[Lago]

greetings all..

i come to you today with an idea. id like to think it unremarkable, but maybe it is in that it follows the principal of 'less is more'.

as many of you may or may not know, i am rather fond of my EBW1150. its ergonomically comfortable, sturdy, time tested and simple, with none of the superfluous bells and whistles so prevalent in more modern devices.

that said, its dated, very dated. the hardware is nearly 20 years old now, it supports only one format natively, and that being a nearly obsolete one. its memory is sadly lacking at only 64 MB internal (for those of us lucky enough to have bought one recently, 8MB otherwise), and the only memory card usable in it, again, hasn't been produced in several years, what IS available is so small in capacity as to be laughable by modern standards, and more expensive per MB than ANY other memory available. and the screen, while adequate, could stand an update as well.

heres what id like to propose, and if there is enough interest in it, i may well pursue development funding, and marketing.

the device;

basically take the shell of the current EBW1150, its pagination and power buttons, USB support, power adapter (maybe change it to a more easily replaceable unit), touch screen capability, etc. and update the rest.

connectivity;

really, most modern readers have some kind of wireless interface, usually the latest and greatest available, such as G3, cellular, etc. the 1150 has only its USB interface, and a phone modem. the REB 1200 has only the network cable. id keep the USB, maybe update to 2.0, or even firewire (though this would be excessive IMO), and can the modem in exchange for wifi accessibility. im thinking 802.11B should be plenty, and fully compatible with newer networks. im trading 'anywhere, anytime (at a price)' convenience, for afford-ability. but come on really, do you REALLY need to have access to your online bookshelves 24/7?

Memory;

the greatest failure of the 1150 is its memory, those pesky SMC cards are incredibly expensive, not to mention rare and delicate. i have a 128 that cannot be read in my ebook, though i can access it easily from other computers. (yes, ive tried all the tricks on that). the internal memory is acceptable at 64MB on the newer units, though, if external memory can be had, i see no real need for much here.

id propose swapping out the SMC card for something readily available, cheap, and update-able. my personal vote goes to SD cards, they're practically a dime a DZ these days, and adapters are available for the mini and micro cards as well. they are also available in capacities from as little as 128MB (familiar number there) to near terabyte sizes.

the screen;

here i don't really have anything to complain about. i like my screen, but i do recognize that many folks may want to get periodicals, comics, etc and some want to view their book covers. the half VGA gray-scale screen is adequate for reading, but it lacks for the rest of it.

id propose keeping the touchscreen, with only three buttons it become necessary for data entry, etc. and it make navigating the bookshelves easier, even fun. but id replace the screen with a color LCD; similar to my REB1200. id personally prefer to keep the back light as well. E-ink is a possibility, but again, price becomes an issue, and then id have to come up with an alternate way to light it, WITHOUT complicated, delicate, and bothersome add-ons, such as a clip on light..

sound;

i never really had much need for sound, so i never even noticed the headphone jack on my unit till i started looking at it and daydreaming about what to change. normally i would say just do away with it, but then someone, two different someones in fact, made a suggestion. in that the device might be able to real along with you, either by special audio files, or OSreaders. they said its easier for some to concentrate on the page with such a guide. personally, is a "*shrug* whatever" thing, but thats something to leave open for later.

Power;

my first reader had an excellent battery, never an issue, the current one though, has been giving me fits occasionally from day one. and it needs a replacement. this requires me to dismantle the device, and physically remove the component. not an issue, as im mechanically inclined, but it'd be nice to open a cover, and replace a few AAs instead.

that would be the extent of the mods id make there, re-design the back cover to include a battery cover for ease of replacement. and make it accept simple rechargeable AA batteries.

Software;

here we get complicated. the software is fine, for what it does, but in this modern landscape, its far too limited.

the library is non-graphical, you have an icon next to the title, many folks would like to see a picture of the cover if possible. frankly, while i don't think its necessary, i agree. so id like to see the option to have the menu graphical, or hybrid.

really there is only access for two bookshelves, online, and native memory. id propose allowing for multiple bookshelves, so one can sort their books by category, etc.

>Accessibility;

while id like to retain support for the venerable IMP format (perhaps even IMP1200) id like to see the unit support many formats natively. IMP, Mobi, PRC, OBEFF, PDF, XYZ, AAA, Epub, and whatever else comes along. i understand this is asking a lot of a base program, so id like to see this implemented via 'patches'. the reader would not support anything but simple TXT, RTF etc, natively, but a 'patch' would be available for supporting each of the varying formats. this way, not only would the device be versatile, it would allow the user to choose what formats to support.

>DRM

as for DRM. yes i agree, DRM is EVIL... BUT, sadly i think were stuck with it. that said, i want this device to work with DRM as well. so........ i propose that these Patches could also be made, in cooperation with the varying booksellers to act is a middle man of sorts. the ebooks could be tied to the patch, and the patch could be tied to the reader, but no more than one reader, or maybe two. if a new device is acquired, the 'patch' could be re-assigned to another reader, but must be de-assigned from the former reader, therby rendering any DRM books on the old device unreadable. this is great for theft prevention, and should keep the publisher's lawyers happy.

DRM patches would be available and assigned by and through the seller only, all patches would be independent of the core programming, and would be updated as needed the same way the core programming is updated, much like a firmware update, only for individual components only.

also, this may well be the only 'bell and whistle' i support here, but it would have the hardware for it, so why not? id like to see the device also act as a portable photo album. so you could take your memory card from your camera and view the pictures on something bigger than a postage stamp.

all this, i want in a package that costs less than $200, preferably under $150..

im not really looking to make a fortune here, but, if it catches, maybe i can come out on top..


so, that may not be a complete synopses, but i think you'll get the idea. im open for suggestions, criticisms, etc. what do you all think?