[Mikeyboards]

Okay, I just received the new-style black cover for the Cybook from BooksOnBoard. Here are my impressions (compared to the brown cover), though I've only had my mitts on it for about a half-hour...

1) Nice looking, very nice; a great match for the design and color of the Cybook.
2) Seems like it's real leather, as opposed to the PU Leather of the brown one? But I'm not sure. Seems to have more of a leather smell than the other no-smell one.
3) The whole inside is suede (or suede-like) except for the part that frames the front and sides of the Cybook.
4) It feels nice to me. And it feels lighter than the other one, even though I think it's actually heavier.
5) It's about a quarter-inch wider than the other one (when closed), so beware if you have a perfect fitting hard case for your Cybook-in-brown-cover. This one will exceed the boundaries. When opened up for reading, I would say that left flap extends almost a half-inch farther to the left. In other words, none of the extra width is from the right edge of the cover, but rather the left flap that opens, including the extra real estate where it bends.
6) The extra width seems to be at the spine, where the cover bends. Maybe it's so that there's more protective space against dropping, if you dropped it on its spine. (But probably just the way they had to contour the leather). I mean, you could fit a pencil in there between the left edge of the Cybook and the cover; there's that much extra space in the bend of the cover.
7) The magnets that hold it closed are nice and strong, and they close it with a satisfying snap. No problem trying to align it just right when you close it. They're strip magnets (not circular), and instead of being at the outside 2 corners, they're about a half-inch down from the top, and up from the bottom, respectively.
8) The fit of the Cybook in the leather frame is nice and tight. I'd worried that without the extra leather that used to cover the logo of the Cybook toward the bottom, it might be too loose. Not so. (Maybe partially because that suede that's contacting the back of the Cybook grips it nicely.)
9) Having the hole over the upper-right-corner indicator light is very nice. I never have that momentary doubting feeling now about whether a button press has been captured (whether turning it on, off, or turning pages, etc.). At first the hole didn't precisely line up over the light, but I think the case was a bit flattened out from shipping, and now it's resuming its proper shape and lines up nicely.
10) The 4 left-edge buttons are harder to access now; I have to really poke my little finger through the leather opening. There's not quite as much of a cutout at the outer left frame-face as in the brown cover. Though I can push the frame to the right a bit; maybe it will improve slightly as it unflattens and gets used to the shape of the Cybook inside. (And/or I could probably cut out a bit more leather myself.)
11) It seems to me the on/off button is a little bit more protected from accidental contact, when the case is closed especially. I think the edges of the case protrude ever so slightly more than the brown case's do.
12) At the right edge there's much more opening than you need for those 2 volume buttons. Above the buttons there's maybe an extra 1.5 inches cut out, as if they're leaving room for future buttons? Or other models of reader?
13) THIS POINT MAY HAVE MORE IMPORTANCE: Around the main Enter/Page-turn button assembly on the front, there's of course plenty of room now for pressing the left rim of the square (to go back a page), and the upper rim of the square. BUT, the right rim of the square is actually closer to the leather frame than with my brown cover; even less room for my finger/fingernail to get in there and page forward. (Though most of the time I page forward using the bottom rim of the square.) AND, speaking of the bottom rim of the button assembly, that edge has either the same amount of limited clearance as in the brown case, or maybe ever so slightly less clearance, but very close to the same amount. I still find it fairly accessible, pressing the bottom rim with the left side of my thumb; I'm usually holding the Cybook in my left hand. I do wish that button assembly was centered horizontally along the face of the Cybook! (But then it would be hitting the battery, I guess.)
About that right-rim clearance; unfortunately you can't really cut out more leather, because the magnet is implanted exactly there; right at the edge of the leather next to the right-rim of the button assembly. (The magnet's inside the leather, of course, but is up against that edge.)

Overall, I think I'm going to like this cover better than the brown one, but will certainly keep the brown one handy (if only because the brown one allows me to fit it inside a couple of the close-fitting hard cases I've been trying out.)

Sorry for the length of this entry, but I wanted to share all aspects of my findings about this cover! (By the way, I'm perfectly happy with the price, speed of delivery, and service of BooksOnBoard.com. They came through again for me, as they did with the initial Cybook purchase. I also notice that this is the case they include now when you purchase the Cybook from them. Also note that they give you $25.00 of reward dollars; I assume they still do that, when you buy the Cybook. You can use those on anything you buy from them, dollar-for-dollar.)