Hello from Queensland

[SneakySnake]

aww thanks terd....

did you make me have karma?

[happy_terd]

click user Cp on top left and it shows who gave it to you at the bottom.

[SneakySnake]

Cool, now I will NEVER get any work done with all this fun going on.

Cheers

[neilmarr]

Thanks, Happy Terd, you've just solved a puzzle for me. After nearly 1,000 posts and over 4,000 karma points, you've just explained how I can find who the generous donors are. Here's karma to ya, pal. Neil

[happy_terd]

SWEET!!!

Ask me something else SneakySnake. You are my lucky charm.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by ChrisC333

Harvey Normans have been stocking the iRiver Story, and I've come across places that have one or two others. But finding anything that you can actually try out in a store can still be a bit of a hunt. Good luck with your search.

Just my recommendation on Harvey Norman, don't go in there with questions, go in merely to have a look at the iRiver Story (if that is one you are thinking about). The sales staff there know nothing about them, best to ask questions on here and use a retail shop to have a physical look at it.

To the OP, best of luck deciding, one of the hardest decisions you will make, but there are plenty of us Aussies on here who will help and share our success (and in a few cases lack-of-success) stories.

Welcome.

[Stitchawl]

Hi Sneaky, I second the idea of purchasing overseas and having it forwarded to you. There are none sold where I live and I had to buy mine from a source in the US. Great prices that way, and if you can afford to wait 2-3 weeks for a slower form of deliver, shipping isn't to expensive.
{WARNING : FedEX and UPS shipping will guarantee that you will have to pay import taxes. Sending via EMS is only a 'maybe.' }

Stitchawl

[SneakySnake]

Originally Posted by ChrisC333

Hi and welcome SneakySnake.



It's certainly a good idea to try some for yourself if you can. If you haven't already checked by phone it might be worth confirming that your local Dymocks actually do have stock. It seems that many of them (being franchises) don't keep ereaders. The Sydney store seems to be the hub for e-stuff.

Harvey Normans have been stocking the iRiver Story, and I've come across places that have one or two others. But finding anything that you can actually try out in a store can still be a bit of a hunt. Good luck with your search.

Well of course you were correct. The Chermside Dymocks did not have any (I did get them mixed up with the giant Borders store there - who also did not have any)

Anyway an hours drive each way was not for nought. I did go to Coles and got food.

Never mind, at least the car got a run.

[SneakySnake]

I also forgot to tell you that the ladies in Dymocks Chermside seems to think that it was just an experiment run by the Sydney store.

When I told them you could not calculate the shipping on the item without filling in lots of details i.e. creating an account, they thought I should be able to download what I wanted.

No wonder everyone goes online for this stuff.

[ChrisC333]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

Well of course you were correct. The Chermside Dymocks did not have any (I did get them mixed up with the giant Borders store there - who also did not have any)

It might be worth trying some of the tech shops at your local Unis. Some of the ones in Perth are listing that they sell a couple of the e-readers that I was interested in.

I've bought computer stuff from such places before - without needing to be a student. Unis and colleges tend to have a high concentration of tech savvy customers so their on-campus stores often stock a range of goodies. Even if they don't have the one you want, there's a reasonable chance that the young person at the other end of the phone might be able to give you some tips about where to look locally.

Might be worth a phone call or two anyway.

Good luck.

Chris

[montsnmags]

You know, normally I'd come in here and make some snarky comment about Dymocks and why I'd recommend avoiding them. Fortunately, Dymocks do all the work for me.

Wait, does this qualify as a snarky comment?

Cheers,
Marc

[SneakySnake]

Snark away,

I won't be going there anytime soon. I think their Sydney experiment may not be too good either. I don't fancy paying $1299 for an Iliad that I know I could get elsewhere online (if only they weren't out of stock) for a lot less.

And I know you are supposed to pay the extra for having it in the same country, customer support blah blah blah.....

But I have my doubts anyone that works at Dymocks even knows what an eBook reader is.

Snark Snark.....

[ChrisC333]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Just my recommendation on Harvey Norman, don't go in there with questions, go in merely to have a look at the iRiver Story (if that is one you are thinking about). The sales staff there know nothing about them, best to ask questions on here and use a retail shop to have a physical look at it.

I'd certainly second that! Here's how my first visit there went:

Cocky Young Sales Boy sees Old Codger (me) who is clearly far too ancient to understand technology more complex than a knife and fork.


CYSB: Yeah?

OC: Could I have a closer look at the iRiver Story in that cabinet please?

CYSB: (opens cabinet) They're the only ones in Australia.

OC: Well, not quite - you can get Be-Books and Eco-Readers, and Kindles and ....

CYSB: (Beligerently) They're exclusive to Harvey Norman's!

OC: Oh. What about the other two Australian stockists listed on the iRiver web-site? No go?

CYSB: Wanna try?

OC: Thanks.

Now, I've owned computers literally since before CYSB was born, and have been assembling my own for nearly as long, but CYSB's like to think they know more than us old relics so I scrolled through and opened a book or two, checked out the zoom function and then tried a couple of questions.

OC: The font on this PDF is tiny, and the zoom option makes it even smaller, do you know how to make it more readable?

CYSB: Um.....(prod.... poke.... ) uh.....

OC: Never mind, I'll Google it. Are there any adjustable settings with the E-ink display?

CYSB: Um .... (prod....poke).....er...

OC: Don't bother, I'll Google it. Can you do any better than $398 for cash?

CYSB: ( Emphatically) No.

OC. OK. Thanks for the demo. I'll doing some more checking.

CYSB: They're selling quick.


Near the cabinet I noticed a pile of the sort of junk mail brochure that they try and stuff in your letter box. The iRiver Story was featured at a Special Price of $398. I glanced at the regular price on the box - it was $399.95. The Special Deal was whopping $1.95 discount, and I'd just passed on it!

A week later, after doing some more research, I went back. The sale was over, and I got a different salesman. The same number were still in stock (5).

Me: Do you know anything about these machines?

YSB: Yeah..... (however he rather spoiled the effect by having to then ask one of his mates how to turn it on )

Me: Don't worry about a demo. Can you do better than that for cash?

YSB: (tap tap tap on calculator) $367? (i.e $31 less than the Special Sale price they previously wouldn't budge from!)

Me: Thanks. I'll take it.


They call them Hardly Normal for a good reason it seems.

Chris

[SneakySnake]

At least now you have a reader. And I am glad you managed not to pay full price.

I hope you are loving it and I would welcome a review by you. Old codgers have something to say you know.

Although when I told an 80 year old friend I wanted and eBook reader she exclaimed that she would rather have shelves and shelves of real books. We do swap real books occasionally.

I will have to toddle of to our local Hardly Normals (its only around the corner) and have a chat to the computer guy (my partner knows him socially). At least he is honest about what he does and doesnt know. Nice young man really.

[ChrisC333]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

I hope you are loving it and I would welcome a review by you.

I'm finding it a pleasure to read on, thanks. I'm also perfectly happy reading on my small 'netbook' computer, but I wanted to try at least one E-ink device and see how I liked it. The iRiver Story is almost identical in size to a Kindle, and very similar in looks. The difference lies in the formats it reads - which has an effect on where you buy your books.

To some extent you can convert the file to pretty much any suitable format that your particular machine likes, provided the book isn't copy protected - such as the free books from Project Gutenberg. But it does get tricky when you've bought an ebook with copy protection embedded in it (DRM or Digital Rights Management) - such as a book from Amazon in the Kindle format.

The grey on grey look of the E-ink style readers looked slightly off-putting when I first began, but I soon got used to it. The side controls also felt rather stiff and awkward initially, but I got used to them too. However, I mostly now use the arrow keys for page turning instead.

Being able to easily move books on and off the main computer via USB cable is good too.

Maybe I'll write a longer review and put it on the iRiver Story sub forum, now we have one. But not tonight..... I can smell some very aromatic stir fry, and it's calling to me...

Old codgers have something to say you know.

Absolutely - the problem is shutting us up once we start!

On the subject of age, my eyes are 63 years old, so - in common with most of us as we age- they need more light on the subject than they used too. Some people find the E-ink more comfortable to read but I actually like a back-lit screen now. If the room light isn't good I find that I like some extra help from a reading lamp with the E-ink reader.

My wife makes bead jewelry, so we have a number of suitable lights in strategic sitting spots anyway.

Good luck at Hardlys...

Chris