Announcement from EZ Read/Astak Team

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by theducks

Out of stock may simply be that the Inventory server is not communicating with the Order server, Hence Out of stock, because it has no clue what it should not sell
Has anyone tried the Telephone to place an order?

Again. Communications seems to be their BIG problem.

A simple banner "Telephone Lines Open during re-model" would probably solve most users order issues.

Well Jenifer posted saying that the readers can be bought from buy.com whilst the website is under tech repairs. However if a future customer goes to ezread.com and sees the "Buy EZReader" link on the site and thinks "Wow I might get me one of them" and follows it, it goes to www.theezreader.com which of course has no stock. What does the consumer do? Look at other brands and potentially never go back to the ebookstore again.

You are right, communication. It is getting close to a month of the site being under tech repairs, a 12th of the year. Posting on this forum is fine for us regulars, but for the average consumer who is just surfing the net it doesn't look good for. I am actually rather curious, ezread.com a little while ago forwarded to ezread.com.au and presented all ebooks in AUS currency, but now it just goes to the global ezread.com in US currency (ezread.com.au comes back with a bad hostname error, domain resolves but something has changed on the webserver, same with the old myezread.com).

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Do let us know about the new 6" ereader model you received for review (or will soon?) and certainly any further details about 7" tablets.

As for availability of existing e-readers: ezreader.com remains unavailable to actually sell anything; and astak.com has removed "e-readers" as a product; nor are the e-readers available from any independent Amazon dealers; newegg only appears to have the pink 5" model; bestbuy.ca is showing 7 units left of cumulative three models; bestbuy US no longer sells them; frys.com is out of stock.

I'm just saying the evidence -- existing inventory of all models has effectively ceased in most logical sales channels (without sales, you are not in business) -- suggests the company has ceased this line of business. I also stated the company is likely finding a "soft-landing" for this division and existing customers -- this based on their history of proactive, progressive customer service; the lack of communication by tech and sales support has been noted in this thread by several others.

Alternatively they could be removing the ability to sell ereaders from them and outsource those sales to buy.com (or another site). Remove the issue of having to keep a functional merchant website up and running. It would be nice for them to fix their website and release their products, but I'm finding your train of thought more and more credible.

Take some facts here;
Amazon Kindle (wifi only) - $139US
Nook (wifi only) - $149US
Kobo - $129US (current model)
Kobo (wifi) - projected $139US

Each of those three brands have ebookstore integration.

Astak
EZ Reader Plus - $169US. Ok it comes with cover and earbuds, but add shipping on that and you are financially better off with a Kindle + cover for less money. Same with the Kobo.

[dacattt]

>> Ok it comes with cover and earbuds, but add shipping on that and you are financially better off with a Kindle + cover for less money. Same with the Kobo.

Yea, but that's not really the point for most folks who buy Astak. Isn't it the fact that the "native" mode for the books is NON-DRMed -- ie, you're not at someone's mercy. You buy the book, you are BUYING the book, not being GRANTED a LICENSE????

Didn't hesitate a second for that part.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by ReaderEatter

I agree with Steven that it is best to work with them. Most of you have invested in the device and it is a good one. While I think they also have a lot of learning to do... I also think it is in your interests to work with them to understand that the opinion and feelings of the public do count a hell of a lot!!

Well trouble is (and sorry to use an old analogy) but, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!!

As I mentioned before I did receive a response after contacting Jenifer about my issue, and did receive an apology etc, and it is all resolved now, but unfortunately for Astak in that period of time I went and purchased 2 ereaders from elsewhere. Now there is probably little money made by Astak on the sale of an ereader, so losing 2 sales isn't really a big (if at all) financial loss, however I stopped spreading the brand Astak around, so who knows the lost opportunity cost to Astak by both myself and others who cannot buy their products (and subsequently cannot suggest them as devices for friends/family to consider buying?). 10 people? 100? 1000+?

Please Astak listen!!! Especially with the ebookstore. I have a rather big TBR list, but in the past 4 weeks my wife and I have spent close to $100US just buying ebooks based on recommendations emailed to us from ebookstores. I have yet to receive one email from ezread.com despite signing up when it became live. Consequently I have never bought an ebook from there.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Well Jenifer posted saying that the readers can be bought from buy.com whilst the website is under tech repairs.

Buy.com has the 6" reader; it doesn't have the 5" Pocket Pro.

I *want* a Pocket Pro. Was planning on getting one this month. (Don't want pink at more than the 6" reader costs; not getting it from newegg.) I'm starting to look around for the other Jinke models and seeing if any of them are available to me; if I can't find one, I may look for a Pocketbook 360.

And, sigh, if I can't find one, I'll probably eventually settle for a Sony 350, which is not what I want because I'm tired of having to convert HTML files into something else, and I don't like the time-delay on startup after loading new books on it.

I'm planning on getting a new 5" reader before the end of the year; I hope Astak makes its selection available soon.

[Blossom]

Actually they do here

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by dacattt

You buy the book, you are BUYING the book, not being GRANTED a LICENSE????

Didn't hesitate a second for that part.

ACK at least it was MY point of view when I decided for the the bebook (being just the same in european suit)

I wanted a reading device NOT a portable leasing outlet of $_company

[SensualPoet]

So, another myth is shattered: buy.com also does NOT sell Astak e-readers.

In fact, buy.com doesn't sell any flavour of the Astak devices. Nor do any of buy.com's major partner vendors like Dell.

If you look more closely, there is only a single lone dealer -- DIY-Security -- selling Astak e-readers through buy.com. That is like buying something through the Amazon website that isn't sold by Amazon ... but direct by "ABC Electronics in Phoenix, AZ".

Lastly, and I don't want to sound churlish, but DIY-Security on buy.com only sells Astak devices ... like spycams, the current business Astak is pursuing. It sounds very much like Astak is clearing remaining inventory through its buy.com merchandise relationship under a non-Astak name -- DIY-Security -- while stopping all sales under the Astak-identified website. This is entirely consistent with Astak getting out of the e-reader business. Perhaps they are negotiating with someone to sell the e-reader brand, warranty obligations and customer list to a new body.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by dacattt

>> Ok it comes with cover and earbuds, but add shipping on that and you are financially better off with a Kindle + cover for less money. Same with the Kobo.

Yea, but that's not really the point for most folks who buy Astak. Isn't it the fact that the "native" mode for the books is NON-DRMed -- ie, you're not at someone's mercy. You buy the book, you are BUYING the book, not being GRANTED a LICENSE????

Didn't hesitate a second for that part.

Well if you are buying non-DRM'd ebook then the ereader you have is irrelevant. Simple file conversion to your format of choice (or supported by the ereader) is required. Most ebooks you buy you are infact buying a licence to read the ebook, not owning the ebook.

There is next to no money made now on ereaders themselves, so the real path forward is content. Buy a Kindle and you're shown the path to the Amazon ebookstore, buy a Kobo and you have the Desktop App for buying/syncing ebooks with your reader. I can't comment on the Nook (don't know enough about it), the Sony I believe is similar to the Kobo. Don't like the ebookstore? Fine, you can buy from elsewhere, your choice.

[Xanthe]

I concur with the impression that they are getting out of the ereader business and are just selling off their remaining stock. With the recent price drops in other ereaders, and with what RobertB told us about their profit margins with the readers, it's clear that Astak can't match those lower prices.

Not to mention that we're in the fourth quarter of the year and intensive holiday shopping will be starting soon. What seller wants to miss out on what is normally their highest-profit sales quarter?

Too bad, since their reader was the only one that would handle such a wide variety of ebook formats without requiring the use of conversion software. While it's relatively easy to convert books using Calibre, being able to read the ebook in its original formatting is usually much better.

[dacattt]

>> Well if you are buying non-DRM'd ebook then the ereader you have is irrelevant.

True. But I voted w/ my dollars for a machine that wasn't designed to support DRM in any way. If I bought something from Amazon, would I want to worry if it could figure out I'd un-DRMSed (oh, that word) books I'd bought from it? (I admit I don't know if it can tell or not... but with authors signing e-book exclusives w/ Amazon, someday I might choose to buy one -- yes, I know there are lots of other threads about this whole topic already.)

BUT... it's buying from the companies that are trying to do it the "right" way that matters... to me. ( Yes, your mileage may vary.) It's just why I chose Astak... and spent a few dollars more. I think it's worth it. Guess I'm saying, I just hope they do pop back, instead of being pushed out of the market by the big guns underselling the hardware.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by SmartyPants

my lovely maroon PP is gone (smashed in between two aircraft seats - totally my fault) and i was about to order a replacement. Doesnt seem like it can be done - now or ever?? No reasonable communication with Astak team ever since Robert is gone.

Can you please forward me any emails you sent to Astak that were not returned about this matter? My email is jenifera@ezread.com. If you did call and were not answered, our hours are 9-5 PST.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I concur with the impression that they are getting out of the ereader business and are just selling off their remaining stock.

We are not leaving the eReader business.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Please Astak listen!!! Especially with the ebookstore. I have a rather big TBR list, but in the past 4 weeks my wife and I have spent close to $100US just buying ebooks based on recommendations emailed to us from ebookstores. I have yet to receive one email from ezread.com despite signing up when it became live. Consequently I have never bought an ebook from there.

We are currently remodeling the eBookstore and it should be live this week. We generally do not use our customers emails to send recommendations or news, but that is a good suggestion.

[jonc3b]

Have a look at the BeBook 'Mini' at Netherlands supplier at http://mybebook.com/, this is Europe's version from same manufacturer as ezreader . it too is out of stock with a message "Temporarily out of stock. Available Monday 01 November, 2010". Appears there may be a manufacturer issue?

[jonc3b]

please don't even compare kobo to ezreader...kobo has no features, lacks multi bookmarking for instance...