Just broke my Cybook Gen3, now what?

leplatdujour · 03-19-2010, 06:55 AM

Well, I got up this morning to find that I slept a crack in my trusty ol' Gen3. Fearing the worst I fired it up, and, yes: it's become unreadable.

I was quite happy with the Cybook, but it appears I need to go and get some new device. Which means choosing between the oodles of e-book readers that have come out the past two years.

So which one should I get?

1. I use a mac environment, so it should be macompatible.

2. Though I've bought quite a number of mobipocket drm'ed ebooks from fictionwise, I've stripped the drm off it and I'm not married to the mobipocket format. Calibre apparently does a good job converting mobipocket to other formats, too.

3. I've got oodles of PDFs (technical and less technical) but haven't had much success with reading them on the Cybook. CHM would be nice, too.

4. I hated the long, long wait for new firmware updates from Bookeen. There has to be active support.

5. I'd very much like to be able to note-take or at the very least leave bookmarks; the Gen3 did the latter but not the former.

6. It has to just work. I can survive the odd crash, but I've lived in a techy environment for far too long and these days I just don't like fiddling with technology any more.

Any pointers anyone?

Zetmolm · 03-19-2010, 07:41 AM

I'm sorry about what happened to your Cybook. That must have been a rude awakening.

In my humble opinion the best readers available now are the Onyx Boox / BeBook Neo and the Pocketbook readers. I think they meet all your requirements.

As far as I know you cannot buy the Pocketbook anywhere in The Netherlands, but you can order it from Germany. There are many shops in NL that sell the Onyx Boox or the Bebook Neo, but you'll have to wait until at least next week because they're sold out - they're quite popular.

There's a lot of information about these readers on the forums, which I won't repeat here.

I've had my Onyx Boox for 2 months now, and it works! The worst that happened so far is that a book was closed when I tried to go to the next page, and I had to re-open it. I lost as many as 10 valuable seconds of reading.

HarryT · 03-19-2010, 09:02 AM

I have a Neo and I'd second the recommendation. For me, it's the best all-round machine on the market at the moment, and meets all your requirements.

pilotbob · 03-19-2010, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have a Neo and I'd second the recommendation. For me, it's the best all-round machine on the market at the moment, and meets all your requirements.

Listen to Harry... he knows. He has most every one of the popular reader, except maybe the nook.

The neo is nice... but it is also $300... So, that may be an issue.

BOb

(BTW: Why is the Boox $40 more than the Neo? Is it the same firmware?)

mbovenka · 03-19-2010, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have a Neo and I'd second the recommendation. For me, it's the best all-round machine on the market at the moment, and meets all your requirements.

I agree. Ik bought a BeBook One last november for much the same reason (busted Cybook), but if it'd had happened to me now I would get a Neo.

Now I'm waiting for one of the new large-screen ones (Asus DR-900 or Hanlin A9), as the BeBook One/OpenInkpot combo works fine for me.

frozennorth · 03-19-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

(BTW: Why is the Boox $40 more than the Neo? Is it the same firmware?)

The Boox includes a cover and the Neo doesn't. But ithe Boox used to be $299like the Neo including the cover. They raised the price at the beginning of this month. I ordered mine just before the increase.

P.S. Sorry about your cybook.

leplatdujour · 03-20-2010, 01:27 AM

Thanks for the pointers, folks. The Neo does look like an attractive proposition, even though I haven't missed WiFi at all in the Cybook.

However, I could buy an almost-new iRex DR1000S for 400 euro. Would that be an attractive alternative, given that I could then read PDFs in their native sizes + it supports note-taking? Or is battery life uncomparable to the Cybook?

HarryT · 03-20-2010, 03:51 AM

The DR1000S is a nice machine (I have one), but it's big, heavy, takes a long time to boot, and has a battery life of around 10h. It's really a replacement for a tablet PC, not for a bookreader.

Ea · 03-20-2010, 11:22 AM

I agree with Harry about the DR1000S. It's nice but it won't be a replacement for your Cybook.

If you were comfortable with the form factor of the Cybook (I didn't much like it myself

) there's also the PocketBook 301+:
http://www.pocketgoods.de/eBook-Read...d7m488dmftkjtp

I recently bought a PocketBook 360 and I'm quite impressed with the software. The FBReader application is very costumisable and it's easy to use. For an e-reader with so much functionality it feels quite solid and pretty close to 'just works' (Kindle is the one e-reader I would say 'just works' - especially from a Mac perspective - but it has less functionality and PDF support is very basic.

One other thing to take into account, weight: The Neo/Boox is 298 g and the PocketBook 301 is 174 g. My Kindle feels like a brick in comparison to the PocketBook 360

JSWolf · 03-20-2010, 11:23 AM

If you have the money, go for a Sony Reader PRS-900.

happy_terd · 03-21-2010, 02:23 AM

Wow sorry for your luck with your Cybook. I wish ya good luck on deciding its replacement.

lene1949 · 03-21-2010, 03:48 AM

Are all these other readers 'sleep safe' ???

leplatdujour · 03-22-2010, 04:10 AM

Hi all,

I've managed to pick up a two-week old Cybook Gen3 for 180 euro, from someone who decided that the future didn't include e-reading after all. Better the devil you know...

Thanks anyhoo!

leplatdujour · 08-05-2010, 02:35 AM

Reviving this thread...

I'm about to throw the old one away, but it's still working. The only problem is that the screen is unreadable, but it boots up, can be connected to a computer and all that, so... are there any spare parts I could keep, or is anyone interested in a broken Cybook?

Ea · 08-05-2010, 05:24 AM

You could try to sell it in the MR Flea market

03-19-2010, 06:55 AM	#1
leplatdujour Village idiot Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Netherlands Device: Cybook Gen3 + Onyx Boox i62HD Firefly	Just broke my Cybook Gen3, now what? Well, I got up this morning to find that I slept a crack in my trusty ol' Gen3. Fearing the worst I fired it up, and, yes: it's become unreadable. I was quite happy with the Cybook, but it appears I need to go and get some new device. Which means choosing between the oodles of e-book readers that have come out the past two years. So which one should I get? 1. I use a mac environment, so it should be macompatible. 2. Though I've bought quite a number of mobipocket drm'ed ebooks from fictionwise, I've stripped the drm off it and I'm not married to the mobipocket format. Calibre apparently does a good job converting mobipocket to other formats, too. 3. I've got oodles of PDFs (technical and less technical) but haven't had much success with reading them on the Cybook. CHM would be nice, too. 4. I hated the long, long wait for new firmware updates from Bookeen. There has to be active support. 5. I'd very much like to be able to note-take or at the very least leave bookmarks; the Gen3 did the latter but not the former. 6. It has to just work. I can survive the odd crash, but I've lived in a techy environment for far too long and these days I just don't like fiddling with technology any more. Any pointers anyone?

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03-19-2010, 07:41 AM	#2
Zetmolm Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 2031728 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: PocketBook Touch (622), PocketBook Touch Lux 2, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	I'm sorry about what happened to your Cybook. That must have been a rude awakening. In my humble opinion the best readers available now are the Onyx Boox / BeBook Neo and the Pocketbook readers. I think they meet all your requirements. As far as I know you cannot buy the Pocketbook anywhere in The Netherlands, but you can order it from Germany. There are many shops in NL that sell the Onyx Boox or the Bebook Neo, but you'll have to wait until at least next week because they're sold out - they're quite popular. There's a lot of information about these readers on the forums, which I won't repeat here. I've had my Onyx Boox for 2 months now, and it works! The worst that happened so far is that a book was closed when I tried to go to the next page, and I had to re-open it. I lost as many as 10 valuable seconds of reading.

03-19-2010, 09:02 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I have a Neo and I'd second the recommendation. For me, it's the best all-round machine on the market at the moment, and meets all your requirements.

03-20-2010, 01:27 AM	#7
leplatdujour Village idiot Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Netherlands Device: Cybook Gen3 + Onyx Boox i62HD Firefly	Thanks for the pointers, folks. The Neo does look like an attractive proposition, even though I haven't missed WiFi at all in the Cybook. However, I could buy an almost-new iRex DR1000S for 400 euro. Would that be an attractive alternative, given that I could then read PDFs in their native sizes + it supports note-taking? Or is battery life uncomparable to the Cybook?

03-20-2010, 03:51 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The DR1000S is a nice machine (I have one), but it's big, heavy, takes a long time to boot, and has a battery life of around 10h. It's really a replacement for a tablet PC, not for a bookreader.

03-20-2010, 11:22 AM	#9
Ea Wizard Posts: 3,490 Karma: 5239563 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Denmark Device: Kindle 3\|iPad air\|iPhone 4S	I agree with Harry about the DR1000S. It's nice but it won't be a replacement for your Cybook. If you were comfortable with the form factor of the Cybook (I didn't much like it myself ) there's also the PocketBook 301+: http://www.pocketgoods.de/eBook-Read...d7m488dmftkjtp I recently bought a PocketBook 360 and I'm quite impressed with the software. The FBReader application is very costumisable and it's easy to use. For an e-reader with so much functionality it feels quite solid and pretty close to 'just works' (Kindle is the one e-reader I would say 'just works' - especially from a Mac perspective - but it has less functionality and PDF support is very basic. One other thing to take into account, weight: The Neo/Boox is 298 g and the PocketBook 301 is 174 g. My Kindle feels like a brick in comparison to the PocketBook 360

03-20-2010, 11:23 AM	#10
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,975 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	If you have the money, go for a Sony Reader PRS-900.

03-21-2010, 02:23 AM	#11
happy_terd Banned Posts: 13,045 Karma: 10105011 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Finally made it to Walmart. Device: PRS 420	Wow sorry for your luck with your Cybook. I wish ya good luck on deciding its replacement.

03-21-2010, 03:48 AM	#12
lene1949 Wizard Posts: 1,952 Karma: 213930 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Middelfart, Denmark Device: Kindle paper white	Are all these other readers 'sleep safe' ???

03-22-2010, 04:10 AM	#13
leplatdujour Village idiot Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Netherlands Device: Cybook Gen3 + Onyx Boox i62HD Firefly	Hi all, I've managed to pick up a two-week old Cybook Gen3 for 180 euro, from someone who decided that the future didn't include e-reading after all. Better the devil you know... Thanks anyhoo!

08-05-2010, 02:35 AM	#14
leplatdujour Village idiot Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Netherlands Device: Cybook Gen3 + Onyx Boox i62HD Firefly	Reviving this thread... I'm about to throw the old one away, but it's still working. The only problem is that the screen is unreadable, but it boots up, can be connected to a computer and all that, so... are there any spare parts I could keep, or is anyone interested in a broken Cybook?

08-05-2010, 05:24 AM	#15
Ea Wizard Posts: 3,490 Karma: 5239563 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Denmark Device: Kindle 3\|iPad air\|iPhone 4S	You could try to sell it in the MR Flea market