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Thundergirls · 01-14-2010, 08:08 PM

I also took advantage of the newegg pricing, and even with the DHL handoff to the post office (free shipping) it arrived in less than a week.

Mine is software version 14i with patch v15.

The readability is great, you don't need a lot of light but you do need a light source. Even lamp bouncing off the ceiling makes it very visible without strain.

About 90 MB of the internal 100MB memory was used with public domain books. Most of them are available to me anyway via my ebookmall account, so I may delete them in order to keep my favorite books available. I do have a dedicated 1 GB SD card which could take quite a while to even begin to fill up.

My eReader books from Fictionwise had a very low font size, I don't have really bad vision, but I might get it if I tried to read this. A flaw, perhaps not on the part of the book but the DRM format that the font size is apparently disabled.

I've converted a lot of books in my library to the epub format, and I finally get why that's so popular. Even images showed up in epub versions, where mobi versions didn't show them on the Jetbook. Call me old-fashioned, I like being able to see the cover of the book before I start to read it. Most of my converted epub files also seemed a little smaller than their counterparts (mobi, ereader).

Holding the book is a delight. It's not at all awkward. Turning pages is easy too, there's the page button on the lower left, the 4-way on the right that gives left-right (back-forward) turning, plus the somewhat flimsy sliding piece on the left. I plan on NOT using that a lot, seems like it could break easily.

The device is really light-weight, and while at $150 (or $119 if you shopped well) it may be a good competition for Kindle and Nook, it still seems more like an $89 reader. And in truth, I think over time we'll see more ereaders in the under $100 range, which will allow more and more people to get in to the world of digital books.

The pages turn quickly and the search function is REALLY fast. I've used it to substitute for a linked Table of Contents.

DRM is of course a bit of controversy. But when you consider the amount of pirated books that are freely offered on the net via file sharing sites and torrents, it is completely understandable to me that publishers want to protect their market. I also make my living with "intellectual property," and it's most disheartening to see your hard work (and paycheck) being given away by those who cannot respect the creators of the materials they appear to enjoy.

The credit-card DRM worked fine on my Jetbook, but I did have to enter it every time for every book, unlike my eReader on my PC that only requested it once, and then all the other books that were bought with that same credit card were recognized without issue.

A downside of the Jetbook is the inability to follow table of contents. This is a pretty useful element of ebook reading, and all my mobi books with a TOC have worked fine on all my readers, PC, PDA, and Blackberry.

Oh, an interesting and slightly off-topic note; I've found Blackberry 8703e units from ebay for about $30, and you can load Mobireader onto them from your PC's Reader software. I keep my BB loaded with all my new purchases, it's a great, cheap way to get an ereader, and the battery life is great, and can be charged via USB.

Back to the Jetbook, I have respect for the manufacturer, and appreciate the simplicity of it, no wifi, no 3g, no mp3. It's for reading books.

The final limitation of the Jetbook, which seems to be that of all the readers, is that PDF files aren't all that easy to view. The zoom feature allows you to make a portion of the page bigger, but not to increase the file size. I've acquired some PDF books in the past, and even on a laptop they aren't nearly as easy to read as a Mobi or even an MS Reader book. Too bad they are probably the future standard of textbooks, manuals, and medical journals. Epub is MUCH better.

Ideally though, it's an ereader for those of us that have a bit of skill with reformatting (read into that what you will) in order to optimize our purchases while respecting copyright. I've never "shared" a book I've purchased yet, but I have taken steps to make the book usable to me, so I can read on whatever device I'm in the mood for.

If you only planned on using it for DRM books, it might be a bit of a disappointment. But for the vast amount of public domain books, it's quite a neat piece of hardware. DRM is the only thing that limits its performance, and can you really blame the device for that?

I also am awaiting a NOOK (est. ship of 2/12) and it will be interesting to see, from a plain usability viewpoint, just how much more bang for the buck is included for twice the price. But I have no problems recommending the Jetbook Lite to anyone with the skills and time to use programs like Convert Lit and Calibre to get the most out of their purchases.

01-14-2010, 08:08 PM	#27
Thundergirls Member Posts: 10 Karma: 30 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Jetbook Lite	Another New Jetbook Lite User I also took advantage of the newegg pricing, and even with the DHL handoff to the post office (free shipping) it arrived in less than a week. Mine is software version 14i with patch v15. The readability is great, you don't need a lot of light but you do need a light source. Even lamp bouncing off the ceiling makes it very visible without strain. About 90 MB of the internal 100MB memory was used with public domain books. Most of them are available to me anyway via my ebookmall account, so I may delete them in order to keep my favorite books available. I do have a dedicated 1 GB SD card which could take quite a while to even begin to fill up. My eReader books from Fictionwise had a very low font size, I don't have really bad vision, but I might get it if I tried to read this. A flaw, perhaps not on the part of the book but the DRM format that the font size is apparently disabled. I've converted a lot of books in my library to the epub format, and I finally get why that's so popular. Even images showed up in epub versions, where mobi versions didn't show them on the Jetbook. Call me old-fashioned, I like being able to see the cover of the book before I start to read it. Most of my converted epub files also seemed a little smaller than their counterparts (mobi, ereader). Holding the book is a delight. It's not at all awkward. Turning pages is easy too, there's the page button on the lower left, the 4-way on the right that gives left-right (back-forward) turning, plus the somewhat flimsy sliding piece on the left. I plan on NOT using that a lot, seems like it could break easily. The device is really light-weight, and while at $150 (or $119 if you shopped well) it may be a good competition for Kindle and Nook, it still seems more like an $89 reader. And in truth, I think over time we'll see more ereaders in the under $100 range, which will allow more and more people to get in to the world of digital books. The pages turn quickly and the search function is REALLY fast. I've used it to substitute for a linked Table of Contents. DRM is of course a bit of controversy. But when you consider the amount of pirated books that are freely offered on the net via file sharing sites and torrents, it is completely understandable to me that publishers want to protect their market. I also make my living with "intellectual property," and it's most disheartening to see your hard work (and paycheck) being given away by those who cannot respect the creators of the materials they appear to enjoy. The credit-card DRM worked fine on my Jetbook, but I did have to enter it every time for every book, unlike my eReader on my PC that only requested it once, and then all the other books that were bought with that same credit card were recognized without issue. A downside of the Jetbook is the inability to follow table of contents. This is a pretty useful element of ebook reading, and all my mobi books with a TOC have worked fine on all my readers, PC, PDA, and Blackberry. Oh, an interesting and slightly off-topic note; I've found Blackberry 8703e units from ebay for about $30, and you can load Mobireader onto them from your PC's Reader software. I keep my BB loaded with all my new purchases, it's a great, cheap way to get an ereader, and the battery life is great, and can be charged via USB. Back to the Jetbook, I have respect for the manufacturer, and appreciate the simplicity of it, no wifi, no 3g, no mp3. It's for reading books. The final limitation of the Jetbook, which seems to be that of all the readers, is that PDF files aren't all that easy to view. The zoom feature allows you to make a portion of the page bigger, but not to increase the file size. I've acquired some PDF books in the past, and even on a laptop they aren't nearly as easy to read as a Mobi or even an MS Reader book. Too bad they are probably the future standard of textbooks, manuals, and medical journals. Epub is MUCH better. Ideally though, it's an ereader for those of us that have a bit of skill with reformatting (read into that what you will) in order to optimize our purchases while respecting copyright. I've never "shared" a book I've purchased yet, but I have taken steps to make the book usable to me, so I can read on whatever device I'm in the mood for. If you only planned on using it for DRM books, it might be a bit of a disappointment. But for the vast amount of public domain books, it's quite a neat piece of hardware. DRM is the only thing that limits its performance, and can you really blame the device for that? I also am awaiting a NOOK (est. ship of 2/12) and it will be interesting to see, from a plain usability viewpoint, just how much more bang for the buck is included for twice the price. But I have no problems recommending the Jetbook Lite to anyone with the skills and time to use programs like Convert Lit and Calibre to get the most out of their purchases.