Hi,

why don´t offer a lot of the e-book-manufacturer their readers in Germany?

Germany is the countra of Gutenberg. Printed books are good, but e-books with eInk reader are better.

Are the customer not loger the kings? :crowngrin

Regards

Bernhard

Germany is always behind in technology stuff .. .like mp3 .. invented in Germany ..but the Americans got the money out of it.

Germany is always behind in technology stuff .. .like mp3 .. invented in Germany ..but the Americans got the money out of it.
MP3 technology was a venture between the German firm that claims the rights and Bell Labs in the US. Bell Labs was owned by AT&T and then became part of Lucent which was just purchased by a French firm.

Ahh but we agree that MP3 was developed inside German labs. Check out this Wiki entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3) for the history of MP3 (Karlheinz Brandenburg led the Fraunhofer team; initially he worked for Bell).

Back to the original question... the modern e-book devices are all based on E Ink technology, which was "discovered" by a MIT MediaLab spin-off, E Ink, and partly funded and supported by Dutch Phillips (in 2000, they provided the backplanes) and also Sony (first major customer at a time when E Ink was almost dead). Today, iRex = Philips spin-off, so if you look at it from this perspective, the development of E Ink devices even today is mostly in the hands of the original people supporting E Ink. And, as usual with anything in technology, we also have the Chinese derivatives.

why don´t offer a lot of the e-book-manufacturer their readers in Germany?I don't know about the other devices, but I had no problems ordering my iLiad from Germany. They even seem to be shipped from within Germany.

So if I do not err, the only E-Book-Reader that is available in Europe is the Iliad? I would be more interested in the STAReBOOK, Sony or Hanlin reader given the reviews. I need to be patient, I guess.

The iLiad is more expensive (than other E-Ink readers) and has battery issues. That said, FBReader (which supports a wide range of reflowable non-DRMed formats) is now available for the iLiad, and MobiPocket Reader (for DRMed books) is coming soon.

There is supposed to be a new iLiad "in the 2nd quarter", with a true 15 hour battery life (via a larger battery). I don't know why anyone would buy the original iLiad today with a newer version so close (although there may be few differences other than the battery). I have been following with interest the Iliad Forum, and I will probably buy the new version when it comes out. It will be my third Linux handheld (the other two are a Nokia 770 and a Pepper Pad 3), and one reason I like the iLiad (in the abstract) is that it is a true Linux internet-ready device. The implementation could have been better, but you can't beat something with nothing and there are no true competitors today. With FBReader and MobiPocket it probably will be the best "price no object" e-book reader available.

The iLiad is more expensive (than other E-Ink readers) and has battery issues. That said, FBReader (which supports a wide range of reflowable non-DRMed formats) is now available for the iLiad, and MobiPocket Reader (for DRMed books) is coming soon.

There is supposed to be a new iLiad "in the 2nd quarter", with a true 15 hour battery life (via a larger battery). I don't know why anyone would buy the original iLiad today with a newer version so close (although there may be few differences other than the battery). I have been following with interest the Iliad Forum, and I will probably buy the new version when it comes out. It will be my third Linux handheld (the other two are a Nokia 770 and a Pepper Pad 3), and one reason I like the iLiad (in the abstract) is that it is a true Linux internet-ready device. The implementation could have been better, but you can't beat something with nothing and there are no true competitors today. With FBReader and MobiPocket it probably will be the best "price no object" e-book reader available.

Hey,

given that I'm a Linux-user as well, I got some information on this and I think that Hanlin Reader will be Linux-ready as well, no FB-Reader though.