Iriver Story

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by melmike

I'm glad you are so pro-active and vocal here MacEachaidh as you help me keep informed!

Well, thanks for saying that, melmike. A couple of people have made it apparent they think I'm a pain in the arse. I can see why someone might think that, but it's not how I intend to come across. And it appears they're not actually using the features that aren't living up to iRiver's claims, so it's probably easy to criticise. If they put some energy into giving customer feedback to iRiver, rather than criticising me, we might have a better overall outcome.

Meantime, I'm trying to get info from iRiver about whether it's going to release the updated firmware for general use. I haven't had a reply from them so far. There's no mention of the new release on the iRiver blog (http://iriverstory.blogspot.com), which seems to be putting its efforts into getting people to follow it on Twitter, but to my mind doesn't seem to be making best use of its opportunities. But I'm not about to give up.

Sorry to hear your Story didn't cope as well as you'd hoped at the beach, melmike. I know you were looking forward to it. I haven't had a problem with the display to that degree, but then I haven't taken it anywhere with sunlight so glaring as an Aussie beach.

[KOKANYA]

Hi from South Africa
I won an iRiver Story in a competition this week and it was delivered yesterday. As a senior citizen I'm nervous about the product, after reading all the problems above that everybody around the world seems to be experiencing in general. Thank you to everybody out there who takes the time and trouble to help others sort out their problems! Maybe my turn will come soon for help! Haven't connected thr Story yet to my laptop via the USB port. Question - will the Story work OK on my laptop with its outdated OS ie Windows XP 2002 V3? Thanks for the input! Will only try to connect after receiving your good advice ...

[MacEachaidh]

HI Kokanya, and welcome to the forums! Congratulations on your win! ;-)

Don't be put off by the posts of problems here. It's probably worth remembering that people often only post here when they encounter problems, so it's not a fair measure of how many people are using the Story without encountering any problems at all.

As far as connecting the Story to your PC, you have the same kind of setup as I have -- a PC running Windows XP with service pack 3 -- and I've never had any problems in connecting. If I can make one suggestion, which doesn't seem to be mentioned in the user's manual: make sure both your computer and your Story are switched on and fully booted up before you plug the USB cable into the Story. It seems to be more reliable in getting the PC to recognise the Story has been plugged in.

If you have any troubles, don't hesitate to post here. Lots of friendly, helpful folk here!

All best wishes, and happy reading.

[greenapple]

Hi, is anyone still hopeful that there will be a new firmware for the original iRiver Story?

I still compulsively check the firmware page @ the iriver website. There's a new release for 'Cover Story'. I suspect the old Story is no longer worked on.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by greenapple

I suspect the old Story is no longer worked on.

Now that the Cover Story is out, and the original hardware of the Story itself has been made obsolete by a newer model, I expect you're right.

iRiver as a company has a habit of changing its product line often (I've discovered since buying both a Story and a B30 mp3 player from iRiver), and simply abandoning owners of previous models with no further updates or patches of existing firmware. It's recently started a new partnership with LG, and is reportedly developing a whole new line of both ereaders and mp3 players, so I anticipate none of the current models of the Story will get any further development.

When my Story dies (which I expect will be relatively soon, even though it's only about six months old, as the battery life has just begun to get noticeably shorter on a weekly basis), I'm planning to look to a different brand for its replacement.

[Tudorano]

Hello everybody !

I am also an owner of an iRiver Story since a month ago. And I am glad I found you here.
I got the decision of buying the Story relatively quick even it was a real pleasure to spend a month of comparing, thinking and surfing web at nights.
My criteria is very simple: I really need a full physical QWERTY keyboard because for me is a must to take notes while reading. And a virtual digital keyboard is obviously not the same thing.
And the only model to fulfil my conditions is the iRiver Story. (I excluded from the start promo-ereaders like Kindle and Nook with weird formats which are made on the promotional purpose of selling the huge amount of e-books owned by the producers. I wanted a real ereader, with all the formats, to fully work with the computer).
After one month I think it's maybe the best investment I did in my life. It really changed my life. It works great!
Beside the Note Taker (Memo) it has a diary (very useful for my busy schedule) and a Voice Recorder (useful for my podcasts and voice messages on my blogs).
In my country this ereader it's a lot of money for an average income so for me it is a long time investment. I have 2 years warranty and even the battery life will shorten like MacEachaidh device I will search for a replacement with a new battery, maybe not a chinese one, I will search for a top-brand battery producer.

I already downloaded over 1000 titles from the Internet and from friends for free, without paying a dime.

I also started a long-term campaign of scanning my "paper" book library (I have over 3000 titles of all categories in my home library) and I'll put all of them on my blog for free for the masses.

Thats for the beginning, thank you !

[Geppetto]

[QUOTE=Tudorano;1195036]Hello everybody !
I already downloaded over 1000 titles from the Internet and from friends for free, without paying a dime.
I also started a long-term campaign of scanning my "paper" book library (I have over 3000 titles of all categories in my home library) and I'll put all of them on my blog for free for the masses.
QUOTE]

If I were a Romanian publisher I'd immediately denounce you.

[greenapple]

I've tried out the new Kindle (not mine), and it's really hard to go back to Story. Story now feels like a brick in the hand. And with only 3 zoom levels, lousy contrast, I hope it dies soon so that I can justify the purchase of the way cool Kindle 3. Either that, or the excellent Sony PRS650.

[MacEachaidh]

Greenapple, I can feel myself going the same way. BUT ...

The dilemma for me is that I don't want to buy into Amazon's self-serving marketing gimmick, even if it is a nice bit of kit. I'm disappointed that it doesn't support ePub, and presumably never will. I'm showing my ignorance, but can it even play non-DRM files? I'd be grateful if you'd let me know.

I'm not sure if the Sony interests me. It's probably heretical to a lot of people, but I'm not a fan of Sony generally, and I don't think I want a touchscreen. On the ones I've seen the text is too easily obscured by either reflections or fingerprints - or both, though the ability to enable and use hyperlinks (on ToCs and Indices, for instance) does sound appealing.

I've played with an iPad and that was all sorts of cool, but it's insane to buy one just to read books, as one of my friends has. And while the screen was pretty at first, it was far worse than the Sonys for both glare and reflections/fingerprints.

It seems to me the technology still has a fair way to go.

[greenapple]

Kindle's advantage is also its biggest flaw - it only reads kindle format when it comes to DRMed materials. Amazon make it easy for Kindle users to buy from its stores, but Kindle doesn't support DRMed ebooks from any other sources. But.. still, there are plenty of non-DRMed ebooks out there, and they can be easily converted to the mobi format.

Sony's ebook reader has come a long way. Sony has made a lot of improvement to reduce screen glare and reflection for PRS650. Though I haven't got a chance to use one yet, from the reviews I've read, it's a winner. It does read standard DRMed ebooks (made with Adobe Digital Edition) from various vendors, if I'm not mistaken.

One thing though... I live in Singapore. I can't buy Kindle or Kindle ebooks from where I live. It's a country that Amazon will not sell their ebook products. Same with Sony. They don't sell their ebook readers here either. I feel I'm living in a backward country where nobody reads. I probably need to buy one from unofficial, unauthorised sellers.

[Tudorano]

Dear Geppetto,

I downloaded just non-DRM and free-download books until now. Concerning the project of “digitalization” my paperbacks this is a huge project, I think will take a few years but I hope to build a free-download huge library blog available to anyone.
Why am I doing this? I assume it’s because a natural reaction to the corporate and “marketing gimmicks” as MacEachaidh would say.

Now….about denounciation.
I live in a country with a communist background. For you novels like “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury or “1984” by George Orwell are fiction but for me it was real life.
It was a life of denounciation. Everything you did, every word you talked was registered by someone. You were watched all the time, even in your own home. It could be anyone: a neighbor, a job-mate, your best friend and even someone in your family.
The sad “record” was established in Russia in the ‘50s where a schoolboy of 10 denounced his parents. It was declared “national hero”.

So Geppetto, you really amuse me. You are welcome to denounce me anytime. Why do you have to be a Romanian publisher to do it? Maybe you will be declared the “international DRM hero”.

Happily the times drastically change and soon the “denounciators” will disappear.
But for the moment it is your time !

So…..Enjoy the moment !

[Tudorano]

About the Kindle dilemma,

Amazon is hard to neglect and actually became what the name says. It is hard not to find a certain book on Amazon. I dont know how their system works but they really have everything you want and even everything you dont want.
Yesterday I searched for an author that Barnes & Noble didnt hear of....and on Amazon it was the entire collection of his books, paperback, hardcover and digital.
I even found "genuine leather case cover sleeve for iRiver Story" on Amazon.

I think the solution is 2 ereaders. An "universal" one with all formats and ....a Kindle strictly for Amazon downloads.

[Geppetto]

Originally Posted by Tudorano

Dear Geppetto,
Now….about denounciation.
I live in a country with a communist background. For you novels like “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury or “1984” by George Orwell are fiction but for me it was real life.
It was a life of denounciation. Everything you did, every word you talked was registered by someone. You were watched all the time, even in your own home. It could be anyone: a neighbor, a job-mate, your best friend and even someone in your family.
The sad “record” was established in Russia in the ‘50s where a schoolboy of 10 denounced his parents. It was declared “national hero”.

So Geppetto, you really amuse me. You are welcome to denounce me anytime. Why do you have to be a Romanian publisher to do it? Maybe you will be declared the “international DRM hero”.

I am NOT a DRM enthusiast: ebooks I AM publishing are DRM-free. Nonetheless I'd like to think that people buy them, you know.

I never knew that European Union copyright laws are a "totalitarian" stuff. I never knew that pirating is an act of freedom, too.

And let me ask you one question:

How old are you?

I was twenty when the Berlin Wall went down. I live in a Western Europe country where in the 20th Century millions of people were proud of calling themselves communists and socialists, where millions of people voted the Communist Party and the Socialist Party on democratic elections, where millions of workers joined Marxist trade unions and parties: I do come from a working class family and I believe (firmly believe!) that all of my family's welfare and all of my country's social welfare has been obtained by Left winged (communists and socialists) working class organizations' struggles.

Then ask your older countrymen if they are wealthier now than before...

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Tudorano

It is hard not to find a certain book on Amazon. I dont know how their system works but they really have everything you want and even everything you dont want.

Ahh, but their website identifies where in the world you are connecting from, and you'll find that not all those books will be available to you if you're outside the US. If you try to buy them, a message will come up at the checkout to tell you they can't be sold to someone in your region.

It's called "geographic restrictions", and depends on the distribution deal Amazon has with the publisher who holds rights to those books in your country or your region of Europe.

Originally Posted by Tudorano

I even found "genuine leather case cover sleeve for iRiver Story" on Amazon.

Things aren't always what they're advertised as. Most of the covers that you'll find on the Internet being sold for the iRiver Story are actually for a Kindle 2, which is almost exactly the same dimensions. Someone's spotted that the Story also fits in them, and so is marketing them as iRiver Story cases (especially now that the Kindle 2 has been superseded and Amazon is no longer selling it -- they've got to get rid of that stock somehow!!), but you'll find the fit isn't quite right. And if it's a cover that has openings for the connection ports and the page turn buttons included in the design, you'll find they're in the wrong place for the Story, because the ports and buttons are in different places on the Kindle 2.

Buyer beware!

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Tudorano

Happily the times drastically change and soon the “denounciators” will disappear.

Tudorano, I think you've completely missed Geppetto's point.

What you're talking about doing -- scanning all your books and distributing the electronic copies -- is breach of copyright and anywhere in the world would be considered theft. What's happened in the past in your country has absolutely nothing to do with it; you're still talking about stealing things that belong to someone else.