RE: Re: "The Elusive E-book"

Sorry Steve, I did not mean to sound insulting to eBookMan owners/users. 
 
It actually looks like a nice device if you don't mind dealing with the 3 AAA battery issue as it sounds like you don't mind and have found a good workaround.
 
You still can purchase a new one from here:
http://www.ectaco.com/E-BookMan-911/
 
The top of the line 911 is now $179.99. The base model is $99.99. Mobipocket still supports purchasing books for it.
Aaron J. WalkerPublisher
http://www.walkbroadpublishing.com


To: ebook-community-hHKSG33Tihig7M29m/[email protected]: [email protected]: Fri, 9 May 2008 11:01:37 +0000Subject: [ebook-community] Re: "The Elusive E-book"




May I put in a word for the eBookMan? I love mine, and one of the things I love best about it is the design.When I'm reading on it, I hold it in one hand and my finger naturallyfalls on the jog wheel, letting me turn pages in either direction. Itwill fit in a pocket, so I can easily carry it anywhere.I don't see the issue about the proprietary OS if you plan to use itprimarily as a reader... which is almost all I use mine for, though Ido have a few very simple games on it that I occasionally play, and Ihave used the calculator function a few times. Yes it uses AAAbatteries, but I see that as a plus. Franklin's own program forkeeping track of battery usage is admittedly rather poor, but Idownloaded and installed BatGraph by juried (http://www.geocities.com/juried/ ), and that gives me plent
 y ofwarning when it's time to switch from one set of rechargeablebatteries to the other... and if I'm stuck in an airport with norecharger available - which happened to me last year - I can buy anyset of AAA batteries and go on reading. Yes, if you let the batteries die anyway, despite the warning,everything, including the OS, is gone from RAM, but if you were brightenough to back everything up on the flash memory card using thebuilt-in back-up program, as soon as you've put in fresh batteries andturned the unit on, it searches the card for that back-up and restoreseverything automatically. It only takes a couple of minutes, turningthis into a minor inconvenience.I can't justify buying any of the new readers to myself becausethey're not *that* much better than the eBookMan, and mine is s
 tillgoing strong.Would I buy one now? I don't know. I would be delighted to buy anupdated version of the eBookMan that was basically the same design,but the original model? There are a few things that I'd really like tosee changed, changes that would probably have happened naturally ifFranklin had continued to support and develop the eBookMan. On the other hand, it's a whole lot cheaper than these new units, Ican buy batteries that will work in it anywhere, and the smaller formfactor makes it a lot easier to carry around and to read in. So if mine suddenly died, I just might buy the exact same thing againrather than any of the newer designs.Steve P--- In [email protected], Aaron Walker <ajwalker@...> wrote:>> The iPod and Apple iTunes had DRM upon release. > > I don't have 
 an iPod or use iTunes but it hasn't been until recentlythat Steve Jobs starting trumpeting the no DRM call. > > The Franklin eBookman failed because it was a horribly designeddevice that used a proprietary OS that ran on 3 AAA batteries. Whenthe batteries died, everything on the device was wiped, including theOS! Who, in their right mind, would want a device like that even backthen?> > That was the problem with Palm and early Windows Mobile. Rememberhow big a deal it was when they all went to persistent storage? TheeBookman never did and died on the gadget vine. (Although they arestill selling them and they are still cheap, go figure.)> And I still contend, Average Joe Consumer doesn't lose any sleep atnight over DRM. Once Average Joe Reader can get his hands on a cheapreading device tha
 t will let him read for pleasure away from acomputer screen, we'll all see an upswing in our sales.> > Apple needs to release an iReader, then all the hipsters will"discover" reading again. This will force innovation in the fieldwhere current makers will have to justify their prices and otherentrepreneurs will come in to make cheaper versions.> > And it will probably be something very much like the eBookman:smaller screen (maybe even 4 inch E ink), rechargeable battery, anumber of ways to read (PDF, txt, .doc, maybe even MobiPocket, PDB), afew text size options and a simple way to transfer content, perhapshosted "in the clouds" on some server somewhere.> Aaron J. WalkerPublisher> http://www.walkbroadpublishing.com> > > To: ebook-community@...: yahoogroups2006@...: Thu, 8 May 200809:55:14
  -0400Subject: [ebook-community] Re: "The Elusive E-book">  






_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live SkyDrive lets you share files with faraway friends.
http://www.windowslive.com/skydrive/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_skydrive_052008

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
Post a message:   ebook-community [[at]] *
Unsubscribe:      ebook-community-unsubscribe [[at]] *
Switch to digest: ebook-community-digest [[at]] *
Switch to normal: ebook-community-normal [[at]] *
Put mail on hold: ebook-community-nomail [[at]] *
Administrator:    ebook-community-owner [[at]] *

(* == yahoogroups.com)
-------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ebook-community/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:[email protected] 
    mailto:ebook-community-fullfeatured-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ebook-community-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/