Cybook Gen3 e-reader in September 2007 for $350

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One of the nicest things about eBook standards is that there are so many to choose from .

Yeah, since there are so many folks who claim to have created the standard for e-books

[tribble]

With music its easy. You just have to be able to listen to it. With books there are soooo many variables. Screensizes, fonts, special designs, chapters, parts and other structures, bookmarks, annotations, multimedia and lots more.

I hope there will be something that can call itself a real standard in te near future. the basic parts from the idpf standards are all quite well. But there is still some structural standard for bookcontent missing.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by tribble

With music its easy. You just have to be able to listen to it. With books there are soooo many variables. Screensizes, fonts, special designs, chapters, parts and other structures, bookmarks, annotations, multimedia and lots more.

I hope there will be something that can call itself a real standard in the near future. the basic parts from the idpf standards are all quite well. But there is still some structural standard for bookcontent missing.

I agree. We've limited this structural standard on Feedbooks to a few elements, but the real problem here is that the same standard could be use for all sorts of contents, not just fiction, but also non-fiction. Books but also newspapers etc...

[AEngineer]

Hello all - I'm a first-timer who's benefited greatly from the discussion so far. Thanks. I'm certainly hot to have a Gen3, though experience in the Tech world makes me suspect that the actual date will slip from September.

My planned use for the Gen3 would be for reading Project Guttenberg fiction. I know that it comes in a variety of formats, with txt being the most universal. Does anyone know which will be best for the Gen3, or do I just have to wait until review versions are out there?

Similarly, are there any gotchas that I should beware given my desired use?

Thanks

Jim Mitchell

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by AEngineer

Hello all - I'm a first-timer who's benefited greatly from the discussion so far. Thanks. I'm certainly hot to have a Gen3, though experience in the Tech world makes me suspect that the actual date will slip from September.

My planned use for the Gen3 would be for reading Project Guttenberg fiction. I know that it comes in a variety of formats, with txt being the most universal. Does anyone know which will be best for the Gen3, or do I just have to wait until review versions are out there?

Similarly, are there any gotchas that I should beware given my desired use?

Thanks

Jim Mitchell

Txt will work but Gutenberg files are full of _ for italics, * for bolds etc...

You can find Gutenberg books formatted in a much better way on this forum (mostly LRF files, for the Sony Reader) or on Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover

Manybooks also provide a more basic conversion of these books with many different format output: http://www.manybooks.net

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Txt will work but Gutenberg files are full of _ for italics, * for bolds etc...

Most PG books posted in the last couple of years have also been posted in HTML format with "proper" bold, italics, etc. If an HTML format is available, it can either be viewed directly, or at least used as a much better starting point for conversion to a format such as MobiPocket.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Most PG books posted in the last couple of years have also been posted in HTML format with "proper" bold, italics, etc. If an HTML format is available, it can either be viewed directly, or at least used as a much better starting point for conversion to a format such as MobiPocket.

Yes and you also get real footnotes with these too. But most of the time, there's no HTML version for it on Gutenberg :-/

[ricdiogo]

Originally Posted by AEngineer

My planned use for the Gen3 would be for reading Project Guttenberg fiction. I know that it comes in a variety of formats, with txt being the most universal. Does anyone know which will be best for the Gen3, or do I just have to wait until review versions are out there?

Similarly, are there any gotchas that I should beware given my desired use?

Thanks

Jim Mitchell

Hi Jim.

Same here.

As soon as the device can read *.txt you can read all PG's etexts. If it reads *.rtf, I plan to convert the files (as I do today for printing). I use MS Word and it's quite simple to replace all _italics_ and +bold+ conventions, to justify the text and even to replace -- with endashes (all automagically done in 10 seconds using a MS Word macro). There's a problem however, some older etexts use ALL CAPS as a convention for italic and bold.
Most newly added etexts also have an HTML version so if the device reads *.html... I see no problem.
Manybooks at http://www.manybooks.net converts PG etexts to many formats (including *.rtf). I prefer making my own *.rtf, though.

[ricdiogo]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Yes and you also get real footnotes with these too. But most of the time, there's no HTML version for it on Gutenberg :-/

Indeed. The *.html versions are mainly done these days by Distributed Proofreaders' post-processors when they produce the basic *.txt version.
The reason why not ALL PG's etexts are made available in *.html is that not all producers are comfortable with this language. And remember, all PG's ebooks are produced by ordinary volunteers without any particular skills in markup languages.
If any of you knows HTML and is willing to make such versions, please do _do_ help us!

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

Indeed. The *.html versions are mainly done these days by Distributed Proofreaders' post-processors when they produce the basic *.txt version.

Digital Proofreader's doing a great job by the way. Not a single OCR mistake thanks to this system compared to older materials.

Another great idea for OCR: http://recaptcha.net/

I'll add it on Feedbooks this month.

[ricdiogo]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Distributed Proofreader's doing a great job by the way. Not a single OCR mistake thanks to this system compared to older materials.

One or two OCR mistakes still miss us. One of the reasons I want an e-reading device so bad is for smooth-reading the final files and hunt down those OCR mistakes that still miss us. I
If Sony PRS was not sold in the US only they'd have a consumer for a long time now. That's why I'm so anxious to see Cybook Gen3.

[HarryT]

There are lots of us outside the US who have Sony Readers - they are easy to get hold of. Several companies who sell them ship internationally, and you can also buy them from eBay, etc (that's how I bought mine).

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

One or two OCR mistakes still miss us. One of the reasons I want an e-reading device so bad is for smooth-reading the final files and hunt down those OCR mistakes that still miss us. I
If Sony PRS was not sold in the US only they'd have a consumer for a long time now. That's why I'm so anxious to see Cybook Gen3.

But for proofreading a text, some form of input would be better I guess. You could use bookmarks and mark the pages with an OCR mistake though.

[ricdiogo]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

But for proofreading a text, some form of input would be better I guess. You could use bookmarks and mark the pages with an OCR mistake though.

Although I don't plan to do deep proofreading, a stylus would be great for underlining the mistakes so that I could then correct them in my PC. From what I've seen, iLiad would be the best bet but it'd cost the double of Cybook, and I don't want to pay extra 300 euros just for having a stylus.
I'm also trying to get all the info I can get on Hanlin v8 and Walkbook but -- I'm not sure why -- they don't give me much trust.
With a Sony or a Cybook I'd have to take with me an ordinary pen and a piece of paper to write down those OCR "mystakos" so that I could next search and replace them in my computer. (That wouldn't be too serious I guess.)
In the Sony vs Cybook arena I'd prefer Cybook for the fast turning pages and because it's commercialized in the EU and it has to apply to the EU directives in what concerns warranties (2 year warranty), etc. That's why I don't want to buy Sony from a US dealer or at Ebay... lot's of money with limited legal warranties.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

With a Sony or a Cybook I'd have to take with me an ordinary pen and a piece of paper to write down those OCR "mystakos" so that I could next search and replace them in my computer. (That wouldn't be too serious I guess.)

What I do myself is to "bookmark" the page on which the error occurs. When I've finished the book, I go through all the bookmarks and correct the errors in the source.

In the Sony vs Cybook arena I'd prefer Cybook for the fast turning pages

I honesty don't believe that's an issue. Certainly it's faster, but the 1s (or whatever) it takes to turn the page on the Sony is something that you don't even notice.

and because it's commercialized in the EU and it has to apply to the EU directives in what concerns warranties (2 year warranty), etc. That's why I don't want to buy Sony from a US dealer or at Ebay... lot's of money with limited legal warranties.

That's certainly a good reason, I agree. Sony have said that the Reader will be launched in the UK (and probably the rest of Europe too) by the end of the year.