Palm Reader Pro for Pocket PC

[marlof]

<a href="http://www.peanutpress.com/reader.cgi/4">http://www.peanutpress.com/reader.cgi/4</a><br /><br />The people of Palm Digital Media have released the Pro version of their Palm Reader for the Pocket PC. The basic version remains a free download, but the Pro version will cost $9,95 or $19,95 when bundled with the Agfa Monotype Font pack.<br /><br />What's the difference between the basic and the Pro version? The Pro version has new features such as dictionary lookup, full text justification and autoscroll. Next to that, the Pro version comes bundled with the Webster's New World Vest Pocket Dictionary.

[Ed Hansberry]

DOH! Marlof beat me to this one. :lol: This is a great reader. ClearType supported, little battery meter, nice progress indicator, etc. Plus, I love the Peanut Press form of DRM, which basically just links the book to your credit card. Great job guys! I've been beta-testing the Pro version for a few months and it is well worth the money!

[Jeff Kirvin]

I picked this up yesterday afternoon and I'm very happy with it. Now if only Palm would make it as no-brainer easy to convert HTML pages to ebooks as Microsoft does with their .lit-making Word plugin, I'd never have to use MS Reader at all.

Palm Reader Pro is definitely the best ebook reader on the market though, and I agree with Ed that they're also one of the few ebook sellers with agreeable DRM.

[disconnected]

I just downloaded this too, and am very pleased, although I would like a later dictionary. I bought the largest one, and it was published in 1994; Amazon has something called Webster's II New College Dictionary which it says is revised to include newer technical and scientific terms; that might be a good one to have as an ebook.

I've noticed that a few mystery authors whose books I've bought at PeanutPress have new books that are not yet available as ebooks; I hope this isn't a trend.

[Ed Hansberry]

Now if only Palm would make it as no-brainer easy to convert HTML pages to ebooks as Microsoft does with their .lit-making Word plugin, I'd never have to use MS Reader at all.

My primary reason for using MS Reader in many cases is because of its simple Word plugin for quick conversions and very straight foward Overdrive Readerworks for converting large HTML files. THe DROPBOOK.EXE offered by Palm just isn't as easy to use when you want to add formatting IMHO. And when there is a conversion problem, it is very difficult to track down and fix.

[Small Town Man]

you will find a list of converters here:

http://www.memoware.com/mw-helpm.htm

[Ed Hansberry]

you will find a list of converters here:

http://www.memoware.com/mw-helpm.htm

But I only see two converters that convert to the Palm Markup Language used by the reader - DropBook and MakeBook, and both use Text as the input. I would like something that would convert multiple HTML files (one per chapter for example) into one Palm Reader ebook. Any suggestions?

[Jeff Kirvin]

Okay, now I'm less thrilled with my $9.95 purchase. Palm Reader Pro keeps "forgetting" my place when I switch between books on my Jornada! Sometimes it's off by a few pages (opening to page 12 of a book instead of 10, for example), but sometimes it just gives up trying and sends me all the way back to the cover page. I tend to read three or four books a time, switching back and forth as the mood strikes me, so this is completely unacceptable. Ed, how did this make it out of beta testing?

I've submitted a bug report to Palm, so we'll see if/how fast they fix it. Given Palm's "policy of denial" about the m505 USB problem, I'm not optimistic.

[Ed Hansberry]

Ed, how did this make it out of beta testing?

I dunno. Never saw that problem. You will get an answer. Peter is very good and sort of in his own world over there, he listens to users. You need to tell them what ebook you are using if it is one of theirs, or how it was formatted if one of yours.

[Jeff Kirvin]

Okay, I've ferretted out the problem. I think it has to do with a registry setting, because after deleting the Palm Reader Pro executable and replacing it with the "normal" version of Palm Reader, I still had the problem.

The problem is that if you open a new book by tapping Book -> Open, it doesn't save the state of the book you're currently reading. If you want to switch from one book to another, you have to manually close the book by tapping Book -> Close before opening another book. Tapping Book -> Exit will also save state properly.

So there is a work around, but it's still a pain in the rump. Heh. I should get a job in software testing...

[bargle]

I've submitted a bug report to Palm, so we'll see if/how fast they fix it. Given Palm's "policy of denial" about the m505 USB problem, I'm not optimistic.


assumeing you live in the USA and paied by Credit card, you have rights. Ask your bank about a chargeback if they refuse to refund.

[Peter Fry]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I've worked very hard for the last 6 months re-writing 60% of the code, and feel like I've done a good job on it. Now for the other 40%. :D

Sometimes our support isn't stellar. I can only speak for Palm Digital Media Group, as we are 2500 miles away from everyone else, but we read all messages back and forth from support and try to cut off problems quickly. If you feel like you're not getting correct responses, please mail [email protected] (me) or [email protected] (all of PDMG).

We'll have a direct HTML->Peanut Book solution soon. We have the work about 80% done.

The large dictionary rules. One of my roommates and my father have said they're buying PDA's solely to be able to have a 180,000 word dictionary with them at all times. That's the sort of feedback that makes be feel all warm and fuzzy. :D All of the dictionaries have sold so well that we're in negotiations to get many more.

If you want a book mail [email protected]. We have the rights to several thousand books that need to be sorted by customer interest. Any book mentioned on that e-mail address bubble immediately to the top of the production queue. It really works!

I'll look at the last page problem. That doesn't sound like it should be too hard to fix. Expect a 1.1.3/2.0.1 release later this week.

-peter fry
palm digital media group

[markan]

We'll have a direct HTML->Peanut Book solution soon. We have the work about 80% done.


Now THAT would address the one thing that has kept me on the fence about which reader to standardise on. My wife (who has a Palm) and I both prefer the Peanut reader, but creating the books has always been hard enough that I keep looking at MS Reader, Mobipocket etc.

I shall look forward to it!!

[Jeff Kirvin]

Rock on, Peter! I wish I got that level of support and communication from other software developers!

[jfrancis]

Does the 'Pro' version allow you to go 'full-screen' and remove the title and menu bars? I still don't see why they don't do this, it's a no-brainer IMO. I just want plain text on a white background sometimes.

[Peter Fry]

The bug with current page numbers has been squashed. I'll probably wait a day or two before posting it to be sure no other problems are found. It can be worked around by choosing 'Close' before 'Open'.

jfrancis:
Full-screen becomes a user interface nightmare for beginners. That also changes the amount of text that can fit on a screen, and so a pagination step needs to occur.

My current thoughts are to add in a layout screen that allows the user to choose very specific layout criteria. On that page will be:

1) Line spacing (single/double/# of pixels)
2) Borders (top/bottom/left/right)
3) Orientation (ClearType looks great on HP's and Casio's in landscape)
4) turning on/off the menubar/toolbar
5) The scaling that inline images get (currently 150%)

If anyone has any other feature requests for 2.x, feel free to send them my way. I can't guarantee any particular release dates, but I'll add them to the list.

[Ed Hansberry]

The bug with current page numbers has been squashed.
See Jeff? I told you Peter was the man! Get your requests in folks. Peter is the one to implement, time allowing.

[Peter Fry]

The new version is up on our web site. I found another bug that creeped in between 1.1 and 1.1.1 that was fairly serious, so I'd recommend upgrading.

-peter "the man?" fry :D

[carlosgp]

I have to say that I'm waiting for a full screen Palm Reader to buy it. Until then I will be using mobipocket. It has worse readability, but full screen is very important to me. It reads a lot of formats too. Peter, your list seems to be what I'm waiting for! :)

Hmmm... Don't you need a forum in Palm Digital Media web page?

[disconnected]

I've been having page problems too, but I can't narrow down the circumstances, it seems kind of random.
I generally only read one book at a time, so it isn't a multiple book thing.
In the old version, if I didn't actually tell it to close the book, then even if I closed the app, from within the app, or by a soft reset, the next time the app started, it would automatically open to the most recent page of the book I was reading. Now sometimes it says no books are open, and when I open the book, it opens to the first page.
This doesn't always happen, so I'm not sure what causes it.