Firmware Updates

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Teddman

There's forever, and then there's three years or so that Sony's bookstore has been online. And as I posted on page 2, there was actually a guarantee of sorts that Sony's LRF/LRX format would continue to be supported by Sony's readers and stores, per their press release.

I don't think anyone would be complaining if Sony simply updated their reader firmware so that it correctly supported ePub. Replacing a native format with an inferior format (as displayed on their readers) is a bad business decision any way you slice it.

I would love if Sony upgraded the epub support on my 505. I would also love full unicode support without hacking. I don't expect this to happen, though. But if you love the LRF format so much, why don't you convert other formats to LRF with calibre?

Their store is not very competitive either way, the switch to epub did make sense (they can sell to a wider audience), but their pricing doesn't.

[Teddman]

Oh, converting to LRF is what I do 100% of the time, barring the odd rtf file or pre-formatted pdf.

I just think it's a pain that there is hardly a store out there where you can buy books for Sony's readers in a justified format (without de-DRM'ing and converting). At least their store served some purpose when it offered LRF. As it is, I can only recommend their readers to tech savvy people who don't mind doing the convert process or who don't mind ragged right. Which is a shame because Sony's hardware and onboard UI is the best, imo.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Teddman

Oh, converting to LRF is what I do 100% of the time, barring the odd rtf file or pre-formatted pdf.

I just think it's a pain that there is hardly a store out there where you can buy books for Sony's readers in a justified format (without de-DRM'ing and converting). At least their store served some purpose when it offered LRF. As it is, I can only recommend their readers to tech savvy people who don't mind doing the convert process or who don't mind ragged right. Which is a shame because Sony's hardware and onboard UI is the best, imo.

The big question is: would you pay 20% more just to have the book in LRX format (with DRM that couldn't be removed!) with full justification, rather than getting it as Epub or Mobi and either accept the ragged right edge or do the conversion yourself. Obviously the answer was a resounding NO for most people, or Sony would not have made the switch. Price and the DRM were obvious reasons most people did not shop at the Sony store. Now they have removed at least one of those problem areas.

[HarryT]

Surely ePub is a clear winner in that it gives you complete device independence, too? With LRX books, you're tied to Sony. With ePub, you can buy pretty much any brand of reader on the market (except Amazon) and still read all your books. For the consumer, it seems like a clear "win-win" situation.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Hopefully next year Amazon will see the light and also switch to epub .

Well, we can always dream .

If you're saying that another standard may take over from ePub in 2011, I think that's rather unlikely. Whatever format the Apple iPad uses will probably grab some market share, but I honestly can't see it displacing ePub as the dominant standard - not, at least, next year.

iBook is going to be using ePub with a non-Adobe DRM. But under the DRM will be ePub. So even Apple is embracing ePub for eBooks.

[LenzGr]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

Onyx has posted 4 updates since January. 1.1 in January. 1.2 quickly followed by a bug patching 1.2.1 in February and now 1.3 in March. A function has been added with each one. They have stated what they expect to have done by 1.5.

And in the middle of this there were complaints about them not publishing updates. Complaints about only finding out about an update by looking at forums. There was a 1.2.2 firmware that went out with some units that had SOME of the things they wanted in for 1.3 but people were annoyed they couldn't get it straight from Onyx and got it from the user community.

I guess i sort of understand that. But I think being angry, when there have been 3 useful upgrades in 3 months, is a little much.

I guess you are referring to my post about this. I am sorry if it sounded like I was angry about them publishing updates - quite the contrary! In fact, I am very happy that they are busy working on improving the device's functionality and ironing out the bugs in the firmware.

However, I was irritated by the fact that these newer firmware versions were only handed out to distributors (which in turn posted them on different forums) and not made available for download from their public web pages. What confused me was the attitude that these updates are "unofficial/unsupported", while they were in fact being installed and shipped on devices purchased through the respective distributors. I complained that distributors were considered more "important" than existing users.

I hope that clarifies my point.

[MikeOnyx]

Originally Posted by LenzGr

I guess you are referring to my post about this. I am sorry if it sounded like I was angry about them publishing updates - quite the contrary! In fact, I am very happy that they are busy working on improving the device's functionality and ironing out the bugs in the firmware.

However, I was irritated by the fact that these newer firmware versions were only handed out to distributors (which in turn posted them on different forums) and not made available for download from their public web pages. What confused me was the attitude that these updates are "unofficial/unsupported", while they were in fact being installed and shipped on devices purchased through the respective distributors. I complained that distributors were considered more "important" than existing users.

I hope that clarifies my point.

They were "unofficial" because they were if anything, "test" updates. Many of them were released to certain individuals ONLY to be tested, not to be officially released. However, despite this, it was still released to the public by certain people, when again, they were never meant to be.

Also, please be wary of all "unofficial" updates from now on not released directly from Onyx as they may possibly have more issues than they fix.

[Zetmolm]

They were "unofficial" because they were if anything, "test" updates. Many of them were released to certain individuals ONLY to be tested, not to be officially released.

They may have been intended as test releases, but still, I am aware of 3 recent "unofficial" releases, and they all looked very "official":
- The 1.2.2 version dated Jan. 20 was installed on new devices that were shipped to customers. That does not look "unofficial".
- The "Russian" 1.2.2 version of Feb 10 was published on the website of the "official" Russian distributor.
- Last week's 1.2.2 version (which turned out to be the same as 1.3) was published on the site of the "official" US distributor.

In none of these situations the firmware versions were presented as "test" updates only.

Also, please be wary of all "unofficial" updates from now on not released directly from Onyx as they may possibly have more issues than they fix.

Yes, that makes sense, as long as we are told that the updates are unofficial. An upgrade on the site of an official distributor does look like something released directly from Onyx.

Still, I believe you, Mike, when you say that these upgrades were meant as test versions. I guess we need to consider that the whole thing is pretty new for Onyx and the distributors, and some people underestimated how eager people would be to get firmware updates. Let's hope they learn from the whole situation and manage to improve their release management.