Firmware 4.24.15676

[4691mls]

On the Sony readers there are two Oxford dictionaries. I started up one of my Sonys to see what they're called - they're the "New Oxford American Dictionary" and the "Oxford Dictionary of English".

I found the "English" version was usually better when reading books written/set in England or Australia while the "American" version was generally better when reading books written/set in the US or Canada. Each had some words (especially slang) that weren't in the other and if a word had multiple meanings, the "English" dictionary would normally list the most commonly used British definition first and the "American" dictionary would list the most commonly used US version first.

So I take it the "English" version is what's on Kobo with the new firmware?

[deleted2]

So, we are october 1.

I synchronized my Libra.

Still the same old and very limited French dictionary Micro Robert 2013

But if I ever want to learn the language they speak in Netherlands, there’s now a dictionary for that.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Let's see you find a dictionary that's up-to-date and as good as what Amazon supplies that is easy to convert/install.

I think the Webster's 1913 dictionary is an excellent resource, very comprehensive with long definitions and even example sentences and paragraphs. I found it on this very forum, too.

[Alanon]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Printing may be cheap, I doubt the same could be said for shipping a 62 kilo package from China. Do you have any figures on the actual size of that "genuine global market" willing to pay for a paper OED 3?

For starters, I think most public library systems would love a new print edition, as they likely have and use the old one. I would bet (though I have no way of knowing) that the print OED is much more prevalent across all classes of libraries globally than the subscription. Most book acquisition schemes are done with state/province/city/community centre financial backing, so it would be much easier to justify it as a one-time payment in a seasonal acquisition, than yet another subscription. Many libraries are starting to refuse Elsevier and other scholarly subscriptions due to exorbitant fees they cannot budget. Contrast that concern with a standard book purchase, and you begin to see the appeal. That would ensure that many local libraries that otherwise couldn't justify a subscription, actually could get a print edition – "let's splurge just this one time and we'll have it forever" is a much easier pitch than an annual levy that might increase the following year.

That's just the library system, we're yet to mention institutional purchases – institutes, foundations, education centres that need and use handbooks, in part because they look good on the shelves. Many institutes and smaller libraries lag with the digital trends, which doesn't mean they won't recognise an efficient resource when they see one. Then we have individual purchasing power – I don't think it's outrageous to believe that there are people in every country in the world who would like to have a unique set like the OED, because it's impossible to get anything similar anywhere else. Heck, if you were a benefactor wanting to donate a fine gift to your childhood community centre, how about a set of the newly-minted OED 3rd? large dictionaries are generally not being printed any longer, which I think is an opportunity, rather than a handicap? The market is hardly saturated, and there's still something to be said of the market potential of individual ownership, as opposed to renting everything under the sun.

If you were to tally all these potential purchases, they would still never reach hundreds of millions of sales, but the original OED wasn't a conventional bestseller either, that's just the nature of reference works. Let's not forget, however, that the OED didn't go out of print because it was too expensive for people, or because it wasn't being bought, but because that's what the OUP decided to do. There are still people looking for sets and getting them in the used market. The interest is there and it would only increase for a fully revised edition. As for logistics, look at it like this – the same problems existed before, yet they were handled, some of that is probably built-into the high price-tag. I don't imagine a new edition would be cheaper than the old one, it's just that one cost would offset another. Today we have conglomerates like Amazon, which would gladly take care of some of the logistics for the vast Western market. Let's also not forget that the OUP has a network of licenced book distribution centres, and also offices like the British Council. Both can be tapped to tackle the logistics problem.

I could very well be wrong. This is just an off-the-cuff ramble on what makes sense to me. I don't have an MBA, and I'm not developing a project to pitch to the OUP and corner the market.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

This looks like a really good upgrade for Kobo dictionaries.

I agree, a very good change. I'm just saying that the "Kindle has a better dictionary" argument has never held much water in my opinion because of the ease with which one can add their own dictionaries to Kobo devices.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

I think the Webster's 1913 dictionary is an excellent resource, very comprehensive with long definitions and even example sentences and paragraphs. I found it on this very forum, too.

I notice you conveniently avoided one key qualifier asked for in the post you quoted: "up-to-date".

The Webster's 1913 is anything but. The various varieties of English have changed so much in the last century that relying on such an antique makes little sense. Shift happens, words change their meaning, or connotation, and a century-old fossil won't show any of that. For those times when one simply MUST know the meaning of an obsolete word or archaicism, go online to the OED. Or, if antebellum is for some weird reason a must, the Webster's 1913 is also available online.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

I agree, a very good change. I'm just saying that the "Kindle has a better dictionary" argument has never held much water in my opinion because of the ease with which one can add their own dictionaries to Kobo devices.

I'm feel confident that I won't be the only person who's comfortable sideloading books and using Kobopatch who's nevertheless been put off installing custom dictionaries because of the sheer hassle of it all. When I first switched from Kindle nearly 3 years ago, I started patching within a week. I also started reading up about custom dictionaries to compensate for Kobo's feeble offerings. I never bothered. Just reading the processes involved for creating dictionaries, or using dictutil and the like makes my eyes glaze over.

"It just works" is an appealing mantra especially when the alternative 'custom' dictionaries (English-English at any rate) on offer seem to mostly be archaic dinosaurs of questionable practical value. For most users, I'm sure this change IS a big step up and a major improvement in the Kobo vs Kindle comparison.

[rtiangha]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Just reading the processes involved for creating dictionaries, or using dictutil and the like makes my eyes glaze over.

PyGlossary now makes it super simple to make Kobo dictionaries out of other formats (it even has a GUI!) but it doesn't have v3 support yet. But it seems to be actively developed so it's great (click on Code->Download ZIP rather than the version on the Releases page since the Kobo support in the July version is stale). However, it requires Python to be installed on your system, plus some extra modules installed by pip, so if you're Windows, while there are installation instructions at the bottom for Linux and Mac, it isn't entirely obvious on how to set it up on Windows (basically, after installing Python for Windows, you would open up cmd and type in those pip instructions, minus the sudo).

[ps67]

The useless 2.6 MB Italian dictionary that we had until yesterday has gone where it deserves (I cannot say exactly where because swear words are not allowed in this forum).
The new "Oxford" dictionary has all the entries I tried, about ten, exactly the same as the old Kobo dictionary I used as a custom because it was much better than the useless one.
The size is slightly different: today's one is 12.7 MB while the other is 13 MB, I don't know if it's due to some missing item or something different inside it that saves space.
The formatting of the new one is a little different.

If somebody is curious and wants to examine them:

New: http://download.kobobooks.com/ereade...icthtml-it.zip

Old: http://download.kobobooks.com/ereade...icthtml-it.zip

[anacreon]

So I quickly went through all the new dictionaries.

I have a typographical problem in -it, -it-en, -de-en (not -de), -es, -es-en, -en-fr, -fr-en (but not -fr), -en: the first one and a half bold characters are missing, both in the short and the full page definition. It could be the "increase available text area" patch since nobody mentioned it, but why not -de or -fr?

Otherwise:
* -it = 2005/2019 Mondadori Education, lic. OUP
* -it-en = OUP 2012
* -de = Pons Großwörterbuch Deutsch Fremdsprache 2019
* -de-en = OUP 2019
* -es = diccionario general de la lengua española Vox, Larousse España 2019 Vox
* -es-en = OUP 2019
* -fr = le Robert micro 2013 just like it was, BUT the former (6901 Ko, from the 3.15 FW, whose dictionaries I'm glad I saved - the italian dictionary also is much better than the following until today), while the new is 3752 Ko, and the content is VERY different (look up "raison" if you can) - I'll keep both, the 3.15 in custom-dict
* -fr-en and -en-fr = OUP 2019

EDIT: in RED

[ps67]

Originally Posted by anacreon

So I quickly went through all the new dictionaries.

I have a typographical problem in -it, -it-en, -de-en (not -de), -es, -es-en, -en-fr, -fr-en (but not -fr), -en: the first one and a half bold characters are missing, both in the short and the full page definition. It could be the "increase available text area" patch since nobody mentioned it, but why not -de or -fr?

Otherwise:
* -it = 2005/2019 Mondadori Education, lic. OUP
* -it-en = OUP 2012
* -de = Pons Großwörterbuch Deutsch Fremdsprache 2019
* -de-en = OUP 2019
* -es = diccionario general de la lengua española Vox, Larousse España 2019 Vox
* -es-en = OUP 2019
* -fr = le Robert micro 2013 just like it was, BUT the former was 6901 Ko, while the new is 3752 Ko, and the content is VERY different (look up "raison" if you can) - I'll keep both, one in custom-dict
* -fr-en and -en-fr = OUP 2019

I also have enabled that patch and the Italian dictionary does not have the defect You experiment.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Ok, so it appears they crippled the old v2 dictionaries, at least the English one (they are now empty with a large file named "junk" filled with zeros). Presumably, the licensing expired for them. The file modification times show September 24 (the date of this firmware version), but I don't think these were uploaded until today.

So I'm thinking it might be a good idea to archive the current Oxford dictionary just in case Kobo junks it in the future.

[Shpounz]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

So, we are october 1.

I synchronized my Libra.

Still the same old and very limited French dictionary Micro Robert 2013

But if I ever want to learn the language they speak in Netherlands, there’s now a dictionary for that.

Unfortunately !
You have the opportunity to put the «wiktionnaire» as custom dictionary.
See here : https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=330223

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I notice you conveniently avoided one key qualifier asked for in the post you quoted: "up-to-date".

The Webster's 1913 is anything but. The various varieties of English have changed so much in the last century that relying on such an antique makes little sense. Shift happens, words change their meaning, or connotation, and a century-old fossil won't show any of that. For those times when one simply MUST know the meaning of an obsolete word or archaicism, go online to the OED. Or, if antebellum is for some weird reason a must, the Webster's 1913 is also available online.

It depends on what you mean by "up-to-date". The Webster's 1913 is sufficiently up-to-date for most purposes.

[rcentros]

I didn't bring a Kobo with me to Texas and haven't been following the Kobo forum too closely. Is this Oxford English dictionary the same that's on the Kindles and on the Sonys? Do they have the American/English and English/English versions, or just the English/English one (if that makes sense)?

Thanks for any information.