So do you seethe with HATRED for the Digital Reader?

[Nate the great]

The DR1000 is the fifth horseman of the apocalypse.

[kacir]

I. Do. Not. Care. Period.

At one moment, in a very distant past, I was quite excited about iliad.
Then I found out what the price was and that was it. Buying an iliad is out of question until I win first prize in lottery or until they very dramatically lower the price.

There were quite a lot of people here that wanted to buy iliad no matter what. iRex told us that the device was not ready for market and people here were DEMANDING the devices. Finally irex caved and opened limited sale for members of Mobileread. Eager Mobilereaders signed disclaimer saying that they are aware that iliad is not finished yet, and that id does not have all planned features, ....
See
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad

Finally the first units arrived. Some seven months after the promised date.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
The hell broke loose. Mobilereaders found out that the illiad really was not ready to be sold to public.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/pol...ults&pollid=70
The battery lasted a few hours, it was impossible to calibrate touch screen and there were quite a few other problems. We were promised that a firmware update would solve the battery problems "Real Soon now" (TM).
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
Last time I looked they are still nowhere near the battery performance they were promising in December 2005

See some historical threads
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ighlight=iliad

Yes. The grapes are sour
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If you do not understand see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox...es#Sour_grapes

[myprecious]

Yes, the grapes are sour but sometimes sour grapes are better than no grapes at all

[kacir]

Originally Posted by myprecious

Yes, the grapes are sour but sometimes sour grapes are better than no grapes at all

... and even better are sweet, but much smaller grapes that you can afford

I am owner of Sony PRS500 - the first e-ink reader I could actually afford. And since I use it for reading fiction and I like to take it with me wherever I go I prefer that form factor. Those 5", sub $200 devices look much more interesting to me than iRex products.

If I ever consider buying a device with screen larger than 6", I would not give up 6 or 5 inch device for reading fiction.

[Grimulkan]

Originally Posted by kacir

[...] If I ever consider buying a device with screen larger than 6", I would not give up 6 or 5 inch device for reading fiction.

I am sure most users of the DR would agree with you. People who get the DR do it for various oddball uses and really *need* that screen real estate, and are willing to pay for it. I don't think its meant to replace the smaller readers.

Unfortunately, economies of scale etc. haven't hit the niche products iRex comes up with, and the consumer has to pay for this. This is fake money we're paying just because of the way the market works, and not because the DR is built from solid gold or something. Can't be helped right now. The 6'' e-ink display and related hardware is mass produced with a well defined consumer base, and can possibly create large new markets (online bookstores etc.) They are bound to have more investment and be a lot more, as you put it, interesting.

Most people who already have the DR and complain about it aren't complaining about the price exactly (although some might say that a buggy cheaper product wouldn't hurt them as much, and so wouldn't complain as much). The annoyances are, incredibly, small problems and design decisions that have a large impact on usability, and it seems that iRex *should* be able fix them without spending a ton of money. Hence the great deal of frustration, added to the fake price we're paying (even though the second is not iRex's fault).

Right now, DR users are paying for being too small a consumer base and having a not-so-large company make it. But I for one am extremely glad someone made the DR, and I'd rather have this buggy device with folder management, open software and large screen than no device at all! The bugs, I will either wait for iRex/Third part devs to fix, or fix them myself. Of course, not many are happy with this arrangement, and would like a more polished product for the $$$ they paid. In that case, perhaps they really should wait for Sony, Plastic Logic, Amazon, Nokia or whoever to come up with a mass produced, cheap, and aesthetically pleasing device that works out of the box.

[PhishStyx]

Originally Posted by Grimulkan

I am sure most users of the DR would agree with you. People who get the DR do it for various oddball uses and really *need* that screen real estate, and are willing to pay for it. I don't think its meant to replace the smaller readers.

. . .

Right now, DR users are paying for being too small a consumer base and having a not-so-large company make it. But I for one am extremely glad someone made the DR, and I'd rather have this buggy device with folder management, open software and large screen than no device at all! The bugs, I will either wait for iRex/Third part devs to fix, or fix them myself. Of course, not many are happy with this arrangement, and would like a more polished product for the $$$ they paid. In that case, perhaps they really should wait for Sony, Plastic Logic, Amazon, Nokia or whoever to come up with a mass produced, cheap, and aesthetically pleasing device that works out of the box.

Exactly. I'm a roleplaying gamer, I'm used to this kind of thing.

The fact that the software has some quirks doesn't bother me nearly as much as it appears to bug that 20% minority.

[maynard]

I have a PRS 505 and just bought a used iLiad. The two are very different products. The 505 has excellent battery life and is extremely easy to use. However, it doesn't properly display PDFs and it doesn't take pen input for annotations. The iLiad does that. However, as others have pointed out, the iLiad has touch calibration problems, terrible battery life, and the screen is simply too small for easy reading of technical PDFs without a magnifying glass.

I want a DR1000SW. Were I to buy one I'd just sell the iLiad and keep the 505. But after using the iLiad, I think I'd rather wait for a 10" (or A4 sized) device manufactured by a large firm like Sony. Frankly, the software design and build quality of the 505 blows the iLiad out of the water. One thing Sony does well is manufacture products to very high quality standards.

But right now, if you need an eink device at A4 size with pen input, the DR1K is it. And if the iLiad's size really gets on my nerves before competitors hit the market, I might just upgrade anyway. It will probably be two or three years before we see several competitors with A4 size units on the market.

Pick your poison.

[KingDani]

careful what you wish for , it might come true :
Kindle DX is just announced . a 9.7 inch with full QWERTY keyboard and annotation capabilities , it does not have a pen , but Amazon is pretty big on products , and more importantly , PDF reader is finally included.
good luck

[Grimulkan]

We don't yet know what the new Kindle will do - but I think it is pretty safe to assume that we will not see folder management and direct non-DRM support. Where did you read about PDF support? If there is a conversion step involved, I don't really think its the same thing.

Edit: Hmm... The rumor mill suggests that there really is a built-in PDF viewer.

Of course, the new Kindle might throw in some internets, which is neat Price wise, if it really is twice the "baby" kindle ($370), it isn't really beating the iRex iLiad/DR there.

Edit: At $489 though, its a different story.