Avoid Mobipocket 5.3 build 582

[iboar]

Avoid Mobipocket 5.3 build 582.

The Mobipocket desktop reader application might prompt you to update to the Mobipocket 5.3 build 582 Palm reader application. It is very buggie. For one thing, it will crash your Palm if you attempt to use the dictionary word lookup feature.

[yorrick]

I stopped using Mobipocket years ago when the interface was low-res, it was slow and difficult to use and only could update through dedicated (and annoying) interfaces.

Consider the crashing of your Palm PDA an "enhanced feature" of Mobireader... :)

[iboar]

I only use it when I have no other choice. Unfortunately, if you purchase commercial eBooks, you usually don't have a lot of formats from which to choose. It is very frustrating finding eBooks that I like--mostly non-fiction and scholarly works and biographies. As far as that goes, you cannot even find a Harry Potter novel, as popular as they are, in an eBook format that is readable on a Palm PDA. So I often get stuck having to buy the secure Mobipocket version.

I don't think eBooks will ever take off if the industry doesn't come up with a universal, secure format that can be read in multiple readers. I would be willing to pay for a reader if they all could read an industry-standardized format. It is a real pain to have to choose a format when you purchase, and then be stuck with it.

[archangel]

I've been using 5.3 for awhile without a single crash, but I haven't tried the dictionary so maybe that is why. I would also mention that 5.3 is still in Beta so definitely stay with the more stable 5.2 if you have issues.

As far as DRM, we have had that discussion since the Peanut Press days in the late 90s and it has pretty much turned out as we all have thought. DRM and high prices (compared to paper books) have killed any hope for ebooks to take off. Too many formats and too much incompatibility between devices. I was tempted to buy a Sony Reader, but my hundreds of books I have bought the last 9 years for my PDAs will not work since they are in the eReader and Mobipocket format. Amazon owns Mobipocket now so I think their device if it comes will support that.

The best option now is really to buy them in MS Reader format, remove the DRM with any of the available tools online and convert the book to the format of choice. That way you can covert it later if you change devices.

DRM is anti consumer and should be illegal. I know they need a way to stop piracy, but killing off the entire format seems a bit harsh. At least if they allow DRM they should make it one universal format for all ebooks or allow us to exchange books to another DRM format for free.

[iboar]

If anyone needs Mobipocket Reader for Palm v5.2 build 542, you can download it from my website at:

http://w5jck.jackswinden.com/downloads/mobireader.prc

Thanks for the suggestion of de-DRMing MS Reader formatted books. I'll look into that as I have several ebooks in that format from my WM 5 days and would like to be able to read them on my T|X.

BTW: The Palm developer at Mobipocket, yes there is only one, said that v5.3 is not a beta, it is an actual release. Obviously it is not ready for release yet, but go figure. It took Mobipocket two weeks to respond to our complaints about this issue. I'm glad to hear that Amazon bought them out because frankly those French idiots didn't know how to program very well. They have no concept of fonts and how to use them on Palm OS devices. Perhaps Amazon will devote more resources to improving their code than Mobicrap did!

[dmccunney]

BTW: The Palm developer at Mobipocket, yes there is only one, said that v5.3 is not a beta, it is an actual release. Obviously it is not ready for release yet, but go figure. It took Mobipocket two weeks to respond to our complaints about this issue. I'm glad to hear that Amazon bought them out because frankly those French idiots didn't know how to program very well. They have no concept of fonts and how to use them on Palm OS devices. Perhaps Amazon will devote more resources to improving their code than Mobicrap did!When I grabbed it from the Mobi site, it was labeled a beta, with feedback requested. Of course, the entire Mobi site went down before I could post any...

It's reasonably stable on my device now, but caused me some headaches for a while. I run it off a card, and store Mobi documents on a card. Mobi required me to go through multiple iterations to get documents assigned to Reading Lists. It crashed several times during the process, losing any assignments it made in that session. It it continually seemed to lose track of where documents were. After categorizing some documents, I'd try to open one, and Mobi would respond it couldn't find it. Doing an Update Library operation refreshed its memory, but I don't understand how it lost it in the first place.

I looked at Mobi's MobiType feature, but the fonts they supplied are simply too small on my device, so I turned it off again. Instead, I use FonthackV to substitute for the standard Palm fonts in Mobi.

The advantage to MobiReader is that it's available for the widest number of platforms, so you aren't as likely to be looking at ebooks you can no longer read if you shift to a different device. How big a concern that is probably depends upon whether you buy ebooks with DRM. I don't, and don't intend to until the ebook industry settles on a common format that all publishers and readers will support. I don't want to have to maintain multiple readers, and remember which book is in which format read by which reader.

Personally, I use Plucker as my main ebook reader, and convert HTML texts for it. It means I can't read DRM protected content, but since there is more stuff that I want available in HTML format than I have time to read, that's not a big concern for me. I want to get content once, and read it on whatever device I happen to have. HTML, read in a browser on desktop and laptop, or in Plucker on the PDA, does nicely.

I installed Mobi for the same reason I have eReader: to gain familiarity with it, and to read the odd content I can't get in another format. It's a good thing Amazon bought it and made it freeware, because I certainly wouldn't pay for it.
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Dennis