MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - jetBook-Lite review by By Jerry P. Danzig

jlg432 · 07-19-2010, 02:33 AM

Funny - I never found the JB or the Aluratek Libre Pro(ALP) - too technical to use.

I thought the built in menus and options were pretty straight forward and clear.

The explanation of transferring non DRM e-books was pretty well straight forward. Download the files and then Drag and Drop.

JB-L came with B&N DRM pdb. It's B&N's that changed their line up. I never did care too much for either as B&N doesn't sell outside the USA. I had a JB and it had no DRM support at first. Now it has all three.

For those clients who do not own a PC any of the e-readers that support 3G connectivity as well as the Kindle with it's whisper Net are good for these people and even better if they live in the USA. You cannot even sell a wifi only unit if they do not have wifi at home as well as a PC with internet access.

As for Kindle they just recently went "Global". Prior to that if you lived outside the USA you missed out on a lot of services that you still paid for in the initial cost. Plus some subscriptions gave you less for the same charge outside the USA.

The JB didn't come out with any DRM at first but if one was knowledgeable one could still "Buy" books and read them on the unit.

Now the JB supports more DRM formats than most of the others.

As for the JB-L I assume it will catch up after all I owned a JB and had to wait quite a while before they even put out some FW updates let a lone DRM support.

I cannot comment on the JB-L hardware but both my JB and ALP have worked fine from the start. I would have to re-state that - both have worked as good as could be expected from a device that is obviously inexpensive to make. Yes, I have to reset every now and then (poor memory management IMO) but I also didn't have to pay almost $400 for it either. To expect perfection and greatness from a device that probably cost $10-$20 per unit to make is unreasonable (these units were an existing design when Ectaco and Aluratek went shopping).

These units do what they were made for and that is display e-books in the most common open formats that exist and do a relatively good job at displaying the text. Some of the display issues are badly formated e-books. Don't blame the reader for that. I found the specs fairly clear.

I can understand if you are not into the technology how confusing it can be but that is up to the individual to do their home work before committing to buying. ALP is being found in more retail stores. Kindle is just starting to hit some retail stores.

The JB, JB-L and ALP are what I call truely Global e-readers - not tide to a specific propreitary technology and capable of being used anywhere. As long as you have access to the Internet via a PC you should have access to new material.

That's my opinion.

07-19-2010, 02:33 AM	#44
jlg432 Addict Posts: 237 Karma: 15786 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: jetBook, ALP, Pandigital 7"Color(Black+ White), Kyros MID7015a	Funny - I never found the JB or the Aluratek Libre Pro(ALP) - too technical to use. I thought the built in menus and options were pretty straight forward and clear. The explanation of transferring non DRM e-books was pretty well straight forward. Download the files and then Drag and Drop. JB-L came with B&N DRM pdb. It's B&N's that changed their line up. I never did care too much for either as B&N doesn't sell outside the USA. I had a JB and it had no DRM support at first. Now it has all three. For those clients who do not own a PC any of the e-readers that support 3G connectivity as well as the Kindle with it's whisper Net are good for these people and even better if they live in the USA. You cannot even sell a wifi only unit if they do not have wifi at home as well as a PC with internet access. As for Kindle they just recently went "Global". Prior to that if you lived outside the USA you missed out on a lot of services that you still paid for in the initial cost. Plus some subscriptions gave you less for the same charge outside the USA. The JB didn't come out with any DRM at first but if one was knowledgeable one could still "Buy" books and read them on the unit. Now the JB supports more DRM formats than most of the others. As for the JB-L I assume it will catch up after all I owned a JB and had to wait quite a while before they even put out some FW updates let a lone DRM support. I cannot comment on the JB-L hardware but both my JB and ALP have worked fine from the start. I would have to re-state that - both have worked as good as could be expected from a device that is obviously inexpensive to make. Yes, I have to reset every now and then (poor memory management IMO) but I also didn't have to pay almost $400 for it either. To expect perfection and greatness from a device that probably cost $10-$20 per unit to make is unreasonable (these units were an existing design when Ectaco and Aluratek went shopping). These units do what they were made for and that is display e-books in the most common open formats that exist and do a relatively good job at displaying the text. Some of the display issues are badly formated e-books. Don't blame the reader for that. I found the specs fairly clear. I can understand if you are not into the technology how confusing it can be but that is up to the individual to do their home work before committing to buying. ALP is being found in more retail stores. Kindle is just starting to hit some retail stores. The JB, JB-L and ALP are what I call truely Global e-readers - not tide to a specific propreitary technology and capable of being used anywhere. As long as you have access to the Internet via a PC you should have access to new material. That's my opinion.