Problem: kindle stopped showing locations

[Paulinafrica]

Originally Posted by lunixer

Calibre doesn't add real page numbers- only numbers that approximate pages. The ones on Amazon have page numbers that are identical to the page numbers in a specific version of the book.

Fair enough, but it's still an improvement over previous methods of locations and compared to the previous method as another member has said ''Precision doesn't help if you can't freaking remember it!" So, all in all it's not a bad effort from Calibre, especially if you choose the slower but more accurate method that Calibre employs. In essence I would rather have this functionality than a bunch of numbers that you can never remember.
Cheers
Paul

[DiapDealer]

In essence I would rather have this functionality than a bunch of numbers that you can never remember.
Cheers

Really? I remember mine quite easily. But then again, I've never been scared by an extra digit or two. A preference over one or the other is fine, but let's not pretend that "I can't remember them" is a valid reason. I just don't buy it.

[lunixer]

Originally Posted by Paulinafrica

Fair enough, but it's still an improvement over previous methods of locations and compared to the previous method as another member has said ''Precision doesn't help if you can't freaking remember it!" So, all in all it's not a bad effort from Calibre, especially if you choose the slower but more accurate method that Calibre employs. In essence I would rather have this functionality than a bunch of numbers that you can never remember.
Cheers
Paul

I have to disagree with you. The page numbers in Calibre are completely useless (except as a less accurate alternative to location numbers). The page numbers from Amazon are marginally useful. I am a college student and do occasionally purchase books for school on my Kindle (though most are THE SAME PRICE and can't be resold, so I only purchase them occasionally). And I'm sure you can see where page numbers are necessary in an academic context. Calibre can't give page numbers for that situation. Otherwise, at this point I prefer location numbers, and losing the convenient reference at the bottom, as I just emailed to Amazon, is distressing.

[Paulinafrica]

I think that saying

Originally Posted by lunixer

The page numbers in Calibre are completely useless

is probably just a little OTT, although I do concede that locations are much better in an academic context.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Really? I remember mine quite easily. But then again, I've never been scared by an extra digit or two.

I bow down to your superior memory ability Sir! I always struggle with anything beyond 3 numbers for my short term memory, although bizarrely I do remember my 13 digit ID number quite easily - Go Figure!
Cheers
Paul

[dwig]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Really? I remember mine quite easily. But then again, I've never been scared by an extra digit or two. A preference over one or the other is fine, but let's not pretend that "I can't remember them" is a valid reason. I just don't buy it.

+1

The only thing more difficult about the Kindle/Mobi "Locations", compared to the Calibre pseudo-pages and the typical ePub reader "pages" are:

1. There are more digits to read, usually 5-6 digit numbers rather than 2-3 digit numbers.
2. At least in most languages, "locations" is more letters than "pages".

If ones abilities are so limited that Locations are hard to deal with then I find it hard to believe that they can deal with Pages successfully.

[Paulinafrica]

Originally Posted by dwig

If ones abilities are so limited that Locations are hard to deal with then I find it hard to believe that they can deal with Pages successfully.

Ouch!
Paul

[FF2]

Gawd, I wonder what these location-loving people do when the read real books, magazines and newspapers where only page numbers exist. It must be frightful that a vague page number gets you to where an article was continued but you actually have to scan that page to find the rest of the article.

Seriously, everyone can have what they want only now Amazon has chosen to hide it behind a MENU button and does not have a location range any more.

If locations are to terrific, how come Amazon does not have the total location value on its Book Description info but still uses the archaic Page numbers. Sometimes I want to know a book is "meaty" and will last me a long reading session. I need to know if the book has 13,479 locations!

[lunixer]

Originally Posted by FF2

Gawd, I wonder what these location-loving people do when the read real books, magazines and newspapers where only page numbers exist. It must be frightful that a vague page number gets you to where an article was continued but you actually have to scan that page to find the rest of the article.

Seriously, everyone can have what they want only now Amazon has chosen to hide it behind a MENU button and does not have a location range any more.

If locations are to terrific, how come Amazon does not have the total location value on its Book Description info but still uses the archaic Page numbers. Sometimes I want to know a book is "meaty" and will last me a long reading session. I need to know if the book has 13,479 locations!

Pages are superior for a DTB. Because the book doesn't know where you are when you are reading on a given page and because the book cannot change font, text size, etc. Locations are superior on a Kindle. And my beef is that they didn't give an option to keep the locations where they are. They just implemented a one-size policy without my input and without a little checkbox.

[DiapDealer]

Gawd, I wonder what these location-loving people do when the read real books, magazines and newspapers where only page numbers exist.

To be perfectly honest, I don't much care one way or the other. Page numbers in pbooks and locations/page numbers in ebooks aren't really relevant to my reading. I mainly read fiction. I read it once, from beginning to end -- and have no need to use any number to maintain "where I am." I use a bookmark when reading pbooks and the Kindle remembers for me (plus I still can use bookmarks).

So outside of academia, it's just a preference thing. That's all. And I get tired of all the pontificating on why someone else's preference "makes more sense" (or why someone else's "makes no sense"). It's silly and irrelevant.

The fact that someone changed a feature that many have grown used to, however, is relevant. The UI should have stayed the same and the users given the choice of which irrelevant number they wanted to display on their progress meter.

[whitearrow]

Sigh, I had really hoped that 3.1 would end the page number debates once and for all.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Really? I remember mine quite easily. But then again, I've never been scared by an extra digit or two. A preference over one or the other is fine, but let's not pretend that "I can't remember them" is a valid reason. I just don't buy it.

I remember all kinds of numbers. Phones, SSN, mine and those of family members, credit cards, my HS locker # and combination, even my home phone number when I was in kindergarten. I just don't remember stupid numbers I'm not going to use (well, until I suddenly find a need for it), especially if you go and hide it from me!

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So outside of academia, it's just a preference thing. That's all. And I get tired of all the pontificating on why someone else's preference "makes more sense" (or why someone else's "makes no sense"). It's silly and irrelevant.

The fact that someone changed a feature that many have grown used to, however, is relevant. The UI should have stayed the same and the users given the choice of which irrelevant number they wanted to display on their progress meter.

I heartily agree on both points.

[emalvick]

Now that Kindle has essentially both features, Locations and Pages, I feel like the ideal would have been to have some type of configuration so that one or the other could be viewed on the screen rather than pressing MENU to see it.

I know pressing MENU is a minor inconvenience, but it seems like an inconvenience none-the-less. I actually like Locations after getting used to them, and I like seeing where I am at with respect to them.

That being said, I also feel that configuration options should be made for 1, the progress bar, and 2, the percentage progress.

A little more flexibility can't be too hard, can it?

As far as DTB go. I do like page numbers. Pages give you a nice reference to a relatively unique place in a book just like locations do on the Kindle. Pages on a Kindle are fine for those that like them, but having been in the research world, I don't care for the vague reference a page will give when it might span multiple screens on a Kindle. A percentage isn't much better, although it is easy for people to think on the same 0-100 scale with regard to progress in a title.

[JeremyR]

I like it because it tells you how many more clicks in the book you are reading.

Like right now on the book I am reading, it says:

45% Locations 1364-72 3025


After a couple seconds of math (quicker than it would take to press the menu button), I know I have about 200 more page clicks to go...

[emalvick]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

I like it because it tells you how many more clicks in the book you are reading.

Like right now on the book I am reading, it says:

45% Locations 1364-72 3025


After a couple seconds of math (quicker than it would take to press the menu button), I know I have about 200 more page clicks to go...

Exactly... This is what I like, and why I like seeing it all on the screen I am reading, and I tend to do the similar math as well (sometimes just in determining how many more clicks to the next chapter).

I actually suggested through email to Amazon that they make what is shown on the reading screen configurable, i.e. progress bar, locations, pages, percentages, etc... not because I want them all but because we should have the option to choose what we want.

The response from Amazon was that I could press menu to see them all. They really didn't even read the message I wrote as I acknowledged that and the fact that in adding one feature they took away another.

Customer service these days is awful (not just Amazon). No one reads or listens to you. They hear what they want and respond with canned responses.