Fnac Book in USA

[liveSimple]

I live in the U.S. and don't know very much French, but I'm interested in the Fnac Book for the following reasons:

1. EPub (I don't like the idea of having to strip DRM to us library books)
2. Text to speech (I'm in the car one hour a day and like the idea of listening on the road)
3. Touchscreen
4. newer or newest eInk screen (16 shades)

These are my questions:

1. If you have this device or have used it, did you like it?
2. In there English language support for the device menus?
3. Does text to speech have English language?

I'd also be open to hearing suggestions for other devices that satisfy my 4 requirements.

Thanks (Merci)

[Dulin's Books]

I have not used it but I do know a bit about it having talked with the Sagem Wireless during the development. I was going to try to import it but they wanted to stay out of this market.

It's not Eink but SiPix which is slightly different tech, grayer back ground but has the capacitive layer built onto the display at factory. Overall its a very nice device, well made and quite quick.

The Fnac I believe only comes in 3g but the version sold under the OYO brand comes in wifi only version

http://www.ebouquin.fr/2010/11/01/le...-chapitre-com/

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...der-with-wifi-
touchscreen-139e/

http://www.thalia.at/shop/ama_homest...x=0&submit.y=0

there may be english menus in the german version but I cant find anything about menu choice on the FNAC version

[Zetmolm]

If you want 'newer or newest EInk screen' I assume that what you want is the best available contrast. And then the FNAC / Oyo reader with Sipix screen is not a good choice. Many buyers complain that the background is far too dark. See for instance the German forum here on Mobileread (if you can read it). Any 'real' E Ink screen is a lot better.

The Oyo as sold in The Netherlands has menus in Dutch and English. But it does not seem to have text-to-speech.

In my opinion, Text-to-Speech on an e-reader makes sense only if you want to read along with what you hear. Otherwise, why not just use an mp3 player (and buy audiobooks)? Especially when listening to e-books while driving, any cheap mp3 player will do. For listening to spoken word with all the traffic noise around you, you don't need a high quality player.

Other suggestions: Onyx Boox 60 / Bebook Neo and Pocketbook PRS-603 meet your requirements.

[ProfCrash]

I was going to say that Pocketbook has a model with text to speech and people seem to like their experiences with Pocketbook.

ETA: I fully understand some peoples desire for TTS on an e-reader. There are many books that do not have an audiobook version. If you drive to work and you want to losten to a book and there is no audiobook then TTS is a good option. I know some folks really don't like it but many do.

TTS is also handy because it tends to change the page automatically as it reads. This works nicely at the gym. People have posted about using TTS with the volume turned down so that they can more safely use treadmills, ellipticals, bikes and the like because they don't have to change the page manually.

[Papi]

I had the opportunity to try the Fnac Book a few weeks ago, and I was not impressed. I don't like the Sipix screen, I can't imagine someone would prefer a Sipix screen over an Eink screen (but maybe there are such persons), I guess they chose Sipix because of costs or availability. Then the big buttons looked cheap, one being slightly awkward (it was a demo device though). Last, the software was slow, not always indicating if it was working or not (which I hate because you don't know if you "missed" the button or not). Now it seems to me there was a first batch of faulty devices or firmware, maybe it was one of those.

[Yolina]

My mum lives in France and was trying out ereaders - she has zero knowledge about them - and said that the FNAC book was pretty horrible, she didn't like anything about it. It apparently wasn't nice to hold, the screen wasn't particularly good and it was very slow...