Cybook Gen3 samples getting ready!!!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Egghead

This is something I'd certainly like to know. I think the ghosting IS bad. Headache-inducing bad. If it's as bad on the Cybook as on the reader, then it will be a deal-breaker for me.

You must have seen a Reader with extraordinarily bad ghosting. On most, it's barely noticeable, and is less visible than the "bleed through" of ink from the other side of the page that one gets in many printed books. Do you get headaches due to this effect in printed books too?

[rlauzon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry? MobiPocket Reader is available for a wide range of different hardware platforms - it most definitely is not "single platform" and you certainly don't need to run XP to use it.

Then tell us where the OSX or Linux version of the reader can be downloaded.

Tell us where the non-Windows version of their eBook creator can be downloaded.

Tell us where the full for their ebook format can be read so that someone can create these applications if MobiPocket doesn't want to make them.

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Then tell us where the OSX or Linux version of the reader can be downloaded.

Tell us where the non-Windows version of their eBook creator can be downloaded.

Tell us where the full for their ebook format can be read so that someone can create these applications if MobiPocket doesn't want to make them.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I should clarify (since some need clarification) that when I said "single platform" I was referring to pc platforms. And I mean the broader definition of the term "pc" not the Windows centric definition. Yes I know cell phones, dvd players, and even my car all have computers imbedded in them running some sort of OS. But until they gain the functionality of my laptop I still think of them as devices- not as platforms running an OS. My Sony Reader (and the Cybook) I'm told run Linux, but until someone opens it up so I can run third party apps or they add apps that extend it's functionality its still just a device.

And speaking of Cybook running Linux... If the Cybook has a Mobipocket client that is apparently written for Linux, how is it they can't release the same for desktop/laptop users? And as I understand it, it is a very small step to port from linux to OSX. They say they don't have the resources, but really- how many more Mac and Linux users are out there than Cybook users? I have it on good authority that some are even literate!

[NatCh]

The iLiad runs Linux, too, and has a Mobipocket reader app. I believe its Linux version is the same as the Reader's.

But I seem to recall something from somewhere that Mobipocket (now that it's an Amazon holding, anyway) requires that device makers agree not to use other (proprietary?) formats in order get access to the Mobi reading app. However, I can't substantiate that recollection, so I guess we have to take it as rumor unless somebody else can do so, so, as always, salt to taste.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Ravenflight

And speaking of Cybook running Linux... If the Cybook has a Mobipocket client that is apparently written for Linux, how is it they can't release the same for desktop/laptop users? And as I understand it, it is a very small step to port from linux to OSX. They say they don't have the resources, but really- how many more Mac and Linux users are out there than Cybook users?

One difference is that IReX and Bookeen and Pepper (PepperPad 3) all apparently did their own "ports" of the basic Java Reader to their devices. If you ask MobiPocket for support - they redirect you to the device vendor. Another reason why MobiPocket may not want to make the Java version available to everyone is that it provides a mechanism to crack their DRM.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Another reason why MobiPocket may not want to make the Java version available to everyone is that it provides a mechanism to crack their DRM.

Past tense provided

That's how it was cracked.

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by NatCh

But I seem to recall something from somewhere that Mobipocket (now that it's an Amazon holding, anyway) requires that device makers agree not to use other (proprietary?) formats in order get access to the Mobi reading app.

Quick! Somebody should notify Mobi that their reader has been illegally ported to a platform that is riddled with other incompatible proprietary formats- Microsoft Windows! Why, Microsoft cant even do HTML without making it incompatible and proprietary.

[NatCh]

[delphidb96]

Egghead,

I've had my PRS-500 for about a month now and the occasional ghosting is nowhere near enough to cause headaches - at least to me. If anything, the biggest problem I've had prior to buying one of those XtraFlex Duo LED lights was trying to read by the light of a single 25-watt compact fluourescent light. Ugh! I got spoiled by the backlighting on my Axim x51v! However, now that I have my Duo LED, I've got no complaints.

Derek

Originally Posted by Egghead

This is something I'd certainly like to know. I think the ghosting IS bad. Headache-inducing bad. If it's as bad on the Cybook as on the reader, then it will be a deal-breaker for me.

[phuata]

Edit: Sorry, I somehow am not replying to the post I thought I was replying to.

[Egghead]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You must have seen a Reader with extraordinarily bad ghosting.

That's quite possible. It was a store display model and I have no idea how it had been used and abused before I played with it. It may not have been functioning properly.

On most, it's barely noticeable, and is less visible than the "bleed through" of ink from the other side of the page that one gets in many printed books. Do you get headaches due to this effect in printed books too?

Very rarely, and only in the wrong type of light conditions. Which may have also been a contributing factor in the store setting, come to think of it.

[paulkbiba]

350 Euro is $485 and 450 Euro is $624. Both prices, in my opinion, are far too high to be a commercial success, at least here in the US - especially with the current pricing of the Sony Reader.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by paulkbiba

350 Euro is $485 and 450 Euro is $624. Both prices, in my opinion, are far too high to be a commercial success, at least here in the US - especially with the current pricing of the Sony Reader.

It does not work like that. In Europe we have a sales tax (VAT) that is around 18-20%, depending on the country. It is not allowed to advertise without the tax. The US pricing wil be 20% cheaper. In adds you can say that Euro=Dollar

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ravenflight

Couldn't have said it better myself. I should clarify (since some need clarification) that when I said "single platform" I was referring to pc platforms. And I mean the broader definition of the term "pc" not the Windows centric definition. Yes I know cell phones, dvd players, and even my car all have computers imbedded in them running some sort of OS. But until they gain the functionality of my laptop I still think of them as devices- not as platforms running an OS. My Sony Reader (and the Cybook) I'm told run Linux, but until someone opens it up so I can run third party apps or they add apps that extend it's functionality its still just a device.

Hmmm. If you get to define what words mean then I guess that you can indeed make any claim that you wish .

To my mind, a "computer" is any general purpose device on which I can run my own applications, as opposed to something like, say, the Sony Reader, which is a "closed" system that the user can't install his own apps on.

The iLiad, Pocket PC, Palm, etc, are all general purpose computers on which one can install one's own applications. All of these have a version of the MobiPocket Reader available for them, so with the Windows version, that makes at least four different platforms that it's available for, by my reckoning.

[Ravenflight]

Originally Posted by paulkbiba

350 Euro is $485 and 450 Euro is $624. Both prices, in my opinion, are far too high to be a commercial success, at least here in the US - especially with the current pricing of the Sony Reader.

Yep the feature set would have to be pretty compelling to go from 49.00 Sony to 485.00 Cybook!

Things on my list:
1. Super white screen- No I don't mean contrast I mean is it newspaper white, paperback white, hardcover acid free white, or glossy acid free white?
2. No ghosting
3. Ability to sort easily by title and author across multiple formats
4. Fast response- screen and software
5. Remembers last page open for every file
6. Seamless handling of different formats
7. Would love to be able to read the newspaper (NY Times) with links.