRM to anyone.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Maybe eReader doesn't want to license their DRM to anyone.

It is their loss then. People will see the eink devices who don't have ebooks and eReader will be left out in the cold. If that's what they want, so be it.But they'd also need to change their formatting and remove the line spaces they have for the smaller devices.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It is their loss then. People will see the eink devices who don't have ebooks and eReader will be left out in the cold. If that's what they want, so be it.But they'd also need to change their formatting and remove the line spaces they have for the smaller devices.

Yes, their simple method of use a credit card number for DRM is easy and simple to use and does not limit the number of readers you can use but it is only conjecture that they have refused to license the technology. We don't even know if Bookeen has even asked them. Bookeen already supports PalmDoc format I believe so it is a simple matter to support eReader by just mapping their keywords for paragraph, etc. to html or mobi versions. DRM is the only really unique item and many books are not DRM anyway.

The formatting is under control of the reading program so I am not sure I understand the comment about line spaces. If you look at an eReader file on a PC where the screen size is large, what do you need to change? Is it just a preference item on the spacing between paragraphs or something more?

Dale

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hi Penty,

When you say "no links", do you mean "no links to other documents" or "no links at all"? If simple hyperlinks WITHIN a document don't work, that's very bad news indeed - it means that none of the tables of contents, footnotes, etc, in the MobiPocket books we've created here are going to work

No links to other documents. You can create links within the document without a problem.

BookDesigner's Notes/Links menu option do a fine job of creating link points. Haven't tried it in Mobipocket Creator, but it's help documentation discusses how to do it.

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by tompe

Is this working now or will it work in the future? How do you choose a word to lookup?

There is, in the Contextual menu when invoked within an ebook, a Lookup menu option. Once invoked, you can then use the navigation and Enter buttons to move to the word you want to look up. Fairly easy, even if somewhat limited to a full lookup as you'd find in MS Word.

Derek

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Maybe eReader doesn't want to license their DRM to anyone.

Maybe eReader's run by idiots...

Derek