http://www.ectaco.com/posts/list/185.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net
1) Speed issues - I was really (negatively) surprised at the speed of this device since it is and LCD and not eink display with a Linux based OS. The device takes a long time to power up and go to the Books/Pictures/Settings menu - especially if it stops at the logo of a bookshelf. Page rotating and Page turning is also very slow - granted better than eink devices, but very slow for an LCD. After reading the features for this, I was really hoping I had finally found a replacement for my verable, 15 year old, Rocket Reader updated to modern DRM. The Rocket is very fast turning on and it rotation and pageing is nearly instant.

Continued ...

Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26099.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26099.page GMT
Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26100.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26100.page GMT http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26106.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26106.page GMT http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26113.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26113.page GMT
Very seriously. Might also add the ability to add / change fonts available to the device.

The speed issues are very serious. I think the Kindle, and related eInk devices, have drastically lowered our expectations of what is acceptable in an ereader.

Maybe I was spoiled by the Rocket reader, but that device came out over 10 years ago. The last version, produced by RCA, came out about 10 years ago for only $250. Pretty much every action is instant, It reads it's own format, oebf, Word, txt, rtf, html, 3rd party app to convert PDF. The document format is so pwerful, somone made a book that was actually a 3D graphic adventure! Has touchscreen, instant screen rotation, replaceable dictionary, user loadable fonts, perfect ergonomics, physically solid enough to last all this time. Oh and the battery lasted a week long with the backlight on at 30%.

Why should I settle for something LESS capable?

Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26114.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26114.page GMT
Panagiotis


PS this limit on message length on this forum is a pain - especially since the max is not listed and no dynamic character counter.]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26115.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26115.page GMT
Why should I settle for something LESS capable?

Panagiotis[/quote]

If you have something that does ALL that, why shell out another $150 for something new?]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26129.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26129.page GMT
And, yes, separately, I'm getting tired of having fewer features on devices made in 2010 than were standard on Palm OS e-reading platforms many years ago. Support for eReader DRM books on a Palm is much more robust and capable than it is on the jetBook - Lite, the Foxit eSlick, or the Barnes & Noble Nook.

kmrowley, the reason for wanting something newer than the RCA REB-1100 is that the RCA REB-1100 used a DRM format that's no longer widely supported; if you want to read current DRM'd books, you need something that supports a modern format. The reason for wanting something newer than the Palm OS devices is to have bigger screens.

===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer
Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series
http://sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com
]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26131.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26131.page GMT
I like my palm PDA too.. and also got the JBL because I wanted to read books on a bigger screen. Sure my palm does a lot more than the JBL, but then again it cost a lot more, add to that I bought eReader Pro to read my books on it. But I can't get over the amount of whining some people are doing about the feature set of a $150 gizmo.]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26132.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26132.page GMT http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26133.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26133.page GMT


===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer
Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series
http://sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com

]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26134.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26134.page GMT If you have something that does ALL that, why shell out another $150 for something new?[/quote]

Because it doesn't support modern DRM. If it did, I wouldn't be looking for something else.

Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26135.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26135.page GMT But I can't get over the amount of whining some people are doing about the feature set of a $150 gizmo.[/quote]

I wouldn't call it whining (nice adult behavior there BTW). I want a device that performs as promised and does it well. I also don't really like being a beta tester and paying for the "priviledge"

Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26136.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26136.page GMT But I can't get over the amount of whining some people are doing about the feature set of a $150 gizmo.[/quote]

I wouldn't call it whining (nice adult behavior there BTW). I want a device that performs as promised and does it well. I also don't really like being a beta tester and paying for the "priviledge"
Panagiotis[/quote]

I apparently missed the part of the advertisement for this JBL where it said that it had all the same features of a Rocket book…

I recently bought a new 19” LCD television with a built in DVD player – paid less than $200 for it. It’s not from one of the major electronics companies and I’ve even seen the same set with two other companies' logos on it. Does it do everything that the company promised it would - I guess, does it do everything that I would like for it to do and how I might like it done? Not really.. Am I going to whine to the company? No.. Why not?]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26140.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26140.page GMT

Not sure what you hope to accomplish; the forum exists for the posting of questions and views about ECTACO products, so comments like your one-word "Seriously?" or your repeated references to others whining or the sarcasm of your latest replies don't seem to be very helpful to ECTACO, the people making the comments, or anyone else. So why bother?]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26141.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26141.page GMT

Not sure what you hope to accomplish; the forum exists for the posting of questions and views about ECTACO products, so comments like your one-word "Seriously?" or your repeated references to others whining or the sarcasm of your latest replies don't seem to be very helpful to ECTACO, the people making the comments, or anyone else. So why bother?[/quote]

Ouch! But thanks for your input. I bother cuz I think people are being too demanding, too unrealistic.. too "I want it NOW!".. basically being whiney. ]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26145.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26145.page GMT ]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26146.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26146.page GMT I apparently missed the part of the advertisement for this JBL where it said that it had all the same features of a Rocket book[/quote]

kmrowley,

Apparently you are reading someone elses posts and replying to me for some reason. I never said Ectaco claimed the JBL had the Rocket reader feature set, I spoke about the Rocket reader to discuss nice features that another product has (for a decade) as a comparison.

When I spoke about what was missing or buggy on the JBL, I am speaking only about the features claimed by Ectaco on their website.

Is it wrong for me to point out when something doesn't work as advertised? I _hope_ you don't think there's a problem with someone having a wish list of what would be nice. They're 2 different things. You need to try to recognise the difference between the two before trying to start a flame war.

Panagiotis]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26147.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26147.page GMT kmrowley,

Apparently you are reading someone elses posts and replying to me for some reason. I never said Ectaco claimed the JBL had the Rocket reader feature set, I spoke about the Rocket reader to discuss nice features that another product has (for a decade) as a comparison.

When I spoke about what was missing or buggy on the JBL, I am speaking only about the features claimed by Ectaco on their website.

Is it wrong for me to point out when something doesn't work as advertised? I _hope_ you don't think there's a problem with someone having a wish list of what would be nice. They're 2 different things. You need to try to recognise the difference between the two before trying to start a flame war.
Panagiotis[/quote]

I suggest that you go back and reread your posts...

And what exactly did the JBL NOT do out of the box that YOU think it claimed to do? (.14i) (cont.)]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26150.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26150.page GMT
I've been thinking about that - the problems with pdb. Why is it that only a few of the ereaders even include that format on their devices? Is it that hard to use? It originally was Peanut Press’ and then Palm got it, then eReader and now B&N. So it's been around for awhile, you might think that being such an established format that everybody would want it on their device - yet, not many do. My guess is that the format is a bit too specific for the palm devices / os, and making it work on something else isn't easy.]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26151.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26151.page GMT
kmrowley, eReader is supported on the following devices:

Android
iPhone / iPod Touch
Macintosh
OQO
Palm
Pocket PC 2002 or later
Symbian
Windows
Windows Mobile
BlackBerry
Barnes & Noble Nook
ECTACO jetBook - Lite
Foxit eSclick

The reason PDB with DRM was not on a lot of dedicated devices is Mobipocket has an onerous clause in their DRM licensing agreement that barred manufacturers from including any other DRM system on dedicated ebook-reading devices, and, for a time, it looked like Mobipocket was going to win the format wars, so people played ball with them.

As for plain PDB (no DRM, not eReader), PDB is just a wrapper around plain-text files (possibly compressed) with no italics or anything like that; it's not a hard format to deal with.

===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer
Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series
http://sfwriter.]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26152.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26152.page GMT
Goodbye]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26154.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26154.page GMT
Android
iPhone / iPod Touch
Macintosh
OQO
Palm
Pocket PC 2002 or later
Symbian
Windows
Windows Mobile
BlackBerry
Barnes & Noble Nook
ECTACO jetBook - Lite
Foxit eSclick

(had to snip - k)[/quote]

Problem with that list is I see it as being apples & oranges.. (cont.)]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26158.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26158.page GMT
Apples, devices such as the JBL which uses a software application that the manufacture developed to read pdb files. Oranges, devices which allow you to load applications that you obtain from the publisher to read their books. If I don’t like the software used on my Palm device to read these eReader pdb books, who do I complain to? Palm or eReader?

I’m wondering that since B&N has the rights to the eReader software, shouldn't they also be porting it to dedicated readers too? Like they do to all those other devices.. ]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26159.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26159.page GMT
More fonts

Margin control

Definitely look-up linkability to an aftermarket dictionary- I don't care if it costs me $50. The JBL dictionary is so pathetic in every way that if I were a "dictionary" company like Ectaco, I would have left it off entirely out of sheer embarassment.

The dictionary thing is not rocket science- just a few lines of firmware code so the dictionary source is selectable. Unless there is some sort of hypertext linking incompatibility we do not know about. Linking seems to work for pdf files.

So many people have mentioned this and Ectaco seems to simply ignore it.]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26216.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26216.page GMT
After using the jetBook - Lite for several weeks:

My number one desire is to be able to set the left and right margins, so that the text doesn't start and end so close to the bezel.

My number two desire is more font sizes, espcially one in between the second-largest and the largest.

My number three desire is to be able to use the eReader dictionaries I bought from eReader.com (Barnes & Noble) when reading eReader-formatted books.

===

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction Writer
Author FLASHFORWARD, basis for the TV series
http://sfwriter.com * sawyer@sfwriter.com
]]> http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26221.page http://www.ectaco.com/posts/preList/18624/26221.page GMT