dkpw – Wicked Fire

Hi Jan,

Thanks for your comments. The BeBook is a great piece of kit!

The page turning buttons are a wee bit small but so far they have not caused me any issues, apart from the ones on the side being “the wrong way round.”

As a Linux user, I’ve not tried the MS .lit format but it does seem popular. I’ll have a look for Sci-Fi books which I do like – it’s been a while but the last ones I read were Frank Herbert’s Dune series.

Good luck!

Orwell thanks for leaving a comment – you’re right they are great devices.

You will, I hope understand, but I have removed your e-mail address offering a discount code. While this is a great way of making a saving on a BeBook, and one which I took advantage of from another re-seller, this blog is personal, it’s mine and in my view there is enough advertising in the world.

Hi Adam,

I’m not sure about that, not having put any “de-copyrighted” material on my BeBook.

I suspect the BeBook would simply not display anything it could not read, but this may depend on the original and end file formats selected and your method of “de-copyrighting.”

It’s not like an iPod, connected to a central library with DRM controls.

Good luck.

Adam, they all work fine without any problems.

I am becoming concerned that there are people making genuine, serious and inoffensive comments on this site. not a welcome development but I suppose I should accept change has ‘gotta come (in the words of an ancestor of the new president elect).

Simon, you will have to forgive DarkStar – he’s a regular contributor and therefore rather disturbed. Twenty years in the NHS has also not helped.

The wi-fi idea is nice if you regularly read newspapers for news – I don’t instead relying on Liferae for RSS feeds and news sites such as the BBC.

For me the BeBook is a chance to get away from a computer and read for the sake of it.

I’ve got one. It is very good. The nearly English manual is not much use and the navigation is a bit messy but for reading books it is great. I’m reading treasure Island – one of the 150 free books. Not all the pdf files I’ve downloaded come out well on the Bebook. I copied one from PDF to RTF but it loses its formatting. What we need is some optimising software – any volunteers?

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say the BeBook is fantastic and well worth the money. I’ve had no trouble with their customer service and as has been mentioned the team from Endless Ideas seem really happy and eager to implement ideas to make it even better.

Cheers,
Adam

I just did a search on Stephen Fry’s blog to see whether he had an e-book reader. Well of course he does, he has three – but no BeBook – I think Endless Ideas should send him one for Christmas. See this post about Stephen’s blog.

I have just updated my BeBeook’s firmware for the first time. This is a great way of providing users with the benefits of on-going development by Endless Ideas. This update provides better MobiPocket Book support for DRM’ed files as well as what on first glance appears to be a bit of a speed boost on page turns and moving around the menus.

The procedure for upgrading is pretty simple, with the only minor irritation being you have to use a 1GB SD card, as larger cards may or not work. These are becoming hard to find, but I sourced one on line especially for these updates.

The process is quick, taking me about 5 minutes. You should make sure your BeBook has a good charge and back up all your files on the BeBook in case of problems. As I retain all my books on a dedicated 2GB SD card – including the ones which come free with the device – I back up by removing the card.

You have to download the update, which is a compressed TAR file, then extract it and copy it to the root of your 1GB SD Card. You then power off the BeBook, insert the SD card and then press and hold the volume up button on the side of the reader while turning it back on.

The screen changes to say “Checking update file” at that point you can the release the volume button. The update begins, by updating the kernel, system, logo, parsers and other bits and pieces. These stages are shown on the screen in a numbered menu with a progress bar. At the successful conclusion of the update, the BeBook will beep several times and a message asking you to restart will show. Restart and that’s it.

There have been issues with the December 2008 update. As with all things it’s good to let others trial software updates, and as the increased functionality of any update is not vital, I’m happy to wait until I see reports of problem free updates on the support forum.

Still it is an easy process to follow and good to be able to receive improvements after purchase.

I have just bought a bebook and I couldn’t have made a better choice
First of all – although it looks a bit retro on the pictures (which put me off at first – specially compared to the Sony device) it actually has a kind of rubbery exterior which makes it really nice to hold – so I was pleasantly surprised there.
Second – despite complaints – it reads PDF files just fine – adjust the zoom function to your liking and you’re golden.
And third – and most important for me – is that it reads many formats. I buy most of my books from mobypocket (definitely cheaper that Sony site or Amazon) and my bebook which I ordered from their site http://www.mybebook.com has updated software and reads mobi files nicely.

i hope this was helpful

Following requests on the BeBook forum here’s a link to the original BeBook manual – in English (sort of)…

Last week I purchased a new, genuine Nokia BL-5C and an external battery charger and conditioner, from eBay for less than £5. I like the idea of having two batteries and charging them in a dedicated unit rather than through USB which is slower.

The Nokia battery is ever so slightly thicker than the original and so you need to replace the compartment cover carefully.

I have noticed an improvement in the longevity of the Nokia battery, which I charged overnight, compared to the original. I’m most of the way through the 900 or so pages of Darwin’s Origin of species and after that week’s work it is still on 4 segments. So far so good!

For some excellent BeBook news, check out this post!

Hi Nick,

As I understand it, you’re going from HTML in OOO to PDF with Rockwell. All of the PDFs, I’ve made from OOO have been with standard M$ web fonts, which seem to have been rendered okay.

You may have more luck with Rockwell if you add it to the fonts directory on your SD card or internal memory. All you need to do is create a directory when the reader or SD card is connected to your computer. Make sure it is simply named “fonts” and place the TTF fonts you want to be able to use in their. You would then need to use the reader’s settings menu to change the display font to your choice.

Good luck.

My BeBook review – submitted to Amazon UK

I’ve used a BeBook for 8 months. I nearly didn’t keep it as my first one lasted a week before the off/on button broke and fell inside the case. The second was dead on arrival. The third worked and continues to work excellently. There was clearly an issue with quality control but the support staff at BeBook were helpful during this rather sorry start

My advice to potential purchasers would be research this product, other readers and eBook sites. The market is developing and there are many formats available. The BeBook can read nearly all open or free file formats but at the time of writing (May 2009) the only protected format is MobiPocket. The market has not yet reached the maturity and ease of use that music has with iTunes, so equip yourself with knowledge and research to obtain the most from your reader.

I use a 2GB SD card to store my books. Using this with a cheap USB SD card reader makes for fast and trouble free transfers from my computer to BeBook.

Using PDFs, Mobi, text and HTML files, I have never seen the BeBook forget what page you were on. With the latest firmware, depending on the file format you use, there are more than three zoom levels. You can also load additional fonts to an SD card and thereby change the look and feel of your book. This will be of assistance for the visually impaired.

I like the fact that the BeBook’s firmware is regularly updated, as the product is developed and the users’ needs’ are met. Try getting Sony to act on its users’ suggestions.

The e-Ink screen is beautifully clear and not at all a strain on the eyes. I’ve read my BeBook on the train for instance, with bright sunlight streaming through the windows without a problem. My iPod Touch was unusable in the same conditions.

The battery life is good, although the quoted 7,000 page turns is over-stated. Since I last charged the BeBook four weeks ago, I have read Pride and Prejudice, and skimmed chapters in other books probably totalling some 1,500 page turns and still have two out of four bars showing on the battery. You can use a standard Nokia mobile phone battery as a spare. Charge it in the phone to save time on a USB trickle charge.

I have experienced the occasional crash, usually reading books with tables. The BeBook usually stutters, restarts and takes you back to the page you were reading.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the BeBook. I’m happy with what I can download for free and buy on-line in Mobi format. I’ve knocked off a star due to issues with build quality, but otherwise this is a great eBook reader.

Officially due for release next year. I’d also expect the BB2 to be very expensive when it does become available.

I like the ideas of wi fi and a touch screen, but the overall styling of the device does not appeal. I prefer the square design of the original BeBook.

This video may be of interest from this week’s Frankfurt eBook Fair.