Before my new JBL arrives ...

[Catlady]

Hi, I am new to the forum and currently awaiting delivery of my first e-reader, a Jetbook Lite, which should be arriving in about a week. One question I have is, Can I preload my own SD card with books and then insert that when the Jetbook arrives?

I would also appreciate any tips for getting started with the Jetbook Lite. I plan to use it mostly for public domain titles from Project Gutenberg, and for occasionally borrowing library books. Also, I have downloaded a small number of free books from Amazon, B&N, and Sony bookstore (using their apps for PC), and I'd like to be able to load those onto the reader as well, if possible.

Thanks so much.

[GA Russell]

Welcome Catlady!

Yes you can preload your SD card. I recommend that you look first at our vast library here at MobileRead. Click on the "E-Books" on the blue bar above.

I think that most JBL users prefer ePub and mobi formats, but rtf is well liked by some as well.

You will have to discuss with others your books from Amazon, etc. Your books probably have DRM, which you may want to strip.

[hiaig]

Welcome!

For library borrowing, since the Jetbook Lite does not have a clock ... the books never expire as long as you set your SD card up correctly. Have a look at this thread, especially page 2.

Cheers

[GhostHawk]

I'd recommend using single folders deep in your SD card.
Folders inside of folders inside of folders 3 levels deep has been known to cause problems. Personally I just make a folder of an authors name or a genre and drop the books in that folder. You can also use a ! in front of a name to keep certain folders in the top 8.


!readfirst
!Baenbooks
!Haggard, HR
!Tolkien

Etc.
Once you start getting a couple of thousand books on an SD card every little trick helps.
I would avoid large numbers of unsorted books in the root. A few is fine but get enough there and you'll start seeing page turns take longer, etc.

Manybooks.net for the PG books, easier to navigate IMO. Plus a choice of format's.

Say I am browsing and I come across something by H Rider Haggard that looks interesting. I can click on the authors name and get a list of all the books they have available for that author. You can then go down the list and get the books in the format you prefer. Many like Epub, or mobi, I have turned into a .rtf fan. But suit yourself.
Or download the same book in 4 formats and you decide what looks best.

Last of all, welcome to the Club! Hope you enjoy yours as much as I've loved mine.

[Seabound]

I use nested directories in my JBL SD card and it has not caused me problems.

[Catlady]

Thanks so much for the welcome and for the tips. GA Russell, it sounds as if I might be better off waiting to get the JBL and seeing how the formats display before trying to preload the SD card.

I have been lurking around here for a few days as I was looking for information to help me make my final decision on an e-reader, and I saw a mention about library books not expiring; thanks for the link to the specific info, hiaig. When I was poking around the books in my local library, most of them seemed to allow only seven days, so being able to have more time is a definite benefit.

GhostHawk, thanks for the tip about the JBL having trouble with too many subfolders. One thing that really appealed to me about the JBL was the ability to create my own folders and organizational system.

I am really looking forward to getting my JBL, and glad that I looked beyond Kindle, Nook, and Sony. And I'm very glad that I found this forum! Thanks again.

P.S. Forgot to say, thanks for mentioning ManyBooks.net--looks like a useful site!

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Hi, I am new to the forum and currently awaiting delivery of my first e-reader, a Jetbook Lite, which should be arriving in about a week. One question I have is, Can I preload my own SD card with books and then insert that when the Jetbook arrives?

I would also appreciate any tips for getting started with the Jetbook Lite. I plan to use it mostly for public domain titles from Project Gutenberg, and for occasionally borrowing library books. Also, I have downloaded a small number of free books from Amazon, B&N, and Sony bookstore (using their apps for PC), and I'd like to be able to load those onto the reader as well, if possible.

Thanks so much.

Welcome to MobileRead, Catlady.

For public domain books, might I suggest starting here?

Our books have been formatted by our own members, eliminating many errors and excess content.

Already formatted for your device, and ready to be read and enjoyed.

Click on any of the links below for more info......

[greenapple]

If you're interested in classics/public domain ebooks, do take a look at feedbooks.com. Ebooks on feedbooks are all free and beautifully formatted.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks so much for the welcome and for the tips. GA Russell, it sounds as if I might be better off waiting to get the JBL and seeing how the formats display before trying to preload the SD card.

I have been lurking around here for a few days as I was looking for information to help me make my final decision on an e-reader, and I saw a mention about library books not expiring; thanks for the link to the specific info, hiaig. When I was poking around the books in my local library, most of them seemed to allow only seven days, so being able to have more time is a definite benefit.

GhostHawk, thanks for the tip about the JBL having trouble with too many subfolders. One thing that really appealed to me about the JBL was the ability to create my own folders and organizational system.

I am really looking forward to getting my JBL, and glad that I looked beyond Kindle, Nook, and Sony. And I'm very glad that I found this forum! Thanks again.

P.S. Forgot to say, thanks for mentioning ManyBooks.net--looks like a useful site!

Some additional considerations while you wait for your JBL to arive;

Powering the JBL, you should really consider getting two sets of rechargable
AA batteries (eight) and a good charger for them. Mark each set of four so
you can keep track of which set is which. With two sets you can charge a
set while you are reading with the other, and then have a charged set as
soon as the one you are reading with runs out. No waiting while the battery
is charging. (One of the advantages the JBL has over the others.)

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/sh...rsllit8gi3gna7

Is a good site and the selection of chargers should give you an idea of what's
available for the battery charger combos. If you do order there be sure to
pick up a couple of plastic 4-cell battery cases with your order as it can
cost more to ship them, in a separate order, than they list for.
For the standard NiMH AA batteries, they all provide about the same
performance, but I think those "Made in Japan" have a quality advantage.
The current Energizers in my local grocer's display are made in Japan and
while cost a little more than what they are at the site I linked to, they are
working just fine.

SD cards, for most people 4GB is the most you are likely to need with the
JBL. They need not be particularly fast, so you should not need to spend
more than $10 for a 4GB card. 2GB cards can be had for ~$5 and will hold
several thousands of eBooks.

Get a USB2 media(SD card) reader for your PC, if it doesn't already have
one. They can be had for ~ $3.


If you maintain your own file structure for your SD card(s), you should
consider the benefit of building a master folder on your PC's hard drive that
you can then Sync with your SD card(s). The Free SyncToy works fine for
me:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...ng=en#Overview

You can then use the power of your PC to manage your files and have an easy way of updating your SD card.

The free "Oscar's File Renamer" has been a great help in that regard,
especially for dealing with changes to a large number of files. It works great
for removing and replacing illegal characters in a large list of file names.

http://www.mediachance.com/free/renamer.htm

Luck;
Ken

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, CatLady. I'd also recommend the free library here. Each title listed has been carefully converted and proof read by MR members who generously dedicate their skill and time to produce some beautiful presentations. Best wishes. Neil

[tomereader]

Well, I went with Ectaco's (my Texas friends kid me and call it my extra crispy taco ereader "suggestion" and read all books in .txt, I have an SD card only for the firmware updates, and use Calibre to do all my organizing, and only keep one page of books at a time on the JBL.

If you ever have a freeze, which can be a little scary at first, there are two things to try

using a looooong push of the power on button (3-5 seconds)
connecting the mini usb cord from JBL to pc

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Some additional considerations while you wait for your JBL to arive;

Powering the JBL, you should really consider getting two sets of rechargable
AA batteries (eight) and a good charger for them. Mark each set of four so
you can keep track of which set is which. With two sets you can charge a
set while you are reading with the other, and then have a charged set as
soon as the one you are reading with runs out. No waiting while the battery
is charging. (One of the advantages the JBL has over the others.)

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/sh...rsllit8gi3gna7

Is a good site and the selection of chargers should give you an idea of what's
available for the battery charger combos. If you do order there be sure to
pick up a couple of plastic 4-cell battery cases with your order as it can
cost more to ship them, in a separate order, than they list for.
For the standard NiMH AA batteries, they all provide about the same
performance, but I think those "Made in Japan" have a quality advantage.
The current Energizers in my local grocer's display are made in Japan and
while cost a little more than what they are at the site I linked to, they are
working just fine.

SD cards, for most people 4GB is the most you are likely to need with the
JBL. They need not be particularly fast, so you should not need to spend
more than $10 for a 4GB card. 2GB cards can be had for ~$5 and will hold
several thousands of eBooks.

Get a USB2 media(SD card) reader for your PC, if it doesn't already have
one. They can be had for ~ $3.


If you maintain your own file structure for your SD card(s), you should
consider the benefit of building a master folder on your PC's hard drive that
you can then Sync with your SD card(s). The Free SyncToy works fine for
me:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...ng=en#Overview

You can then use the power of your PC to manage your files and have an easy way of updating your SD card.

The free "Oscar's File Renamer" has been a great help in that regard,
especially for dealing with changes to a large number of files. It works great
for removing and replacing illegal characters in a large list of file names.

http://www.mediachance.com/free/renamer.htm

Luck;
Ken

When you shop for a battery charger, be sure to select a slow charger, the slower, the better. Eight or nine hours to charge a set of AAs would be the minimum. Fast chargers, such as one hour, 90 minutes, or even four hours will dramatically shorten the life of your batteries by literally cooking them.

[Catlady]

Just a quick note to say my JBL just arrived, much earlier than expected (I thought it would ship from California, but it shipped directly from Ectaco, which is local to me).

Things started out badly as the included batteries were DOA, but once I inserted fresh batteries, it was good to go. I've only had a few minutes to try out the controls and browse through the included books--haven't loaded an SD card yet or hooked up to my computer.

I am very happy with the feel of it--battery bump is great to hold, the device seems to be just the right weight and size. Screen is much darker than I expected, which I am finding a little disconcerting.

By the way, an Energizer lithium battery coupon came with it--the same one with the picture of the Mini in various colors. (Oddly, the dead batteries were NOT Energizers!)

Thanks for the tips about batteries--I do have a recharger, and it is one that takes a VERY long time (so that's a good thing? I didn't know that). What I hate about it, though, is that the batteries don't seem to hold the charge very well if I try to store them for a few weeks. I will probably try out the lithium batteries.

I have a few 2gb SD cards on hand, so I'll begin with that size. I think I will start out loading the same public domain title from various sites and in various formats, and see what looks right to me. Then maybe try a library book or two.

Thanks so much!

[GhostHawk]

Rechargeable battery's tend to lose about 1% a day. Leave them in the drawer for 3 weeks or more and your looking at battery's that only have 3/4 of a charge left.

On my JBL with average reading I get about a week on a set.
So if I swapped battery's on Monday, come Thursday I put them on to charge.
Granted they may lose a few % but usually not enough to bother. I'd rather be safe with a second set ready to go. Than be caught with no charged ones for the book.

I'm using 2500ma battery's by Energizer with a 8 hour charger.

[Ken Maltby]

Now that you have your JBL here are a few things you might consider.

It is a good idea to create a folder on one of your PC's hard drives to hold a back-up of
the JBL's internal memory. To do such a backup you will need to use the USB cable.
Your PC should see your JBL as an external storage device/drive letter and offer you the
option to open a folder on your desktop for it. You can then just Ctrl-A the contents of
that folder and copy them to the folder you created on your hard drive.

In addition to having a safe copy of all the supplied ebooks, you will have the Adobe
folder with "device.xml" file that identifies the JBL to the ADE software. This initial
backup gives you the option of returning your JBL to its initial condition at a later date.

As long as you have the USB cable connected and the JBL's internal memory appearing as
an external drive, it is a good time to format it as a FAT32 drive and run ChkDsk on it.
(An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)

This is also a good time to go over the Books folder that you now have on your hard
drive as a backup of the JBL's Internal Memory. You may decide to do as some of us
have done and copy the supplied ebooks over to your SD card (or Master SD Card folder
on your hard drive for later copying or syncing to an SD Card) to keep all your books in
a common location. This will free up a lot of the Internal Memory.

If you want to expose your JBL to the ADE scam you would copy the Adobe folder back
to the clean JBL Internal Memory. In any case you need to have a folder named "Books"
and a folder named "Pictures" in your JBL's Internal Memory. They can be empty folders.

That should both provide you with some valuable experience with accessing the internal
storage memory of the JBL and leave you with a backup in case of later problems. Your
JBL's internal memory will also be operating with a more efficient storage system format
that will match that on your ebook SD cards. If you ran ChkDsk with both options
checked, your memory file structure should be in good condition, as well.

Luck;
Ken