[MacEachaidh]

Well, I've jumped into a different bed now (the Kobo Touch) and so far I'm very comfortable and happy there.

My intent was not overtly to rubbish iRiver the company, but to share my experiences with other iRiver owners who might understand the situation, because I was actually sad about it (as well as feeling a bit abused as a customer); so I appreciate the expressions of commiseration in this thread. I know, that's a bit sentimental, and yes, the Story was "just" a device, but it was also my first ereader, and I did feel somewhat sentimental towards it. But I'm bloody angry (sorry, but I am) that a replacement screen should cost more than the entire unit did to buy even at the height of its retail pricing - especially since it was always overpriced to start with. And I still have aftershocks of disapproval at discovering that the original Story was already EoL in terms of development before I even bought it, though it was clearly advertised as the latest, greatest thing and I still have an e.mail from iRiver claiming all the future development it would receive; they just "forgot" to mention that to get any new development I'd have to scrap the unit I'd just bought and buy a whole new one, several times over. To my mind, that's a dodgy practice, but it seems to be something iRiver makes a habit of, frankly.

Be that as it may, I've written to both iRiver the company and to the Australian distributors concerning the cost of the repair and the concern that this was driving me away from the brand. Five weeks on, I haven't received any reply - not even a form letter.