360 Deleting bookmarks in PB360?

[Iron Dog]

I got a PB360 for Xmas. This is the first ereader I've ever handled. For the most part, it's been relatively easy to use. But....

I brought it with me to work to read during lunch. Things went swimmingly. When it was time to get back to work, I used the bookmark function to mark my place (and it showed that the page had been bookmarked) and turned it off. I went to go read that book tonight and... no bookmark in that book and it didn't open to the last page read when I opened the book.

Thinking I'd maybe done something wrong I checked the user manual (which is really devoid of useful information). I created a bookmark to see if it would work (and it did), turned off the device and then turned it back on 30 minutes later and the bookmark was there and worked as it should. I want to delete that bookmark as it was just a test and can't for the life of me figure out how to do that.

I'm not terribly tech savy but I'm also not a complete idiot. The manual says...

"In order to delete bookmarks, choose one, place the cursor on it and press 'delete' button."

Sure. Sounds reasonable, only I can't find any delete button, there isn't anything that pops up asking me if I want to keep/delete anything and there's nothing in settings that would let me assign a delete key. The Hubby looked at it as well and can't see anything either. When one of the bookmarks is highlighted, if any button is pressed, it goes to whatever page is bookmarked (which is fine if that's what I wanted).

I'm rather frustrated with this right now and wondering if I made a mistake in purchasing this device when I could've spent the money on something else far less fury inducing. Any help on this in small words and easy to follow instructions would be greatly appreciated.

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, Iron Dog.

Relax, take a deep breath, and someone with your device will be along soon to help.

[igor]

Iron Dog, select a bookmark you want to delete, then long press upper scroll button (not joystick - big button)

[celemark]

I've been able to delete bookmarks on the 360 using the following steps:

1. Select the bookmark you want to delete
2. Long press the top wing button (next page) until it turns into a '+' sign
3. Long press the bottom wing button (previous page) until the dog-ear disappears

I don't know if this is the easiest way, but it seems to work.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Iron Dog

I went to go read that book tonight and... no bookmark in that book and it didn't open to the last page read when I opened the book.

What format book? Source?
Which reader? FBreader? FBreader180? Adobeviewer original or hacked?
Which OS version?

Bookmarks aside, the PB360 usually remembers the last page readily. In fact, one of the more popular options is setting the start-up image to "last Page" so that it shows up almost instantly when you turn it on and you can read while it boots up.

Given that it also remembers the last read page for every book opened I rarely use bookmarks. But the few times I tried it they worked as described above.

[Iron Dog]

Thank you! The long pressing of the wing buttons did the trick.

Is there actually a useful user manual somewhere I can DL? Something that actually tells you how to do stuff like delete the bookmarks or some of the other important, need to know stuff that should be in a user manual?

[Iron Dog]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

What format book? Source?
Which reader? FBreader? FBreader180? Adobeviewer original or hacked?
Which OS version?

The book is a PDF from Torquere Press. Whatever the default reader is is what I'm using. I haven't changed a thing since I opened the box and powered it up Xmas day.

I have noticed that it seems to take a significant bit of time to open the book. It's roughly 360 pages long. But once it's open, the page turns are quick and smooth (although the little dotted line that was showing up yesterday to show where the page break was s now gone *scratches head*).

[fjtorres]

The default PDF reader is Adobeviewer.

Check to see if your firmware is 15.1 which has issues that neither the earlier 14.2 (generally rock-solid) or 15.2 (not quite perfect but still better) have.

If the pdf file is DRM-free you may also want to press-and-hold to selection button while in the library and get the option to open it with the alternate pdfviewer which some people prefer. (Me, I have no real preference as I avoid pdfs like the plague whenever possible. )

[Iron Dog]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The default PDF reader is Adobeviewer.

Check to see if your firmware is 15.1 which has issues that neither the earlier 14.2 (generally rock-solid) or 15.2 (not quite perfect but still better) have.

If the pdf file is DRM-free you may also want to press-and-hold to selection button while in the library and get the option to open it with the alternate pdfviewer which some people prefer. (Me, I have no real preference as I avoid pdfs like the plague whenever possible. )

Yeah, it's the W101.15.1 version. Looks like I'll have to downgrade it. It's started randomly freezing on me, too (generally after I create a bookmark). *sigh* I'm pretty frustrated with it right now so I'm avoiding touching it before I lose my temper and am tempted to chuck it at a wall.

[3dusty]

Hey Iron Dog, please don't give up. I got my 360 in May. I did have trouble with 15.1 and downgraded to 14.2 I also don't bookmark as when I open it up, it goes to the page I was reading when I shut it down. Most of my books were pdf even with 14.2, they would lock up after about 20 to 30 pages read. I would then look at the page #, exit out of the book, reopen the book, then use the go-to page # and continue reading until it locked up again.

I don't really blame it on the reader as much as the pdf itself.

I have since converted all the pdf to epub with Calibre, and then used Sigil to clean up the epub as needed. I haven't had a lock up since. I read for hours just about every day.

Don't give up and keep asking questions, hopefully you'll find that you love your 360 as much as I do.

[Iron Dog]

3dusty: The Hubby has seen my frustration and has asked me if I want to send it back and get a Sony PRS650 (which was my second choice). Whether or not I send the PB back and just say screw all ereaders and just read off my laptop will likely depend on the outcome of downgrading and any future troubles I may/may not have.

I wanted a device that was easy to use and fairly idiot-proof with the possibility of maybe a few small-time tweaks here and there. I was not expecting to have to downgrade the device basically as soon as I got it and to have troubles like I currently am with the PDF format (which is nuts since it's supposed to be a supported format). Having to convert PDF's to another file type and then further mess with them to clean up that is not what I'm interested in doing.

Currently, I'm severely disappointed in this purchase and think the cash would've been better spent on the doll I want.

[fjtorres]

Just FYI:
1- PDFs are not ebooks, they are a document archiving format. PDFs were created in the 80's to serve as digital microfiches to let companies archive documents and print them on demand. They work best of all on paper. The format has been tweaked over the years but it still does not deliver a great experience on anything but full-power PCs. Look around the various Mobileread Forums and two-thirds of the posts seem to be PDF-related. On ebook readers, anything list than a 10in screen will be at best decent, at worst marginal. And depending on the pdf (academic stuff is worst) they tend to be slow to open and navigate. It is not the best way to see what the 360 can do. If PDFs are the sum total of your reading you will be best served by returning it and getting something significantly larger. Even the Pocketbook IQ android tablet with a 7in screen is marginal for pdf display. A Pandigital 9in Android tablet runs US$199 and the screen is large enough to display pdfs reasonably well. Load times will still be long and the Adobe reader 9 for Android software is minimalistic (load, scroll, quit) but stable. Look for reviews before you decide. At higher prices your options improve. Pocketbook 902 and KindleDX both have large eink screens and decent PDF viewers. But nothing less that a pc will let you do PDFs with no compromises.

2- If you want to try PDF conversions, the best/easiest tool is Mobipocket.com's Creator Professional edition. It is free and easy to use. Just make sure you do the pro install and it will convert PDFs to clean Mobipocket files suitable for use of the Pocketbook or Kindle reader anywhere else. No cleaning up is needed. And the converter leaves behind an html version of the file in the working folder which is readable pretty much everywhere. Unless you're talking academic pdfs conversion is usually very clean and fast and the output excellent.

3- To really see what ebook readers do best, Pocketbook, Sony, or whatever, you ought to see how they perform with a true ebook format like prc/mobi, epub, or FB2 as those formats are designed to let the *user* control the presentation, whereas PDF formatting is generally frozen by the publisher/creator and all the nice user setting features that the Pocketbook offers go unused. There are plenty of good ebooks to test right here are Mobileread.

4- I've been living off the 15.2 firmware for nearly 6 months with no issues. So are others. Downgrading is not your only option. (But, as I've said; I avoid PDFs like the plague and generally do my reading via ebooks formats.)

Good luck!
Hopefully you'll find the right tool for your needs.

[Iron Dog]

fjtorres: I don't find the overall reading experience of the PDF's bad and I haven't been having issues with font size and the like. The freezing is annoying as hell and if I have to convert all my PDF's to another file type... that's going to be a serious pain.

Thank you about the tip for the Mobipocket. Free is always awesome and as long as it's not terribly complicated to use, I should be fine. I'm lazy, but if I really need to do something, then I do (with some grumbling along the way).

My publisher offers 5 different file types for DL when you purchase ebooks, so perhaps I'll need to check into other types to load than the typical PDF's I'm used to for my next book purchases.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Iron Dog

My publisher offers 5 different file types for DL when you purchase ebooks, so perhaps I'll need to check into other types to load than the typical PDF's I'm used to for my next book purchases.

If you have a choice, ePub (preferrably DRM-free) should be your first choice since you'll have a choice of 4 reader apps and its the best supported on Pocketbook. DRM'ed ePub, DRM-free Mobi, and FB2 give you two choices.

If the pdfs are text-mostly and you're not having issues on a 5in screen then Mobi converter should do well by you.

[paola]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

2- If you want to try PDF conversions, the best/easiest tool is Mobipocket.com's Creator Professional edition. It is free and easy to use. Just make sure you do the pro install and it will convert PDFs to clean Mobipocket files suitable for use of the Pocketbook or Kindle reader anywhere else. No cleaning up is needed. And the converter leaves behind an html version of the file in the working folder which is readable pretty much everywhere. Unless you're talking academic pdfs conversion is usually very clean and fast and the output excellent.

one other alternative which is still free (though who knows for how long) is this one:
http://www.pdftoepub.com/
I am only saying this as it is claimed that it works better than the mobi converter.