FRY's Electronics Astak EZ Reader Blow-Out

[Elsi]

I was in my local Fry's store today. The EZ Reader was $259, up $10 from the sale price of $249 -- sale ended 25 June. The clerk looked through all his materials and could find no evidence of a sale. Then he went to the web site and the reader was priced $249, shipping unavailable, but they would hold one in the store for pickup. The only place there was any evidence of a $30 rebate was on a web page indicating that the regular price was $299, $269 aftre $30 rebate.

So, I didn't buy one.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I was in my local Fry's store today. The EZ Reader was $259, up $10 from the sale price of $249 -- sale ended 25 June. The clerk looked through all his materials and could find no evidence of a sale. Then he went to the web site and the reader was priced $249, shipping unavailable, but they would hold one in the store for pickup. The only place there was any evidence of a $30 rebate was on a web page indicating that the regular price was $299, $269 aftre $30 rebate.

So, I didn't buy one.

Robert B is going to be so happy with Frys.............

[Donnageddon]

Same experience for me. I work a couple of blocks from Fry's here, and while I am not in the market for a 6 inch eink reader right now, I wanted to check the sale out. $259, and no one knew of a rebate other than the $299 rebate bringing it to $269.

But I did buy an Acer Aspire One netbook! And I love it... except for the touchpad. Driving me crazy.

[mtnmedic]

Whew....I'm baaaaack!

I left the house just after 7pm and it's now 9:45-ish. That's how far away I live from the nearest Fry's.

I decided to head down to the store in Roseville (exactly 50 miles south from my house) and pick up the reader because the Frys.com rep with whom I placed a phone order earlier today didn't know when their online store would get more of them in stock (she said they were "on back order"). That could be anything like a week or even more. Who knows? That, plus the 3-5 days standard shipping and the fact that I'm away from home 1-2 days in a row at times (I work 24 hour shifts in Sacramento), I might end up with very little time to fully evaluate this reader before I decide to cut the UPC symbol proof of purchase from the box (the manufacturer's rebate requires the paperwork be postmarked no later than July 31st). So I picked it up, called Frys.com and cancelled the order there.

I paid $249 plus the obligatory 8.25% sales tax (a whole percent more because it was in PLACER County, not where I live in NEVADA County!) of $20.54 came out to a total of $269.54 (oddly enough, the on-line total, based on the sale price, came out to $271.10...go figure). After the $30 rebate the device cost me $239.54. Of course, add on the time, wear and tear plus gas it took me to make the round trip.

All because SOMEBODY didn't post any kind of notice at the product display that there was SOME kind of rebate available, be it manufacturer or Fry's, like they usually do for most stuff having rebates. That would have prompted me to buy the thing right there and then when I was in that same store earlier this morning on my way home from work!!! Sure, I would have spent $10 more (store price was $259), but that would have surely saved me the trouble I just went through!

Anyway, I'm home and I have to go to work tomorrow for another 24 hour shift (I leave here at 5:00am). So I'll be up for another hour or so, maybe to play with this device. I just unboxed it and I'm pleasantly surprised to see that IT COMES WITH A FIRM LEATHER COVER/CASE, FRONT AND BACK! Like the one that the Sony 700 comes with (and that you have the option of buying for the 505). Very nice. For some reason, I was under the impression it would come in some kind of ordinary bag/case and not some really nice cover/case. This case/cover has a nice little flap that snaps down from one side to the other with a flat magnet and holds the cover closed. The whole thing looks like a very nice, thin, executive-looking day planner.

The device itself is a flat black (or perhaps deep charcoal?) colour, which I like. The material and texture looks and feels like it will resist finger smudging, etc. There is a itty-bitty little LED at the upper left corner that indicates charge/use, etc. I love the size, weight and dimensions. Just like they said...about the size of a trade paperback (except it's thin!). I put the battery in and was pleasantly surprised to see it was fully charged already! So I'll get a chance to play with it some before turning in (instead of having to wait for it to be charged!).

About the charger-and this is a huge plus in my book (pun intended?)-the device uses a mini-USB sync cable. This is a good thing because most mini-USB devices adhere to roughly the same power requirements for charging. The cable doubles as a straight charging cable. Almost ALL of my portable electronics have mini-USB jacks and therefore I can charge them with a single AC or single DC cable.

As for the MP3 player part, I'm probably never going to use it. I have a Zune and that's the main source of my music, podcasts, FM, videos, etc. However, I'll give this a little listening to see what it sounds like. It'll probably be like the MP3 in my phone (which is an HTC Touch Pro Windows Mobile device)...quick and dirty, so to speak. The earphone jack, however, isn't so conveniently placed...it's next to the mini-USB jack and those two are covered by a little pull-out tab-style cover.

I powered it up and right away the splash screen showed "ASTAK Your Ebook, Your Library" and within 2-3 seconds it went right into an 8-tabbed directory. First tab with a folder icon called "Recent Files (1 file)", second "Fictionwise 20 Free eBooks (0 directories, 21 files), and third an Adobe PDF file "User's Manual" dated 3/31/09 of 1mb size. When I clicked on the corresponding number to start the User's Manual, it took about 5 seconds to load. In advancing a page, there is a brief flash of a "negative" of the page (best I can describe it) before the next one is displayed. The whole thing takes 1-1.5 seconds. Not bad. The screen background takes on a sort of an off-white colour. But the text is crisp, black and sharp. There are illustrations in this manual, and they're clean. Not bad for a PDF. The real test will be when I upload some of my PDF manuals into it.

There is a printed user's manual in the box along with an ordinary pair of ear buds (the flat kinds, which I have refused to use for years), a little screwdriver, the battery (which I placed in the reader), a little wrist strap and even a tiny bag containing TWO MORE SCREWS for the battery door. How thoughtful. And there is a sheet of paper with a listing of "Free eBook Websites". Little stuff like that turns me on.

I'm a sci-fi reader, amateur astronomer, Paramedic and computer tech who is always reading SOMETHING. I just recently finished reading every single book of the DUNE series in chronological order from Brian Herbert's "The Butlerian Jihad" all the way through Frank Herbert's "Chapterhouse: Dune". I am well into "The Hunters of Dune" (great book, by the way!) to be followed by the final installment, , "The Sandworms of Dune" (well over a dozen books in all). I bought all of these books from used book store at around $4.50 each. But I tell ya, I wish I had them all on a reader, conveniently available and easy to read any time. Now perhaps I can. It's such a great saga that spans about 20,000 years of future history that bears re-reading (this is the second time I've read through all of Frank's original Dune books). A lot of my stuff is also PDF, which includes astronomy texts, emergency medicine references and computer technology stuff. This is what I got the reader for. Sure, I have a small HP Tablet PC laptop which is excellent for reading anything, but JUST to READ something...and not having to fire up the whole machine, this is the kind of device I need. And I read a lot.

More review later! G'nite!

[mtnmedic]

Oh yeah...late note: Almost forgot about the SD card...a KINGSTON 2GB, which is a good brand. I put that in the reader, turned it on (took several seconds to recognise and read the card) and it shows me nothing in "Recent Files" and 203 files in "Fictionwise.com" (these are in addition to what I mentioned earlier from the built-in memory).

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I was in my local Fry's store today. The EZ Reader was $259, up $10 from the sale price of $249 -- sale ended 25 June. The clerk looked through all his materials and could find no evidence of a sale. Then he went to the web site and the reader was priced $249, shipping unavailable, but they would hold one in the store for pickup. The only place there was any evidence of a $30 rebate was on a web page indicating that the regular price was $299, $269 aftre $30 rebate.

So, I didn't buy one.

Elsi, did you see jetBook in Fry's store? They may have some sale on it too.

[JSWolf]

RobertB, what good is having the EZ Reader on sale in a store where a lot of people do not live close enough to go to and they won't ship? This just puts us off the EZ Reader completely. Why not get the EZ Reader into a shop in the US that will ship? This is one reason why I cannot and will not recommend the EZ Reader even if the EZ Reader would be the best choice for someone. Fry's is doing you a huge disservice.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

RobertB, what good is having the EZ Reader on sale in a store where a lot of people do not live close enough to go to and they won't ship? This just puts us off the EZ Reader completely. Why not get the EZ Reader into a shop in the US that will ship? This is one reason why I cannot and will not recommend the EZ Reader even if the E| Reader would be the best choice for someone. Fry's is doing you a huge disservice.

I agree!! If they shipped free and the price was $20 less, I'd have bought one as a backup spare. I'm not very happy with Fry's.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Kris777

Elsi, did you see jetBook in Fry's store? They may have some sale on it too.

I did see the jetBook at $199. I hadn't done my research on it, and that wasn't a special price, so I decided not to buy anything.

And, I spent 25 minutes playing with various netbooks. Leaning toward the Acer Aspire One at $359 with 10-inch screen or a newer Acer at $399 with an 11-inch screen. I couldn't make a decision and nothing was on sale, so I decided to decide later!

Acer Aspire One with 10-inch screen:
* Atom N270 processor
* 1 Gig memory
* 160 G hard drive
* six-cell battery
* Windows XP Home Edition

Acer Aspire (whatever) with 11-inch screen:
* Atom Z520 processor
* 2 Gig memory
* 250 G hard drive
* three-cell battery
* Windows Vista Home Basic

I liked the larger screen in a netbook that was barely any larger than the other one -- but it was abysmally slow, which may be due to the Vista OS load it came with. I would replace the operating system, but the three-cell battery is also a concern.

So, I'm still thinking about which netbook I want to get.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by slayda

I agree!! If they shipped free and the price was $20 less, I'd have bought one as a backup spare. I'm not very happy with Fry's.

It's not that I'm unhappy with Fry's. I'm unhappy that I was led to believe that the price was going to be better than it was.

[Wetdogeared]

I'm getting this message while trying to log into frys.com

Oops! This link appears to be broken.

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I did see the jetBook at $199. I hadn't done my research on it, and that wasn't a special price, so I decided not to buy anything.

And, I spent 25 minutes playing with various netbooks. Leaning toward the Acer Aspire One at $359 with 10-inch screen or a newer Acer at $399 with an 11-inch screen. I couldn't make a decision and nothing was on sale, so I decided to decide later!

Acer Aspire One with 10-inch screen:
* Atom N270 processor
* 1 Gig memory
* 160 G hard drive
* six-cell battery
* Windows XP Home Edition

Acer Aspire (whatever) with 11-inch screen:
* Atom Z520 processor
* 2 Gig memory
* 250 G hard drive
* three-cell battery
* Windows Vista Home Basic

I liked the larger screen in a netbook that was barely any larger than the other one -- but it was abysmally slow, which may be due to the Vista OS load it came with. I would replace the operating system, but the three-cell battery is also a concern.

So, I'm still thinking about which netbook I want to get.

Yes, I don't like vista too. I have netbook Samsung NC10-14GW loaded with Win XP and I have no any complaints. I like bettery life (about 7 hours), big keyboard and good weight
(2.8 lbs).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I45T9O/

10.2" Wide, 1024 x 600 WSVGA , 220 nits
Intel Atom Processor N270, 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz Front Side Bus, 512 KB Level 2 Cache
160 GB, 2.5" HD, 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz
Intel® 945GSE shared, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, 10/100 BaseTX LAN
6-Cell Lithium Ion, Genuine Microsoft XP® Home with Service Pack 3, 1.3 Mega Pixel webcam, Kensington Key Lock, 1 year standard parts and labor, 2.8 lbs


I don't use it to read ebooks but use it pretty often for web browsing sitting on my sofa .
As for jetBook I'm pretty sure that NEWEGG will have it for $169.95 (they already offered this price 2 times) and it looks like a good deal
because they don't charge taxes and offer free shipping (2-3 days shipping by UPS or FEDEX).

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Elsi

I was in my local Fry's store today. The EZ Reader was $259, up $10 from the sale price of $249 -- sale ended 25 June. The clerk looked through all his materials and could find no evidence of a sale. Then he went to the web site and the reader was priced $249, shipping unavailable, but they would hold one in the store for pickup. The only place there was any evidence of a $30 rebate was on a web page indicating that the regular price was $299, $269 aftre $30 rebate.

So, I didn't buy one.

Dear Elsi:

You made a good decision. I could NOT find an ad in the paper for the EZ Reader any of the three days. I did find it at $239 on frys.com. It was the biggest mess I have ever seen and I am trying to get to the bottom of it.

Let me see if I can do something to make it up to everyone. Right now I need to talk with FRY's.

[Robertb]

Dear ALL:

Profound apologies for the complete mess at FRY's Electronics. I will get to the bottom of FRY's blunderous mess!! What a complete disaster!! I apolgize so much for a complete mess from our retail partner!!

[mtnmedic]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear ALL:

Profound apologies for the complete mess at FRY's Electronics. I will get to the bottom of FRY's blunderous mess!! What a complete disaster!! I apolgize so much for a complete mess from our retail partner!!

No apologies necessary from you. We appreciate the heads-up. If anyone can attribute this mess to Fry's, it's me (see posts #42, #44 and #49). Kind of went to hades and back to get the thing!