Sony Dgital Reader Day 3…
This product is not perfect, far from it. But it's not the hardware that makes me say it, it's the software. Everything about this product is soooooo first generation.
But moving on, my main problem is that this product can in no way support an entire library of books. And by library I mean thousands and thousands of books. This wouldn’t be a big deal except that it’s advertised as such and it’s assumed as such give by the theoretical storage capacity.
The hardware is pretty nice, despite some flaws. But the software is fucking horrible. Despite the fact that the reader can support an SD Card and Memory Stick, it looks like the designers never truly meant for the device to have more than 200 MB of books both in form and in function. Many people have had issues when using the device with more than one thousand books loaded. But even if you could deal with some of the device issues, the library software is horrible for maintaining that many books. Sony would be very smart to just license itunes (with its bloated code and all) for the Digital Reader.
So I’m forced to resort to 3rd party apps. And if you think a digital reader is a niche product, you should see the 3rd party app that are available for it. They are either in foreign languages, buggy, or scale poorly for larger collections of books. One program which is actually pretty nice in concept, but it uses a humungous chunk of ram when presented with a large number of books.
But library quantity is not the only issue. It also appears that they did not intend for books to be huge in size. The device insists on loading the entire book into its memory, which for something like Count of Monte Cristo or War and Peace can take a somewhat long time. And to make it worse, you rarely getting a loading screen or prompt when it's trying to load a very large book. You will if it’s trying to format the book, but not if it’s just loading it. Why they couldn’t do it for both I do not know. The device just sits there as if you didn't press any buttons, which makes you feel like you should press more buttons, but that just compounds the problem.
But all that is livable. Use smaller SD cards, keep the bulk of your library on your computer, realize that it’s trying to load, etc… Here is my biggest issue, which sadly I can not blame on sony…
Using a pre existing library of books is a major pain in the ass. Why? Because almost all of the books that I currently have are not formatted for this device and look horrible when just throw on to the device raw. Almost all of them must be processed in someway, which involves manual time and effort. No one method for formatting will work on all books.
Example: Many books will display excess returns when formatted on the device, you can get macros to remove those returns, which works great….except for books with a lot of dialog…which jumbles all the dialog together making it difficult to read.
Granted I could just buy the ebook (assuming it’s available), which I might consider if the prices were cheaper. But since most are not any cheaper than their real life counterparts I’m resistant to. Not to mention, I already have it, why should I pay for it again?
So where does that leave me? Well despite all the negative things I’ve said, I love this device. I have so many books on computer that I have been resistant to read because of the form factor. Now that problem is gone and I’m beginning to read them one by one. Yes I’ve had to change my perception of this device, to related it to the Ipod…it’s not an Ipod Classic or Nano, but more of a shuffle. Load what you need, store it some place else, which each book needing a good look over before loading.
Concept: ****
Device: ***
Software: *
Execution: **
Fios thoughts…
Fios Internet...this is great. It's fast and the router is extremely cool. My only hesitation is that I don't trust Verizon 100% that the router is legit. I'm sure there is some back door built in to allow them to connect. Still debating if i want to cascade routers or not. But from a performance stand point it is magnificent.
Fios TV...I have mixed thoughts. It works and I'm not on Comcrap. Woo-Fucking-Hoo. But no HD on demand, boo, but how often did I really use on demand? So little boo. I get more channels, specifically HD channels, woo-hoo. They all look great, but no better than Comcast. I guess I had a pipe dream that they would look better on Fios versus Comcast, but they don't. Actually I think ESPN might looks slightly worse. I don't know, it could also be the programming. I will tell you on Monday when I see my normal shows.
Fios DVR/Menus...Yeah, this is where I am really disappointed. The gui is horrible. It might even be worse than the comcast one in some regards. There is never enough information on the screen; so much of the screen is just wasted space. Comcast at least maximized the screen real estate. Scrolling through the dvr and on demand is going to be painful with a lot of content. But since a) my dvr is empty at the moment and b) on demand is not fully working at the moment...I haven't fully realized the pain. Oh well, its Verizon first attempt, maybe in version 2.0?
Maybe?
Fios Install…
The time has finally come. After several years in the waiting Fios has finally come to my area. Here is how it all went down.
Placed the order on the web which went very smooth, never had to talk to a single human being, the way I like it. Install was schedule for 12/28 between 8 AM and 5 PM.
On the 26th I received an automated call reminding me that Fios will be installed on the 28th.
The 27th I receive a call from a real life human being telling me that the Fios Tech will be at my house before noon on the 28th.
9 AM 12/28 the Tech rolls up in his Van. In 3.5 hrs time everything is installed and running. Perfect!
At 3 PM I realize that "subscription" on demand is not working. Place a call to Verizon tech support. First two attempts are meet with this number is not in operation. Third attempt I get through to the automated system. It resets all the boxes to no avail. She tells me to call back in 30 minutes if it's not fixed and that I will get expedited to a real live human being. Once every came back online I call back, the first three times I try to get a real live human being I get disconnected..."I'm sorry but we can connect you at this time." On the forth, I finally get through, after a nice 30 minute wait. He resets the equipment again and tells me to wait 24 hrs. I ask him to double check that everything is setup correct with the account; of course he assures me that it is.
15 hrs later...still no hbo on demand and I’m not waiting for another 9 hrs. I call, wait on hold for 41 minutes, get a tech. Oh no, subscription on demand is not setup correctly, it was on the order but no one actually followed through on it. Oh double no, the department which sets all that up only works Monday through Friday, so it can't be fixed at that time. So to Monday I wait. Apparently the request is already in the queue and should be fixed on Monday. So we'll see...
Verizon Fios Install: ***
Sony Digital Reader…
Bought! Finally pulled the trigger. I'll get a more detailed report once i've used it for a bit. But here it is...