Vyrso is the poorest excuse for an e-reader I have ever seen
they took the logos app, deleted some features and call it an e-reader. I have thousands of books and I cannot make collections and I cannot even choose to view cloud books or downloaded books. If I want to open a book, I must use the search. I choose "title" and enter a title, and the search type changes to "related." I Change I back and search again. even if I type in the exact title, the book I want is rarely first in the list.
Example: I bought five books for Lent. They appeared in my desktop logos, but not mobile Vyrso. I called and their answer was to delete the app and reinstall it. That worked, but a really bad fix. So now I have five books that I want to read from every day for they next 45 days. I now have to remember the exact titles, open the app and search twice, sinceit always resets to "related" for each book. It would be infinitely simpler to create a collection of Lent books and put those in the collection. Instead, my daily reading takes twice as long as it needs to because the app is not an e-reader, to is a cludge.
Add to all this, every time I open Vyrso, I am blasted with 15 offers to join a reading community. So I have to delete all those each day before I read my lent readings.
Logos/faithlife is a very rich company and they have thousands of my dollars. iBooks is good, kindle is good, why can't Vyrso even have basic e-reader features? It is unusable.
Comments
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Hi Michael - and welcome to the forums
Dr. Michael Wilson said:I cannot make collections
What you can do is tag the resources on the desktop and then filter by that tag in the library on Vyrso. This provides the sort of capability you are looking for
Dr. Michael Wilson said:I cannot even choose to view cloud books or downloaded books
If you type "local:" into the library filter you will just see downloaded resources (and elsewhere on the forums a more "point and click" interface has been requested)
Dr. Michael Wilson said:I choose "title" and enter a title, and the search type changes to "related."
In my version it changes to "rank" - what version of the app are you using?
Dr. Michael Wilson said:I called and their answer was to delete the app and reinstall it. That worked, but a really bad fix.
It is probable that typing "rebuild index" into the box on the homepage and leaving it for a few minutes would have fixed this
Dr. Michael Wilson said:I now have to remember the exact titles, open the app and search twice, sinceit always resets to "related" for each book.
Have you tried setting the library to "Sort by Recent"? This should cause these titles to float towards the top
Dr. Michael Wilson said:It would be infinitely simpler to create a collection of Lent books and put those in the collection.
As above you can do this with tags
Dr. Michael Wilson said:Add to all this, every time I open Vyrso, I am blasted with 15 offers to join a reading community
On the homepage, tap on the gear icon at the top right and deselect "Reading Plan Invitations"
Hope this helps, Graham
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What device has you installed Vyrso on? I run Logos rather than Vyrso on my Kindle. I know a number of other mobile devices can run either - but not all.
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."
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Michael,
Many of us would agree that Vyrso doesn't always work well for people with large libraries. It's actually a reasonable e-reader, but it doesn't have library management (although you can do that on the desktop).
But we can make it a bit easier to find frequently used resources. Either:
- Make sure you download the books you're interested in reading onto your iPad/iPhone from the Vyrso app. You'll then be able to find just your downloaded resources by tying local: in the library filter (don't forget the colon).
- or Open each resource you're interested in, in turn. Now, go back to your library and change the sort order to Sort By Recent. That will help you to easily find the resources next time.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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These are called undocumented cludge work arounds. If I try the "recent" it will always reset to "related" so I do it again and it works. Yes, but if I have 60 books downloaded, these are pointless. Sorry, but Logos toots its own horn ALL THE TIME. I get marketing emails every day telling me how great this system is and this app falls WAY short.
Michael
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Making people jump through hoops and trying to remember all this stuff makes my want to delete this app and give up. Intuitive, easy, "it just works" are things we need to be going for here.
I stand by it, "Vyrso is the poorest excuse for an e-reader I have ever seen." and all these work arounds and undocumented hoops proves it.
Michael
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2 ipads and an iphone
Michael
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Sorry Michael
All we, as users, are able to do is advise how to best use the products as they exist today.
Graham
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Greetings,
I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out what you mean by "tag the resource." I have search the logos site, looked at help in the logos program and have no idea what you are talking about. Any help on what you mean by "tag" and how to do it would be appreciated.
A workaround is only valuable if it works.
Michael
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out what you mean by "tag the resource." I have search the logos site, looked at help in the logos program and have no idea what you are talking about. Any help on what you mean by "tag" and how to do it would be appreciated.
Tagging is outlined at https://wiki.logos.com/Tagging - the article was written for Logos 4 so some of the details are different but the concepts are the same.
In the screenshot below you can see I have tagged a particular book with three tags
If I enter the string "mytag:shelf-fiction" into the filter on the Library screen in the iPad app I just see the resources that are tagged with that tag
Does that help to clarify?
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
A workaround is only valuable if it works.
Just a reminder: The forums are a place where volunteers spend time answering other users questions. A little more grace would be appreciated.
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Hi Dr. Michael Wilson,
I apologize for the difficulties you've been experiencing with the Vyrso app. There are a couple of additional options you could explore to access your go-to devotions/ebooks in the app:
- You can quickly access ebooks you've recently read under the "History" tab. I think this will be your best solution for reading your Lent devotionals on a daily basis. You can find the history section by selecting the "More" tab at the bottom of the home screen, then select "History" under the "Tools" section.
- Another option would be to read your Vyrso ebooks in the Logos app. As you noticed, Vyrso ebooks are available on the Logos desktop app and in the Logos mobile app.
I've noted the different suggestions you've made for improving the user experience for the app. We really appreciate your honest and candid feedback! Again, I apologize for the difficulties you've experienced. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make your experience better.
Thanks,
Brian
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Tags and History seem to work. It takes time (close to 30 minutes) for tags to propagate through all my devices, but they all seemed synced now and this will work. I do have a huge library, I have been with Logos since the beginning so this will not work for the large collections. One reason is that Logos 6 crashes when I have more than 60 books open. I have notified them and they are looking into it. For small, short term collections, I think this will work. Thanks
Michael
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
One reason is that Logos 6 crashes when I have more than 60 books open.
Why would you have more than 60 books open?
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[Why would you have more than 60 books open?]
I am not sure if this is rhetorical or not, but I will answer the way Logos wants me to. Logos is supposed to replace a desk full of open books. I am preaching on truth this Sunday, so I search for all the references that have truth tagged. That is hundreds. I open them all and work through them reading and taking notes and keeping open the books I want to use. If I save that as a layout, with more than 60 books, close logos and reopen the layout it crashes.
The point of logos is to have a library where I can have any number of books open all cross referenced. That is how I write a sermon.
Michael
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It sounds to me as if you are trying to use Vyrso to do Logos' job. Tell me again why you are using Vyrso rather than Logos? Your frustration seems to be to be from trying to use a screwdriver (Vyrso) as a hammer (Logos). In Logos/Verbum it makes sense to have 60 books open ... or at your fingertips. In Vyrso it does not.
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."
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MJ. Smith said:
In Logos/Verbum it makes sense to have 60 books open ... or at your fingertips. In Vyrso it does not.
Michael is talking about desktop Logos here.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
I am not sure if this is rhetorical or not
Not rhetorical at all.
Dr. Michael Wilson said:Logos is supposed to replace a desk full of open books.
Well, no. Logos is supposed to be a "personal research library." There is a limit to what both the software (and your hardware) will be able to support. Having 30 resources open is pushing it. I'd love to see a screen shot. [:)]
FWIW - I am a strong proponent of Faithlife creating "projects" to replace the current concept of "layouts." I won't bore you with all of that now, but your case is intriguing. I'll have to give some thought to how I would try to improve your workflow.
When it comes to mobile, the concept of "projects" is really important... If you are working on a sermon for "truth" for this week, "grace" for next week, a funeral for Wednesday and a wedding for Saturday, you may use some resources (i.e. Bible) for all four "projects." When you open the resource on mobile, where should the resource open? I am pushing for the idea of "projects" so that you can control the opening position for each resource based on each distinctive "project."
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I don't think 60 books open is significant at all. I think David Paul had at least that amount open on Libby. I keep a standard 120+ books always open on Logos6, primarily since they're my 'research world' (all pre-linked, etc) that supports my other Bible apps. Now, on my Libby, I typically limit her to 20-30 books per workspace.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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I would like the CEO of Logos to respond to this. Everywhere I look they talk about replacing a bookshelf of books with Logos. I have been to Camp Logos and they repeat over and over again telling us to put away our printed books and use Logos. Logos replaces a desk full of printed books for research, reading and sermon preparation in my world.
Michael
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Denise said:
I don't think 60 books open is significant at all.
I'll take your word for it. [:)]
Denise said:I keep a standard 120+ books always open on Logos6, primarily since they're my 'research world' (all pre-linked, etc) that supports my other Bible apps.
I can't imagine that. I like things to be simple and clean.
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
I would like the CEO of Logos to respond to this.
Why? Because I (a volunteer) said you shouldn't have that many books open? If my forum friends think that 60 books isn't unreasonable, I am probably wrong... but if you want to talk to him, his email is bob@logos.com
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IMO it's not at all unreasonable that Michael should want Logos not to crash if he has 60 books open. I personally wouldn't find that an efficient way of studying, but Logos shouldn't crash, especially if the spec of his computer is up to Logos' recommendations.
Michael - why don't you upload your logs from the crash, and we'll see if we can help you? If you want to do that, it will be best to create a new thread in the Logos 6 forum.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Where do I get logos specific logs?
Michael
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
Where do I get logos specific logs?
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
Where do I get logos specific logs?
Michael
if you are on Mac, there is a link in my signature line.
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I guess the OP is busily trying to figure out how to do 'logs' while everyone is waiting with baited-breath. Far be it from me to hint that given how often users have to dutifully post logs, that maybe a button, special key sequence, etc could have done the trick. I think this goes back 5 years now?
It's kind of like a button on Vyrso to see 'local:'. Or select a 'collection'. Kind of like on Kindle. I really do believe it didn't elude the Logos iTeam. There had to be a conscious decision not too (hypothetical of course). 'local:' makes so much more sense (and case-sensitive too, if you can believe it).
Alabama, in my kitchen everything is in its place. I don't throw everything in a big drawer, and then run a search for a spatula. Similarly my over-organized better half wiould risk our marriage, should I mis-place a single tool in the garage ... all carefully organized and in-sight. No need for search routines, 'collections', tags, etc.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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I have one random post about forums. Do with it what you will. No one goes to a support forum because everything is great. No one goes to a support forum to tell the world how wonderful life is and to praise all those who are in that forum. No one goes to a support forum because they have nothing else to do, unless they want to offer help and support. 99.9% of people go to support forums because there is something wrong. They will go if there is problems, frustrations and crashes. Therefore most people who go to forums are not in the best of moods.
Sorry if I did not have enough grace, sorry if someone did not like HOW I said something. As I have written logos support, I feel ripped off and cannot use the books I bought. They have no idea and suggested the forums. So here I am.
Michael
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
I feel ripped off and cannot use the books I bought.
Michael,
which books can't be used?0 -
Dr. Michael Wilson said:
99.9% of people go to support forums because there is something wrong. They will go if there is problems, frustrations and crashes. Therefore most people who go to forums are not in the best of moods.
Certainly the forums are a place where people often come to figure out things are are wrong but many of us use the forums to learn how to use Logos more effectively. I learn new things most days and consider my involvement in this community both a training opportunity as well as an opportunity to help others - both receiving and giving.
Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God
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Dr. Michael Wilson said:
Sorry if I did not have enough grace, sorry if someone did not like HOW I said something. As I have written logos support, I feel ripped off and cannot use the books I bought. They have no idea and suggested the forums. So here I am.
You will find that the forums are very good at either solving problems or identifying the problem sufficiently to get Logos staff involved. But we need very specific information in order to understand the situation. Simply telling us it crashes identifies the problem only when there is a current frequent crash. Otherwise we need logs of the crash, preferable with a screen shot of your layout. When you been to the forums for help several times, you'll start to learn the personalities of the regulars. I'm the one who insists on logic, precision and good manners. [;)] But trust me, we will stick with it until we get to the root of the problems even if who responds changes as the issues come into clearer focus.
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."
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I'm sorry about your frustration with Vyrso. The lack of support for viewing just 'Vyrso-specific titles' is one of my personal pet peeves with the app, as well as the speed of dealing with a large library on mobile devices.
We're working on both of these; the first is getting close, I'm told (we needed to make server-side changes to the library APIs), and the second is continually being tweaked, but remains a big problem because thousands of books simply represent a lot of metadata.
This thread is getting to the developers involved, and we'll try to improve the performance and interface. I'm sorry for the hassle.
-- Bob
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1.Vyrso app needs to have its own 'daily reading' or daily devotional from Vyrso books NOT Logos books.
2.When highlighting, the magnifying glass should be bigger. Logos/Vyrso app has the SMALLEST magnifying glass I've seen.
3. Most ebook readers in App store has the capability to view books just by the covers only. BUT Logos cannot. This is really WEAK. Plus book covers are LOW QUALITY.
4. And yes.. when I installed Vyrso app I don't want to see Logos books in Vyrso.
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mike said:
1.Vyrso app needs to have its own 'daily reading' or daily devotional from Vyrso books NOT Logos books
Why?
I genuinely don't understand this requirement. The Vyrso app can handle Logos devotionals fine. Or are you asking for Vyrso daily reading books to actually be formatted as "Calendar Devotionals" so they function correctly?
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mike said:
3. Most ebook readers in App store has the capability to view books just by the covers only. BUT Logos cannot. This is really WEAK. Plus book covers are LOW QUALITY.
It can do this - is this what you mean?
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Graham Criddle said:mike said:
1.Vyrso app needs to have its own 'daily reading' or daily devotional from Vyrso books NOT Logos books
Why?
I genuinely don't understand this requirement. The Vyrso app can handle Logos devotionals fine. Or are you asking for Vyrso daily reading books to actually be formatted as "Calendar Devotionals" so they function correctly?
Correct.
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Graham Criddle said:mike said:
3. Most ebook readers in App store has the capability to view books just by the covers only. BUT Logos cannot. This is really WEAK. Plus book covers are LOW QUALITY.
It can do this - is this what you mean?
You are on iPad. People on phones cannot do this.
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mike said:Graham Criddle said:mike said:
1.Vyrso app needs to have its own 'daily reading' or daily devotional from Vyrso books NOT Logos books
Why?
I genuinely don't understand this requirement. The Vyrso app can handle Logos devotionals fine. Or are you asking for Vyrso daily reading books to actually be formatted as "Calendar Devotionals" so they function correctly?
Correct.
Thats a resource issue and I would be surprised if the Vyrso team are going to do the work to provide that level of tagging. But they would need to comment definitively
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Graham Criddle said:
Thats a resource issue and I would be surprised if the Vyrso team are going to do the work to provide that level of tagging. But they would need to comment definitively
Exactly, Vyrso was created but not enough money is put on the development of Vyrso app and Vyrso's website.
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mike said:Graham Criddle said:
Thats a resource issue and I would be surprised if the Vyrso team are going to do the work to provide that level of tagging. But they would need to comment definitively
Exactly, Vyrso was created but not enough money is put on the development of Vyrso app and Vyrso's website.
The issue of devotionals is nothing to do with the Vyrso app nor the Vyrso website. As Graham said, it's to do with the format of Vyrso resources. What makes a Vyrso resource a Vyrso resource is precisely that it doesn't have lots of tagging. That's a clear policy decision from Faithlife that's been present from day one, and isn't going to change (because if it did change, there'd be no distinction between Logos and Vyrso, which would make Vyrso pointless).
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Bruce Dunning said:Dr. Michael Wilson said:
99.9% of people go to support forums because there is something wrong. They will go if there is problems, frustrations and crashes. Therefore most people who go to forums are not in the best of moods.
Certainly the forums are a place where people often come to figure out things are are wrong but many of us use the forums to learn how to use Logos more effectively. I learn new things most days and consider my involvement in this community both a training opportunity as well as an opportunity to help others - both receiving and giving.
Thankful for many friendly forum discussions; have learned a lot plus have a lot to learn.
Thankful for replies by Faithlife employees, including CEO => https://community.logos.com/forums/p/101128/699338.aspx#699338
Keep Smiling [:)]
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That's right!
I learn a lot from this discussion as usually do from contributors to the Forum. Thanks.
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The problem is they don't tag any Vyrso books. hence devotionals bought from Vyrso are a waste of money and I don't buy devotionals from Vyrso website anymore due to the lack of tagging unless it is a recommended reading I am following. Totally agree the Vyrso website is badly resourced and also makes false marketing claims - they should not be claiming bible verses in Vyrso books can easily be looked up when in many instances they don't work because the surface text lacks the context for it to work correctly. I could not work for this company given the false claims they make like this in their marketing. Either the need to start tagging bible verses in Vyrso books or remove the false claims from their website.
mike said:Graham Criddle said:Thats a resource issue and I would be surprised if the Vyrso team are going to do the work to provide that level of tagging. But they would need to comment definitively
Exactly, Vyrso was created but not enough money is put on the development of Vyrso app and Vyrso's website.
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I think Logos needs to focus as a company more on excellence than on quantity. I'm not saying that Logos doesnt do anything excellent, but they should aim to improve the quality of their offerings even if it means cutting some things out. And please don't cut Vyrso out -improve it.
http://www.TrinityExamined.com
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I have to agree! This thread has been very informative. I hope that Vyrso will be improved.
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THANK YOU so much for this reply. As I read this string, I was so discouraged and saddened by the abruptness and critical nature of the initial post. Yes, there are weaknesses in the Vyrso app, but that is intentional. With all of the options available in Bible app (and we are SPOILED in that area as Faithlife consumers), Vyrso really isn't intended to be the option for the more read Christian book consumer or scholar, as most of us already know.
In either case, I think that we have a call to be kind and gentle as we work through our frustrations, whether they are warranted in totality or part, and esp if they are not warranted at all, and to show the type of patience and compassion that we as Christians are required to show (and would want others to show us!). One can be right on principle and still be inherently and intrinsically wrong if the manner in which they make their arguments are not presented in accordance with the level of character required of us as Christian brothers and sisters under the household of God.
Besides, we never know what our harsh words will do to someone's day as they attempt to appease us or defuse the situations. My heart often hurts for the types of situations the Faithlife staff are placed in at times - yet it also celebrates when I see the kindness and love with which their responses are most often seasoned. So, why not just season our frustrationed outpourings with kindness, love, and compassion, and think more of others than ourselves (Phil 2:3).
Just my two sense. Not a condemnation of anyone, by any means, as the plank in my eye is certainly larger than the speck in anyone else's.
Thank you Faithlife for the patient endurance you show to us, your flawed and often disgruntled [:@] (yet loyal) customers.
Myke Harbuck
Lead Pastor, www.ByronCity.Church
Adjunct Professor, Georgia Military College0 -
Well said Myke. [Y] [:)]
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It is hard to have it both ways. Verse is FL answer to Kindle books offering bare bones books at a similar price point. Now I am all for the date tagging as being someone one might expect in a Vyrso book. But scripture tagging often doesn't work well automated. But the beauty of Vyrso is opening another pane one can look things up with no app switching. When I am reading a book in Kindle or another app, I often time keep my iPhone handy to look things up in it rather than app switch. When I am reading in Vyrso i never do that because I can stay on my page and look things up on the same screen. FL is being put in a catch 22 here, we want cheap eBooks... we want tagged ebooks. Now FL can do one or the other but here and always it is hard to have you cake and eat it too.
-Dan
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Into Grace said:
but they should aim to improve the quality of their offerings even if it means cutting some things out. And please don't cut Vyrso out -improve it.
Of course none of us wants to cut "our baby" in half. 1 Kings 3:24-25 I would not suffer loss if Faithlife cut Proclaim, Android app, or Bible Study Magazine but I'm sure some would suffer. I like the expansion and growth I see in Faithlife. It means other people are helping to carry the water.
Logos 7 Collectors Edition
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So are you saying that the fruit of the spirit is kindness and gentleness toward products not people? Product reviews in this modern world must be honest and truthful so others do not waste their money on bad products. If I spent $22,000 on some plumbing and when it was all done there was water everywhere and my home was being flooded, I would use review processes and the legal system to get it fixed. I would be kind and gentle to the people, but not to the product. Nowhere in my review did I blast people. I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on Logos products when then I see their entire system going down hill in quality in favor of some sort of social community building that is not working, I will objects...against the product...not the people.
Michael
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