new CybookSo, gang, what do you of the new Cybook screen, as shown in this photo from Bookeen? I’ll leave it to others to comment on the shot.

Presumably no amputations were performed or suffered in the line of duty.

Meanwhile, separately, congratulations to RWood for his work producing the Harvard Classics in Sony’s BBeB—and also in MobiPocket, one of the formats that’ll work on the Cybook.

The Mobi version will be done in the next week. Download the Sony version of the HCs here.

I love the dedication that RW showed in producing this nonDRMed collection and look forward to sampling the Mobipocket version. Of course, let’s hope that e-book standards will soon be for real, so that one size, so to speak, fits all and the volunteers don’t have to work quite as hard.

(Via MobileRead, after which RW is naming his collection.)

7 COMMENTS

  1. I am worried about the lack of buttons. I.e., how will you advance in the book? Is there going to be a “go to” thing? Because at least Sony let you advance in 10ths or by 10 pages rather than just one page at a time.

    I am excited about it but have a lot of questions to be answered.

  2. Jane and Brian: I’m excited but the positives, but, yes, Jane raises a good point. I’m going to email Bookeen and see if there’s a public answer.

    As for Brian’s slightly related mention elsewhere of the annotation issue, well I myself will not expect much beyond bookmarks. That’s too bad in terms of academic apps. But hopefully the Vizplex screen and Mobipocket—all those books available—will make up for the shortcomings for recreational readers.

    If you want annotation capabilities and want to revert to old-fashioned LCD technology, then check out the DT 375–which offers a virtual keyboard and even USB capability for a keyboard. Use it with uBook and, when things are adjusted, you’ll a pretty sharp image at or near E Ink quality.

    The 375 works with an old version of Mobipocket. Last I knew, they were still selling for $155 on uBid.

    You could buy both a 375 and a Bookeen machine and come in a bit under the price of the iLiad, which does seem more interactive than the Cybook.

    Thanks,
    David

  3. “That’s too bad in terms of academic apps. But hopefully the Vizplex screen and Mobipocket—all those books available—will make up for the shortcomings for recreational readers.”

    Yes. I work in higher ed and these devices are starting to get cheap/good enough to be viable for replacing printed textbooks etc, but annotation is an absolute must here.

    I wonder if this will simply ignore annotations..ie, if I annotate the Mobipocket file on my desktop and then sync, will I see my highlights, etc. or will that portion of the mobipocket file simply be ignored.

    Currently I’m just using an old Axim X30 to read Mobipocket but am thinking of switching to an ASUS 626 because I understand there are registry tweaks that can be done with WM5 that can’t be done in PocketPC 2003 (which the Axim uses).

    One of the things I *hate* about Mobipocket on both my Treo and my Axim is that advancing to the next page sometimes takes an absurdly long time.

  4. Brian: Totally agree re urgency of annotations for acadaemic apps—and their usefulness even for some recreational reading.

    Meanwhile why not check out the just posted item on the supposed $150 laptop? Sure would be wonderful if this is the real thing.

    I think there’s actually a chance that it could be, but it’s hard to say. What’s your own take?

    David

  5. I really don’t see why everyone feels the need to be able to annotate. Do you guys really scribble notes all over your books? When I was in school if I had notes to take on a chapter of a text, I took them in my (paper) notebook. That way my notes from lecture, recitation, and text, etc. could all be in one place. I never wrote a single stroke in any textbook.

    And for leisure reading, do people actually write in the margins of the book? Like when Lizzie turns down Darcy at his first proposal in P&P, would you scribble in the margin something like “u go girl!!!”??

    Anyway, clearly people want to do it so there would be some justification putting it in the product, but it still seems weird to me.

  6. I personally like the ability to annotate. Nothing bugs me more than errors when I am reading a book. My ebookwise allows me to mark all the errors when I am reading the book, then I can go through them all when I am finished and edit the original file on the computer.

    Many people don’t ever read the same book more than once so I guess it would be of limited use to them.

    Of course it would be so much easier if the book companies would hire competant proofreaders, but somehow I don’t see that happening anytime soon judging by the quality of new books.

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