Bookeen

GeoffC · 02-18-2015, 10:30 AM

Guys,

Anyone with a Bookeen e-reader?

My gen3 is still in daily use with no current issues, so I'm just testing the waters for the future. I purchased this in 2007 so by current technology it's doing very well. I have a spare battery, bought at same time, but guess it'll be dud by now.

I notice all their readers have ditched .prc / .mobi (good job we've got Calibre

).

If you had a choice, which Bookeen reader would you recommend.

pdurrant · 02-18-2015, 10:54 AM

Any of the Muse or Odyssey models will be a lot nicer than your CyBook Gen 3.

Alternatively, a Kindle will allow you to read your old prc/mobi files natively.

EowynCarter · 02-18-2015, 01:18 PM

Yeah, an odyssey would be light and day after the gen3.
Muse is fine as far as i know (never had the opportunity to see one real life.) And should have the better carta screen.

Take the fontlight version though.

GeoffC · 02-20-2015, 09:32 AM

Thanks guys - something to consider - kindle Paul! really

One thing against Bookeen is they're rather pricey! But if Gen3 is anything to go by, they last!

DuckieTigger · 02-21-2015, 04:03 PM

Careful with the built quality of Bookeen. My Odyssey gave up working pre maturely with the usb plug not being soldered in correctly. I never got around to fixing it - CS was very unresponsive. Especially since I imported the reader to the US. Unless you have easy access to take advantage of the warranty (and you should since you live in Europe), Bookeen is not too keen on CS - unless they gotten a lot better the last years.

GeoffC · 02-24-2015, 07:35 AM

Thanks .....

barrydrake · 03-30-2015, 03:35 PM

I've just joined these forums because of a problem (now solved) on my Cybook Opus. I dumped my Kindle in favour of it, and I'm so happy with it that I have bought three spares on eBay. The last one was only £14, so I'm hoping if I'm careful to keep them charged and turned off, I will be able to use the batteries for a few years. It fits in my pocket, and with a micro-SD I can take my entire library away .... I hope when I have to change (eventually) there will be something as small, as neat and as effective. BTW, I do have both of the alternative firmware downloads, so if I really want to use mobi books, I ought to be able to do it. Regards, Barry.

HarryT · 03-31-2015, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrydrake

I've just joined these forums because of a problem (now solved) on my Cybook Opus. I dumped my Kindle in favour of it, and I'm so happy with it that I have bought three spares on eBay. The last one was only £14, so I'm hoping if I'm careful to keep them charged and turned off, I will be able to use the batteries for a few years. It fits in my pocket, and with a micro-SD I can take my entire library away .... I hope when I have to change (eventually) there will be something as small, as neat and as effective. BTW, I do have both of the alternative firmware downloads, so if I really want to use mobi books, I ought to be able to do it. Regards, Barry.

Purely as a matter of interest, what do you prefer about the Opus compared to the Kindle? I went the other way: I used to have a Cybook Opus, but switched to a Kindle due to the extreme instability of the Opus's firmware (it was rare for me to be able to get through a reading session without the device locking up) and lack of basic features such as searching and bookmarking. Have these issues now been resolved?

I'm not at all sure that your spare devices strategy is going to work, by the way. A lithium battery has a finite lifetime of around 5 years, and it will die after that time, regardless of whether or not it's used.

barrydrake · 03-31-2015, 04:36 AM

Simply that the bulk of my reading is from library ebooks. In the UK, these are all DRMd EPUB using the ADE DRM. If I wanted to read them on my Kindle, I had to remove the DRM; that is not legal, and morally questionable. The Bookeen handles these books with no problems. I solved the 'locking up' problem by doing a factory reset. The only way to do that is to remove everything including the system files, and to reinstall the firmware. Then wait ... and wait .... and wait. After that, the locking up problem seems to have gone away except for when the battery is showing less than 90% charge.
The basic features you mention are ones I can manage without. Searching on the Kindle is slow. I always resorted to doing it on a laptop at a later time. Bookmarking? I have a pencil and a scrap of paper ....

I'll have to see what happens batterywise. I guess by the time it happens, I'll be looking at a newer bit of tech. Meanwhile, I can have more than one reference book on the go at any one time. A bit like the 'pads' on the Enterprise.

HarryT · 03-31-2015, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barrydrake

Simply that the bulk of my reading is from library ebooks. In the UK, these are all DRMd EPUB using the ADE DRM. If I wanted to read them on my Kindle, I had to remove the DRM; that is not legal, and morally questionable.

Thanks. That makes sense, and I entirely agree with your reasoning, although I think that these days there are very much better ePub readers around than the Opus (Kobo make some very nice ones, for example).

Quote:

The basic features you mention are ones I can manage without. Searching on the Kindle is slow. I always resorted to doing it on a laptop at a later time. Bookmarking? I have a pencil and a scrap of paper ....

To me, they are essential features. Horses for courses, and all that. Pleased that you're happy with the Opus.

EowynCarter · 03-31-2015, 05:58 AM

Yeah, i remember the opus being unstable before bookeen fixed it with an update.

Search, when you have folder view, bah.

HarryT · 03-31-2015, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Yeah, i remember the opus being unstable before bookeen fixed it with an update.

Search, when you have folder view, bah.

No, not searching for a book; searching within a book. That's a feature I use constantly on my Kindle.

EowynCarter · 03-31-2015, 07:13 AM

Oh, *that* search.

I don't use it even now I have it. The new bookeen firmware is a definitive improvement though., even if if don't use some of the added features.

Top feature for me being the possibility to select margin size. When I saw this on the kobo i was like : "oh, that's cool"

GeoffC · 01-22-2016, 05:19 AM

Gen3's still going strong, though the battery won't charge beyond 90%. One day I'll have to change it and the spare battery that came with the package is likely dud (from what Harry says) it's now 8 years.

HarryT · 01-22-2016, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Gen3's still going strong, though the battery won't charge beyond 90%. One day I'll have to change it and the spare battery that came with the package is likely dud (from what Harry says) it's now 8 years.

This is why there's really very little point in buying spare batteries for such devices until you need them. Lithium batteries don't have a good "shelf life". I did exactly the same myself when I bought my first device from Bookeen

.

02-18-2015, 10:30 AM	#1
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Bookeen Guys, Anyone with a Bookeen e-reader? My gen3 is still in daily use with no current issues, so I'm just testing the waters for the future. I purchased this in 2007 so by current technology it's doing very well. I have a spare battery, bought at same time, but guess it'll be dud by now. I notice all their readers have ditched .prc / .mobi (good job we've got Calibre ). If you had a choice, which Bookeen reader would you recommend.

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02-18-2015, 10:54 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 71,508 Karma: 306214458 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	Any of the Muse or Odyssey models will be a lot nicer than your CyBook Gen 3. Alternatively, a Kindle will allow you to read your old prc/mobi files natively.

02-18-2015, 01:18 PM	#3
EowynCarter Wizard Posts: 4,332 Karma: 4000000 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Paris Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1	Yeah, an odyssey would be light and day after the gen3. Muse is fine as far as i know (never had the opportunity to see one real life.) And should have the better carta screen. Take the fontlight version though.

02-20-2015, 09:32 AM	#4
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Thanks guys - something to consider - kindle Paul! really One thing against Bookeen is they're rather pricey! But if Gen3 is anything to go by, they last!

02-21-2015, 04:03 PM	#5
DuckieTigger Wizard Posts: 4,742 Karma: 246906703 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: USA Device: Oasis 3, Oasis 2, PW3, PW1, KT	Careful with the built quality of Bookeen. My Odyssey gave up working pre maturely with the usb plug not being soldered in correctly. I never got around to fixing it - CS was very unresponsive. Especially since I imported the reader to the US. Unless you have easy access to take advantage of the warranty (and you should since you live in Europe), Bookeen is not too keen on CS - unless they gotten a lot better the last years.

02-24-2015, 07:35 AM	#6
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Thanks .....

03-30-2015, 03:35 PM	#7
barrydrake Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2014 Device: bookeen	I've just joined these forums because of a problem (now solved) on my Cybook Opus. I dumped my Kindle in favour of it, and I'm so happy with it that I have bought three spares on eBay. The last one was only £14, so I'm hoping if I'm careful to keep them charged and turned off, I will be able to use the batteries for a few years. It fits in my pocket, and with a micro-SD I can take my entire library away .... I hope when I have to change (eventually) there will be something as small, as neat and as effective. BTW, I do have both of the alternative firmware downloads, so if I really want to use mobi books, I ought to be able to do it. Regards, Barry.

03-31-2015, 04:36 AM	#9
barrydrake Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2014 Device: bookeen	Simply that the bulk of my reading is from library ebooks. In the UK, these are all DRMd EPUB using the ADE DRM. If I wanted to read them on my Kindle, I had to remove the DRM; that is not legal, and morally questionable. The Bookeen handles these books with no problems. I solved the 'locking up' problem by doing a factory reset. The only way to do that is to remove everything including the system files, and to reinstall the firmware. Then wait ... and wait .... and wait. After that, the locking up problem seems to have gone away except for when the battery is showing less than 90% charge. The basic features you mention are ones I can manage without. Searching on the Kindle is slow. I always resorted to doing it on a laptop at a later time. Bookmarking? I have a pencil and a scrap of paper .... I'll have to see what happens batterywise. I guess by the time it happens, I'll be looking at a newer bit of tech. Meanwhile, I can have more than one reference book on the go at any one time. A bit like the 'pads' on the Enterprise.

03-31-2015, 05:58 AM	#11
EowynCarter Wizard Posts: 4,332 Karma: 4000000 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Paris Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1	Yeah, i remember the opus being unstable before bookeen fixed it with an update. Search, when you have folder view, bah.

03-31-2015, 07:13 AM	#13
EowynCarter Wizard Posts: 4,332 Karma: 4000000 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Paris Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1	Oh, that search. I don't use it even now I have it. The new bookeen firmware is a definitive improvement though., even if if don't use some of the added features. Top feature for me being the possibility to select margin size. When I saw this on the kobo i was like : "oh, that's cool"

01-22-2016, 05:19 AM	#14
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,600 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Gen3's still going strong, though the battery won't charge beyond 90%. One day I'll have to change it and the spare battery that came with the package is likely dud (from what Harry says) it's now 8 years.

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