BUG: Vyrso: low quality, overpriced

DHG
DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭
edited November 20 in Resources Forum

I know I risk upsetting the fan club with this, but it needs to be said.  Some Vyrso books are simply overpriced pieces of junk.  I purchased one a few minutes ago.  Unbelievably, it had no active table of contents, no page numbers, and was very poorly formatted.  Nice work for a full-priced book.

I guess I'm glad that I have the text block and that it's searchable in Logos.

And the same book distributed by A different company, has real page numbers, an active TOC, and costs the same amount.

Disappointing.

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Comments

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,447

    I agree that it is reasonable to expect a common level of quality across the e-book market for the same book. Since it is primarily the responsibility of the publisher, I  wonder what's up.

    DHG said:

    I know I risk upsetting the fan club with this, but it needs to be said.

    Not sure why you feel the need for a disclaimer. The "fan club" card is usually played when a complaint is unjustified. Your's is quite legitimate.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Lee
    Lee Member Posts: 2,714

    Please state the specifics. Hopefully there'll be some change.

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭

    Well, it has no active table of contentsno page numbers, and is poorly formatted. [^o)]

    The title of book is Bruchko, if that's what you meant.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,447

    Logos needs to know the title/author in order to do anything about it - otherwise griping just lets off steam so yes, you did supply what it needed.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,983

    If the title is Bruchko, it's probably this: https://vyrso.com/product/35262/bruchko

    I find that the kindle edition on Amazon sells more expensive and makes no mentioning of page numbers, which probably means it doesn't have them. Since the Vyrso book is an automated conversion of the ePub file the publisher sends to Logos, I wonder if there's an electronic version (save pirated scans from the paper book) with page numbers at all.  

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭
  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭

    This is not isolated to my purchase today, I own several hundred Vyrso titles and could provide LOTS of other examples.

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,983

    okay, it seems you're right about the page numbers (Amazon search led me to a different kindle edition) and you get better prices!

      

    Nevertheless, a Vyrso book is built from an ePub file, not from the Kindle edition. They usually don't have page numbers, so I don't expect them at all when I buy from Vyrso. If they are this relevant for you, Logos Customer Service will honor their satisfaction guarantee and give your money back if you want to buy it elsewhere.  

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Vyrso titles almost never include page numbers. Bob Pritchett explains why here.

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭

    I get it, but it still bothers me that Amazon, in many cases, offers a superior product than Vyrso. Buyer beware.

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,512

    DHG said:

    I get it, but it still bothers me that Amazon, in many cases, offers a superior product than Vyrso. Buyer beware.

    But In many other cases, they don't. And you can't copy and paste! And you can't search your library!

    FWIW- I purchase all of my "Christian living" books in Vyrso. I purchase all of my fiction in kindle. Books like Brucho (which I read MANY years ago) fall into an "in-between" category. 

    Out of curiosity... Why the desire for page numbers?

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
    truth over tribe

  • Jacob Hantla
    Jacob Hantla MVP Posts: 3,871

    DHG said:

    I get it, but it still bothers me that Amazon, in many cases, offers a superior product than Vyrso. Buyer beware.

    This has certainly not been my experience. Vyrso is publisher-dependent, as is Amazon Kindle. Generally the quality is equivalent. except Vyrso has a chance of having Bible verses linked. 

    The added benefit of the Vyrso books is that oftentimes (especially if it is a book that really benefits from the Logos features), Logos will make it a full fledged Logos product and you get it for free. 

    If it is a book that will have no benefit to me of being in Logos (minimal or no use of Bible references) and it is cheaper on Amazon (as long as I won't be wanting to mark it up or search it or use it as reference in the future), I'll buy it there for Kindle. Generally though, I end up with Vyrso. 

    But I'm just a fanboy

    Jacob Hantla
    Pastor/Elder, Grace Bible Church
    gbcaz.org

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭

    Page numbers are only one of the defects I mentioned.  But, they're a pretty good invention, especially if you'd like to find a page number that someone gave you...

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭
  • William Gabriel
    William Gabriel Member Posts: 1,091

    alabama24 said:

    And you can't copy and paste! And you can't search your library!

    You can copy and paste out of Kindle--I do it all the time. I just received an update on my Android version that lets me copy from there, too. You can't copy a whole book--Amazon tries to digitally enforce a "fair use" limit, and I've run into it twice. The amount is pretty large. It's not as large as Vyrso (the whole book if you're patient), but it probably is pretty close to an amount you could consider fair use.

    It's also true that you can't quite search your Kindle library the same way you can in Vyrso, but I see it as six of one, half-dozen of another. You can search when you're inside a book, so you have to know a book (or small set of books) to search in for something that you'd like to find. That's not too bad. So in Vyrso/Logos, you can search your whole library in one go, which is cool except that you can easily drown in the deluge of results. The book you're interested in may be at the bottom of the search results, which means you may as well not even have the book in your library. It takes different skills to search the different libraries, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Both are far superior to the dead tree search, of course.

  • Brian Williams
    Brian Williams Member Posts: 391

    Hi DHG,

    I apologize for the poorly formatted title and that the table of contents isn't active. I'm working with our team to improve any mistakes that may have occurred during the conversion process on our end. Could you let me know if there is anything else I can do to alleviate your concern? Again, I apologize for the experience you've had with this particular title.

    Thanks,

    Brian

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,143

    I'm working with our team to improve any mistakes that may have occurred during the conversion process on our end.

    Brian, thanks for addressing this concern. I have a question about reporting Vyrso mistakes in general. How can we tell whether it is from your end or from the publisher's end?

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Brian Williams
    Brian Williams Member Posts: 391

    Brian, thanks for addressing this concern. I have a question about reporting Vyrso mistakes in general. How can we tell whether it is from your end or from the publisher's end?

    Great question Bruce! There are some errors that are exclusively publisher errors such as typos, but a majority of errors end up being a toss-up–as to whether they are publisher errors or conversion errors. For instance, the formatting errors referenced in this thread could be a bug within our conversion software or the publisher may have formatted the EPUB incorrectly. When looking at a title within the app or on any of our platforms it is very difficult to discern exactly what is causing the error, we have to physically look at the resource file to confirm why a problem is happening. My advice, keep flagging the general errors and I'll do my best to respond and work with our team to improve the resources quality.

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,143

    Great question Bruce! There are some errors that are exclusively publisher errors such as typos, but a majority of errors end up being a toss-up–as to whether they are publisher errors or conversion errors. For instance, the formatting errors referenced in this thread could be a bug within our conversion software or the publisher may have formatted the EPUB incorrectly. When looking at a title within the app or on any of our platforms it is very difficult to discern exactly what is causing the error, we have to physically look at the resource file to confirm why a problem is happening.

    Thanks for the explanation Brian.

    My advice, keep flagging the general errors and I'll do my best to respond and work with our team to improve the resources quality.

    Will do.

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Tom Reynolds
    Tom Reynolds Member Posts: 1,452 ✭✭✭

    Out of curiosity - does everyone have a different Kindle price? I'm quoted $9.24 for Bruchko on the US site and $9.99 in Canada.

    I think Vyrso are usually quite competitively priced and readable. When they're not I mention it here :)

  • DHG
    DHG Member Posts: 249 ✭✭

    Brian, thanks for looking into this.

    While I do get frustrated about quality control issues like this, I should have been clear that this type of thing is an exception, not the rule.  I rarely see problems like this with the majority of resources I purchase.

    In the future, I will not post complaints like this unless I've exhausted other means of getting the problem fixed.  I was wrong to voice my frustrations like I did.  My sincere apologies to all.

  • Brian Williams
    Brian Williams Member Posts: 391

    Not a problem DHG! We really appreciate the feedback and value hearing when you're frustrated; if we never hear your frustration we will never be able to remedy the difficulties/problems.