Considering this so-called reader is sold at places like Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohls, and Walgreens, I think it is failed logic to think that the buyers would even know what firmware is, much less how to install it. If it doesn't work correctly and well out of the box, it deserves a bad review. And since Pandigital screwed up on the white model and had a long time to fix things before the black model was released, it deserves a bad review to the tenth power.

If Pandigital was smart they would do firmware updates like the Kindle. One day you wake up, turn it on, and it says new firmware installed. You have the option of course to prevent auto-updating. But you don't even have to know what firmware is to have it updated in the Kindle case.

I agree with the vast majority posting in this thread when we say the Pandigital is terrible out of the box and so it deserves the bad reviews it is getting. it is not being marketed to tech geeks as you really don't see many tech geeks shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohls, and Walgreens. If it were marketed to tech geeks it would be sold online at geeky stores.