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Monteagle · 10-19-2008, 09:56 PM

One of my friends at work and I have been using e-paper devices. His screen died twice on the Sony Reader in the last 15 months. We didn't think either one looked like damage. (Unfortunately, we didn't keep pictures.) Sony was good about replacing the first one, but charged something like $250 for the second one, which I think was out of warranty by then.

I personally use the Cybook (since March) and had an SD card slot problem with it. Bought that one from BooksOnBoard with their accidental damage plan. Sent it to them and received a brand new one back in 3 days. I'm sure my significant other broke the slot trying to force an SD card in upside down. Because of the policy - which isn't cheap but worth the peace of mind to me - no questions were asked other then to ask to what address the new unit should be shipped. That's worth something.

Limited sample, I know, but it looks like the e-ink screens are just very fragile. The screens, as pointed out elsewhere in this forum, are all manufactured by the same Taiwanese outfit, but final assembly is apparently done by different companies. Kind of a typical early adopter hardware issue where things are not as robust as we'd like. BooksOnBoard actually sends a big warning in the package that tells you the screens are very fragile. I've heard they carry the Cybook as a convenience for their customers, but that they're not crazy about it because they pride themselves on good service, and the e-ink screens don't make that easy. That being said, they did give me good service on it and I only had to pay shipping one-way within the US - cost $9 US Postal Service in a well-insulated box. (I started by trying to contact Bookeen, but received no response over a week; BooksOnBoard was back to me within an hour. They seem to use the same support team that supports the ebooks themselves. As confirmed in many forums here and elsewhere, that team is very friendly, responsive, and world class. With eBook software and e-ink screens, they're likely to have good job security. Hope their management's smart enough to take good care of them.)

10-19-2008, 09:56 PM	#310
Monteagle Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Treo 700w	2 broken screens, one SD card slot down - Sony and Bookeen One of my friends at work and I have been using e-paper devices. His screen died twice on the Sony Reader in the last 15 months. We didn't think either one looked like damage. (Unfortunately, we didn't keep pictures.) Sony was good about replacing the first one, but charged something like $250 for the second one, which I think was out of warranty by then. I personally use the Cybook (since March) and had an SD card slot problem with it. Bought that one from BooksOnBoard with their accidental damage plan. Sent it to them and received a brand new one back in 3 days. I'm sure my significant other broke the slot trying to force an SD card in upside down. Because of the policy - which isn't cheap but worth the peace of mind to me - no questions were asked other then to ask to what address the new unit should be shipped. That's worth something. Limited sample, I know, but it looks like the e-ink screens are just very fragile. The screens, as pointed out elsewhere in this forum, are all manufactured by the same Taiwanese outfit, but final assembly is apparently done by different companies. Kind of a typical early adopter hardware issue where things are not as robust as we'd like. BooksOnBoard actually sends a big warning in the package that tells you the screens are very fragile. I've heard they carry the Cybook as a convenience for their customers, but that they're not crazy about it because they pride themselves on good service, and the e-ink screens don't make that easy. That being said, they did give me good service on it and I only had to pay shipping one-way within the US - cost $9 US Postal Service in a well-insulated box. (I started by trying to contact Bookeen, but received no response over a week; BooksOnBoard was back to me within an hour. They seem to use the same support team that supports the ebooks themselves. As confirmed in many forums here and elsewhere, that team is very friendly, responsive, and world class. With eBook software and e-ink screens, they're likely to have good job security. Hope their management's smart enough to take good care of them.)