NAEB storefront is up: Multiformat Cybook on sale for $375 with 1G memory card, leather case, other extras
The NAEB buying club has just opened its storefront to sell the Cybook Gen3 at $375 with a memory card and other handy extras; you can now start up an account there.
NAEB expects that you’ll be able to check out your orders on Thursday, once the software is ready to deal with such complexities as shipping costs, not included in the $375. Updates will confirm this to members of the NAEB mailing list. Yes, NAEB will ship outside the States. Just say “None” in the blank for “State/Provence” uf that field isn’t applicable.
Gung-ho on multiform approach and dislike of DRM
Because Robert Nagle and I want advertisers who like or at least tolerate our e-book philosophy—anti-eBabel, anti-Draconian DRM—we’ve signed up NAEB. That said, we’d be publishing this item regardless, given our typical readers’ hatred of DRM. I did not consult with NAEB or anyone else before writing the present post: it’s from the heart. In case you’re curious, NAEB stands for “Not Another E-Book,” and the company was started by fans of Baen Books—ordinary consumers disgusted with all the gotchas of e-book readers, especially in the format and DRM areas. Fittingly, Baen’s e-book operation has thrived by avoiding DRM and offering books in popular open formats.
The Cybook can read DRMed books via Mobipocket, a way to be able to enjoy best-sellers from large publishers, which insist on strict “protection” regardless of the horrors it creates for consumers. But both NAEB and Bookeen, the Cybook’s makers, dislike DRM and also are strongly committed to a multiformat philosophy to allow readers to enjoy the maximum number of books with the least number of hassles. The Cybook can read .txt, .rtf, HTML, nonprotected PalmDoc and nonencrypted PDFs, and can play MP3s. My own hope is that eventually the e-book world can standardize on the .epub standard from the IDPF. But meanwhile it is urgent to help readers deal with the present mess, at least 20 warring e-book formats.
What the $375 buys
Current deal is that NAEB will “offer the Cybook along with the USB cables, one 1GB Secure Digital memory card to hold additional ebooks, a set of stereo earphones, the leather softcover case, a Quick-Start Guide, one 800mAH battery (pre-installed) as well as the USB-to-AC power adapter,” NAEB’s Derek Benner said this week in a letter to the NAEB mailing list.
“We’re offering this package deal for $375. Right now, Bookeen is offering a similar package deal (their Deluxe package) which has upgraded the SD card to 2GB and has added a spare battery (and thoroughly unneeded, in my opinion—after months of hard testing). For this slightly upgraded package deal, Bookeen is charging $450.”
NAEB will be buying in lots of 1,000, so the earlier you commit, the greater your chances of being in on the next deal—although you should visit the Cybook’s own site (not the same as NAEB’s), read multiple reviews and carefully evaluate the unit before ordering.
My assessment based on a hands-on of a few weeks
Here’s my assessment of the Cybook after several weeks of use. The view on the Cybook is easily the best on a six-inch E Ink Vizplex screen because of a feature in the software which bolds the font, if you want, no matter what type you’ve selected; this dramatically increases the perceived contrast between the text and the background. I’d begged for this feature earlier in the TeleBlog. Bookeen came through (although the company’s Laurent Picard says this was planned anyway).
For me, the number one criterion in buying an e-reader, at least for typical use, is the quality of the view–well, along with the number of formats available. And in those two areas, the Cybook shines, especially since Bookeen wants to add yet more choices.
The negatives
That said, let me go to special trouble to point out the negatives—in detail—so please keep reading.
No “best” e-book-reader exists for all users. Go by your needs. For heavy-duty PDF reading, the iLiad might make more sense for people who can afford the $700 since since most PDF files are for computers with larger screens than the Cybook. The iLiad has an eight-inch screen. Also, the iLiad screen has better glare-proofing; and the software on the iLiad and the Sony Reader PR-505 allows more gray scales, which can be handy when, say, reading manga books.
Another negative of the Cybook is that the page turning controls require more pressure than I would prefer, and they’re not large. Bookeen says it might address that issue, by allowing customized button assignments. Be aware, too, that on occasions, you may need to press the page control more than once, to advance to the next page–that’s on Bookeen’s fix list.
Yet another negative, at least for now, is that the Cybook does not come on immediately, bringing you back to the place in the book where you were.
What’s more, last I knew, the Cybook didn’t work with Mobi from certain library systems.
I invite both NAEB and Bookeen to respond, and for current and prospective Cybook owners to add their impressions, pro and con, in the comment box below.
The pros
Despite the negatives, Robert is fond of the unit he got in an ad barter with NAEB. I myself am currently using loaner from Bookeen, which I’ll most likely keep for at least another several weeks in order to be able follow the progress of possible firmware updates. Not to mention the fact that I enjoy the Gen3.
If you believe in supporting vendors who share our dislike of DRM (usual reminder: I’m for interoperable DRM, but only because it would be better than the present mess), then I would urge you to give the Cybook a good look and also judge it by its impressive technical merits, especially that embolden feature.
On top of everything else, Bookeen has been a long-time backer of the .epub standards and intends to add software to allow the Cybook to read books in the .epub format.
Standards-oriented librarians by all means should check out the Cybook (best suited for library use with the leather case, for durability’s sake). Bookeen has a special interest in libraries and is eager to serve special-needs readers who require large print.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:57 am
>>”The view on the Cybook is easily the best on a six-inch E Ink Vizplex screen because of a feature in the software which bolds the font, if you want, no matter what type you’ve selected; this dramatically increases the perceived contrast between the text and the background.”
Thank you so much for telling me about this feature! I was a bit disappointed in the contrast between background and text on the eInk screen of my new Cybook until I read your tip and went looking for the bold setting. Now reading on the Cybook has gone from a dim “flashlight in a coal bin” sort of experience to one of great pleasure. It is amazing how that one feature really improved the readability of the eInk.
On the Cybook: I like the size and weight and how it feels in hand with the leather cover. I particularly like how easy it is to move ebooks onto the device and not having to have some sort of proprietary software installed on my computer to do format conversions.
Thanks again.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Glad to see some confirmation of my impressions, Brad. I’m amazed that more people have not picked up on the significance of the Cybook’s embolden feature. It’s not that the screen is really that much different from the others. But the ability to bold letters on an E Ink screen can make a major difference in readability, given the contrast issues.
As much as I like Bookeen the company, I would beg Sony and other rivals of Bookeen to implement embolden for the sake of the progress of the e-book world.
Meanwhile I remain interested in other folks’ impressions, pro and con, of the Cybook.
Happy holidays,
David