Jetbook/Jetbook Lite and Barnes & Noble

I was finally able to download a file from B&N. But now I am noticing missing words and whole lines when viewed in any font larger than 12. There is nothing worse than buying a product that does not work as advertised then spending more money for a book you cannot read.

Reading this forum and the one on MobileReader.com regarding this issue and several others, I would imagine the villagers will be storming Ectaco's castle doors unless a final and viable solution is developed quickly.

I always convert my ebooks to epub with Calibre before loading them onto my Jetbook Lite. I haven't even tried to read any Non-DRM pdb books on the JBL. Maybe it's not so much the ereader.com DRMed ebooks that are causing the problem with the missing text, but the PDB format itself.

JeePee,

First off, thank you for doing Ectaco's job. I really appreciate you taking time to work with us newbees.

I located and tried the Calibre Converter with negative results. Three of the four books from B&N are in PDB format. At the end of its process, Calibre reports back with being unable to convert DRM and recommends using a third party converter.

Ectaco, I hope you are reading your forum.. I'm calling Monday.

Thanks JeePee, you're a gem.

For those following my issue, I found out a few things this morning in speaking with tech support at Ectaco.

First, a new patch; 14o, should be coming out next week. This patch will hopefully and finally address the missing text and line of DRM, PDM files.

Second, ePub readability only applies to ePubs acquired outside of commercial sites; not downloaded from B&N or Ereader. Which I found this statement in contradiction to other posts I have seen in this form. Take it for what it is.

I would really like to know what other format the device reads.

jpparker19 wrote:Second, ePub readability only applies to ePubs acquired outside of commercial sites; not downloaded from B&N or Ereader. Which I found this statement in contradiction to other posts I have seen in this form.

Yes, I've asked several times which DRM formats does it support and I never received a clear answer, even if it seemed both ePub and PDB were supported in one of the latest reply.

When I said I have 0.14 firmware I was told there isn't such firmware version, it seems to me there is some communication problem inside Ectaco.

jpparker19 wrote:Second, ePub readability only applies to ePubs acquired outside of commercial sites; not downloaded from B&N or Ereader. Which I found this statement in contradiction to other posts I have seen in this form. Take it for what it is.

I think that because of Ectaco's advertising about the Jetbook Lite's compatibility with Barnes and Noble ebooks, it has been assumed that this means the JBL can read epub files directly fromt he B&N site. Hopefully this was only a communications error, because it is becoming clear that the JBL can only read DRMed PDB files from ereader.com and fictionwise.com, which are Barnes and Noble companies. I believe that all Jetbook Lite users would appreciate a very clear statement about DRM compatibility.

Since JetBook uses FBReader for ePub, I doubt Ectaco will ever add DRM support

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/30/2009 10:51:31

it is becoming clear that the JBL can only read DRMed PDB files from ereader.com and fictionwise.com, which are Barnes and Noble companies. I believe that all Jetbook Lite users would appreciate a very clear statement about DRM compatibility.

If I understand you correctly, none of the formatting issues with DRMed PDB exists on books from ereader.com and fictionwise.com?

jpparker19 wrote:If I understand you correctly, none of the formatting issues with DRMed PDB exists on books from ereader.com and fictionwise.com?

You have understood wrongly: currently there are formatting issues with *all* PDB files. Hopefully they'll be fixed in next firmware release, but this has nothing to do with ePub DRM that's not supported.

I'm in Canada and I'm waiting for the Jan1st JetBook firmware update. There is another issue for Barnes & Noble if you live outside the US. I was searching their ebook library and noticed that they can't "ship" most of their books outside the US, meaning you cannot download them if you reside in Canada. Here is B&N's response to my email about the subject:

"Because selling eBooks to international customers involves issues
regarding international copyright laws, tariffs, VAT taxes, currency
conversions, etc., only US residents are able to purchase eBooks on the
Barnes & Noble website at this time. Our customers in Canada will be
able to purchase eBooks on our website in the near future."

Another knock against the JetBook for me. I love the machine but downloading torrents or getting free classics is a downer. The sooner Ectaco supports DRM from multiple companies the better.

Your are luckier than me, I live in Italy.

If DRM files from Barns & Noble are in landscape more there does not seem to be any cut off words no matter what the font size. If using portrait mode anything larger than the default font does cut off part of the page. This is with the newest firm ware installed today. It looks like there is still work to be done although this is much better than before. I can at least use landscape mode and get a font large enough I can see it.

Dear Customers

Unfortunately, new Firmware update will be released later than it was supposed to due to technical circumstances.
We will do our best to make updates available as soon as possible.

Best Regards,
Pavel - technical support
Ectaco INC,

green wrote:Dear Customers

Unfortunately, new Firmware update will be released later than it was supposed to due to technical circumstances.
We will do our best to make updates available as soon as possible.

Best Regards,
Pavel - technical support
Ectaco INC,

Any idea Pavel when it will be released? Ballpark date?

Now I know why I requested an RMA from the seller this morning. I must be psychic.