poor illustration on books purchased through CONNECT store

jakeluck · 02-06-2007, 02:48 PM

I finally got around to read some of those books that I bought from the CONNECT store, only to discover that the quality of the figures, diagrams and graphs are horrible blobs. Especially those that are full page illustrations, changing size and orientation doesn't improve readablity. Consider how nice photo jpegs can look on the reader, it is quite disappointing to find the illustrations in professionally sold ebooks are not readable at all. Have you experienced this too?

Laurens · 02-06-2007, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeluck

I finally got around to read some of those books that I bought from the CONNECT store, only to discover that the quality of the figures, diagrams and graphs are horrible blobs. Especially those that are full page illustrations, changing size and orientation doesn't improve readablity. Consider how nice photo jpegs can look on the reader, it is quite disappointing to find the illustrations in professionally sold ebooks are not readable at all. Have you experienced this too?

Yes, quite a lot actually. Pretty much every diagram I've seen comes out poorly.

Azayzel · 02-06-2007, 08:56 PM

I was disappointed with the lack of cover art as well. I know you don't judge a book by its cover, but the extra effort makes the book feel more legitimate to me.

Leaping Gnome · 02-07-2007, 06:21 PM

It depends on the book. Some books have good cover art, some have none. Some books I've seen the pictures are clear in, others they look like bad five year old scans with ink lines and all.

ojleblanc · 02-08-2007, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azayzel

I was disappointed with the lack of cover art as well. I know you don't judge a book by its cover, but the extra effort makes the book feel more legitimate to me.

AMEN to that! I just don't understand why some publishers treat cover art in ebooks as a trivial matter.

I was most disappointed with the lack of cover art for the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's a great image on the cover, but Simon & Schuster chose to omit it, even though they included the thumbnail of it on the "Info" page for the book.

jakeluck · 03-04-2007, 01:21 AM

i just submitted a complaint to sony support requesting refund as more and more pages of the book are completely indecipherable, both on the PRS-500 and in the Preview Mode of Connect Software, making the book from hard-to-read to useless.

Attached are several images taken in the connect software.

RWood · 03-04-2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeluck

i just submitted a complaint to sony support requesting refund as more and more pages of the book are completely indecipherable, both on the PRS-500 and in the Preview Mode of Connect Software, making the book from hard-to-read to useless.

Attached are several images taken in the connect software.

What book was that Jake?

Leaping Gnome · 03-04-2007, 12:48 PM

Looks like those pages even though lots of text were images and the publisher's or Sony's compression software royally messed them up. I hope you get your refund.

jakeluck · 03-05-2007, 04:58 PM

Frank W. Abagnale's "The Art of the Steal":

jakeluck · 03-06-2007, 11:29 AM

Sony support has decided to credited me the cost of the book, noting:

"We apologize for any difficulties or limitations you experienced using our
Connect service. It is very important that we receive this type of feedback
so that we may better serve our customers. We have forwarded the
information to our support team for correction. Unfortunately we do not
have an ETA of when the problem will be corrected. We will update once it
has been corrected from Publisher."

astra · 03-06-2007, 12:08 PM

Well done Sony.

NatCh · 03-06-2007, 12:10 PM

Well that was nice of them. It'd be better if there weren't such problems, but it's not always possible to pro-actively fix such things when you're dealing with a large data pool, and it comes from other people (we have that problem a lot around here, sometimes). I figure it's more important to make them good when they do crop up, and I'm glad to see they're trying to do that.

TadW · 03-06-2007, 01:11 PM

It's good that they give you at least the refund. This coming from Sony is quite spectacular

jakeluck · 03-06-2007, 01:38 PM

i agree, definitely swayed my opinion of sticking with them now just fix that battery meter and we will be happy again.

TevK · 03-06-2007, 04:50 PM

I bought Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation" from the CONNECT store, and the photos and illustrations had simply been omitted entirely. It wasn't too big a deal, since they were only at the start of each section, but still annoying.

I would have preferred poor-quality images to none at all. =p

02-06-2007, 02:48 PM	#1
jakeluck Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 3252 Join Date: Dec 2004	poor illustration on books purchased through CONNECT store I finally got around to read some of those books that I bought from the CONNECT store, only to discover that the quality of the figures, diagrams and graphs are horrible blobs. Especially those that are full page illustrations, changing size and orientation doesn't improve readablity. Consider how nice photo jpegs can look on the reader, it is quite disappointing to find the illustrations in professionally sold ebooks are not readable at all. Have you experienced this too?

03-04-2007, 01:21 AM	#6
jakeluck Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 3252 Join Date: Dec 2004	i just submitted a complaint to sony support requesting refund as more and more pages of the book are completely indecipherable, both on the PRS-500 and in the Preview Mode of Connect Software, making the book from hard-to-read to useless. Attached are several images taken in the connect software. Attached Thumbnails

03-06-2007, 01:38 PM	#14
jakeluck Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 3252 Join Date: Dec 2004	i agree, definitely swayed my opinion of sticking with them now just fix that battery meter and we will be happy again. Last edited by jakeluck; 03-06-2007 at 01:43 PM.

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02-06-2007, 08:56 PM	#3
Azayzel Cache Ninja! Posts: 643 Karma: 1002300 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Device: PRS-500, HTC Shift, iPod Touch, iPaq 4150, TC1100, Panasonic WordsGear	I was disappointed with the lack of cover art as well. I know you don't judge a book by its cover, but the extra effort makes the book feel more legitimate to me.

02-07-2007, 06:21 PM	#4
Leaping Gnome Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 1641 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Louisville Device: Sony Reader PRS-500	It depends on the book. Some books have good cover art, some have none. Some books I've seen the pictures are clear in, others they look like bad five year old scans with ink lines and all.

03-04-2007, 12:48 PM	#8
Leaping Gnome Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 1641 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Louisville Device: Sony Reader PRS-500	Looks like those pages even though lots of text were images and the publisher's or Sony's compression software royally messed them up. I hope you get your refund.

03-05-2007, 04:58 PM	#9
jakeluck Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 3252 Join Date: Dec 2004	Frank W. Abagnale's "The Art of the Steal":

03-06-2007, 11:29 AM	#10
jakeluck Groupie Posts: 193 Karma: 3252 Join Date: Dec 2004	Sony support has decided to credited me the cost of the book, noting: "We apologize for any difficulties or limitations you experienced using our Connect service. It is very important that we receive this type of feedback so that we may better serve our customers. We have forwarded the information to our support team for correction. Unfortunately we do not have an ETA of when the problem will be corrected. We will update once it has been corrected from Publisher."

03-06-2007, 12:08 PM	#11
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	Well done Sony.

03-06-2007, 12:10 PM	#12
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Well that was nice of them. It'd be better if there weren't such problems, but it's not always possible to pro-actively fix such things when you're dealing with a large data pool, and it comes from other people (we have that problem a lot around here, sometimes). I figure it's more important to make them good when they do crop up, and I'm glad to see they're trying to do that.

03-06-2007, 01:11 PM	#13
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	It's good that they give you at least the refund. This coming from Sony is quite spectacular

03-06-2007, 04:50 PM	#15
TevK Member Posts: 13 Karma: 166 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: Sony Reader	I bought Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation" from the CONNECT store, and the photos and illustrations had simply been omitted entirely. It wasn't too big a deal, since they were only at the start of each section, but still annoying. I would have preferred poor-quality images to none at all. =p

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