Sorry Astak, I give up.

[SaraD]

As theducks said, Xanthe summarizes the issue very well. I did this as a new thread to make it clear to Astak's Powers That Be that they lost a sale that probably would have been theirs. Maybe I would still have bought the Sony, but I like the Jinke devices quite a lot and really wanted the new Astak device as a choice, but it wan't available when I was finally ready to buy and 6" devices had dropped to a comfortable price point for me. Oh well.

[JSWolf]

There is another issue, professionalism. The Astak website is not professional. It's crowded, buy, and not easy to use. It uses flash for the navigation (menus) part of the site. It it not all that nice to navigate. I have mention this many times and yet Astak completely doesn't care that their website looks awful. Does Astak realize that the website itself is most likely driving away customers? This is in addition to having no product to sell.

I just wonder how long it will take for Astak to go under.

[hidari]

Have to agree with most. Astak blew it.... however...love my Pocket PP...Great device...not perfect...but one of the best I have personally used.

Question: it seems you can still buy Jinke products from their website.... So I assume that Jinke is still in business... so what is the Deal? why are all sellers out side the People's republic not selling Jinke devices?

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Astak website is not professional. It's crowded, buy, and not easy to use. It uses flash for the navigation (menus) part of the site. It it not all that nice to navigate. I have mention this many times and yet Astak completely doesn't care that their website looks awful. Does Astak realize that the website itself is most likely driving away customers? This is in addition to having no product to sell.

I just wonder how long it will take for Astak to go under.

JS Wolf,

Unfortunately, I do not work in the site design department of Astak. If you had some suggestions for the EZ Read division, I could definitely make some changes as per your comments. Have you taken a look at www.theezreader.com? You might prefer browsing for our devices there.

As far as Astak "going under", I believe you may be referring to our eBook reader division. We are currently handling legal and technical issues which we are not permitted to discuss on a public forum. I can assure you, as I have assured many other forum goers, that the Astak is not going under. Especially not our eBook division.

I'm sure that you and the rest of the forumers know that our eBook division is only an incredibly small portion of a much larger hardware company with security camera systems and other devices.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by hidari

Question: it seems you can still buy Jinke products from their website.... So I assume that Jinke is still in business... so what is the Deal? why are all sellers out side the People's republic not selling Jinke devices?

As many of you know, I am legally bound to say nothing about the current relationship with Jinke, their products, their software, and etc. I also don't want to promise any date as to when our devices will be back on the market. If I say "soon", I know you will laugh, but I'm just going to have to say it. Soon!

I'm sure many of you forumers have done enough browsing to see where Jinke's products are and aren't being sold. We are definitely not the only company affected by these recent changes. Everyone is being hurt by this, of course, especially us. You only have to look at a page or two of comments on the forum to see that.

[citac]

Originally Posted by jenifer.ezread

JS Wolf,

Unfortunately, I do not work in the site design department of Astak. If you had some suggestions for the EZ Read division, I could definitely make some changes as per your comments. Have you taken a look at www.theezreader.com? You might prefer browsing for our devices there.

As far as Astak "going under", I believe you may be referring to our eBook reader division. We are currently handling legal and technical issues which we are not permitted to discuss on a public forum. I can assure you, as I have assured many other forum goers, that the Astak is not going under. Especially not our eBook division.

I'm sure that you and the rest of the forumers know that our eBook division is only an incredibly small portion of a much larger hardware company with security camera systems and other devices.

Jennifer, www.theezreader.com is awful. When I try to click on the Watch video link (which has, btw, been removed by the user), the Support menu pops up, and when I click on the Highlights, the bottom lines of the text and the Package contents box are not visible because of the big, boxed links at the bottom of the page. In order to access the video link, you have to tab over to it. It seems like the designers totally disregarded any display size below 1680 (mine is at 1280x768, but I often resize to 1024x768 and alt+tab between my browser and whatever it is I'm working on at that moment). Plus, when you click on the Buy link, the message still says that the devices are out of stock.

And I can't even begin to explain how resentful I am that your device is no longer available to international customers. I bought it at a higher price, paid €80 in taxes on top of that price, and was thinking about saving up some money to buy another one of your devices if this one ever gave out, only to find out that it was no longer to be sold internationally. And not only that, I recall a comment that it never was available in the first place. Where did I get mine from then, I wonder? And I live in Europe.

[jenifer.ezread]

Originally Posted by citac

Jennifer, www.theezreader.com is awful.

And I can't even begin to explain how resentful I am that your device is no longer available to international customers. And I live in Europe.

Citac,

I also am not the www.theezreader.com team, but I will pass on your comments about screen resolution. Hopefully we can find the designer in charge of that to make changes.

I just spoke with a coworker about selling devices to our international customers. When the devices are back in stock, we do ship and sell internationally. When they are available here to US customers, they will be available to everyone globally.

And side note, Jenifer not Jennifer.

[Blossom]

It's a little too late for me. I have my Kindle 3 now and after comparing the price and difference in screens. I just can't go back a regular 6" reader. I still have my Pocket Pro and will always be fond of it as it was my first ereader but the difference in Pearl and the old screen is not something I can revert back to now I have personally seen the difference. I will be buying a Sony Pocket Reader with Pearl for Library books later down the line and use my Kindle for everything else.

[citac]

Originally Posted by jenifer.ezread

Citac,

I also am not the www.theezreader.com team, but I will pass on your comments about screen resolution. Hopefully we can find the designer in charge of that to make changes.

I just spoke with a coworker about selling devices to our international customers. When the devices are back in stock, we do ship and sell internationally. When they are available here to US customers, they will be available to everyone globally.

And side note, Jenifer not Jennifer.

I will pass on your comments about screen resolution

That would be great, as there's a lot more variety out there than what the website seems to be designed for (netbooks, for example, and various sized laptops).

And sorry about the name - I'm so used to "Jennifer" that I automatically tap n twice! My own name gets misspelled often, so I can relate. I'll pay more attention next time.

I do wish you all the best, it's just frustrating to feel as if yet another door has been slammed shut in front of your face. I can't understand why someone would turn their back to extra profit coming from countries all over the world.

[rock]

I did too, as well, and just bought a Nook. I had battery problems, and although Robert was helpful, after taking almost 3 weeks to get an return number because the tech was away for a week, and then seeing people were still having problems after getting their return ones back I decided to not send it back, and just eat my losses on it. I used it a lot for the few months I had my PP working, and read a lot of books, but really I just gave up.

[aceflor]

This has to be a joke.... how long has this "comedia dell'arte" already been going on now ?
"When the devices are back in stock, we do ship and sell internationally."
That's a good one ! When pigs will fly........

Do not take the members of this forum for idiots.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jenifer.ezread

JS Wolf,

Unfortunately, I do not work in the site design department of Astak. If you had some suggestions for the EZ Read division, I could definitely make some changes as per your comments. Have you taken a look at www.theezreader.com? You might prefer browsing for our devices there.

http://www.theezreader.com/ is written in flash. It's not going to be easy to fix the size of it so it fits nicely on a 1024x600 sized screen.

[jemyers77]

[QUOTE=Blossom;1212207]Library ebooks are great! My library start carrying them a few months ago and when I discover that I was in heaven! lol

I just authorized my SD Card and drap and drop on them on there.


I found your post long after you wrote it. I hope this gets to you. I wonder how you were able to authorize your reader to accept library ebooks. I have a 6" EZ Reader (not the plus). I also have authorized my computer for ADE When I open ADE with the reader connected, ADE sees the internal memory and the SD card, as well as the books on both. But no window opens for me to authorize the device to accept books from my library. My library ebook system (Overdrive) uses Adobe DRM. I can check out an e-book and read it on my PC with ADE, and can drag and drop the book to the reader, but can't open the book on the reader. I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if my reader just isn't compatible with books from my library. Would appreciate any help you or someone else can give me. Thanks.

[Blossom]

I can't remember exactly... I do know I have ADE was open then I put my SD Card in my SD Reader and either a window pop up asking to authorize it or it showed up as a device in the ADE bookshelf list and I clicked on it then it ask me to authorized. Either way when you go to drop a book from ADE to the device in the ADE list it should ask to authorize it.

I never plugged my reader into the PC though it works fine for me with just my SD card authorized. I know some here had to do both though to get theirs to work but for me I just did my SD Card.

[jenifer.ezread]

[QUOTE=jemyers77;1231044]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I found your post long after you wrote it. I hope this gets to you. I wonder how you were able to authorize your reader to accept library ebooks. I have a 6" EZ Reader (not the plus). I also have authorized my computer for ADE When I open ADE with the reader connected, ADE sees the internal memory and the SD card, as well as the books on both. But no window opens for me to authorize the device to accept books from my library. My library ebook system (Overdrive) uses Adobe DRM. I can check out an e-book and read it on my PC with ADE, and can drag and drop the book to the reader, but can't open the book on the reader. I don't know if I am doing something wrong or if my reader just isn't compatible with books from my library. Would appreciate any help you or someone else can give me. Thanks.

Jemyers77,

If you are still having trouble, one of our techies can help your out with authorization, or even un-authorizing so you can re-authorize correctly. My mother-in-law had a very similar problem, and I had no idea how to help her. You could always email support@astak.com and cc to me, jenifera@ezread.com. But in this case, I actually recommend calling in because it goes so fast!

Our number is 408-452-8788, open 9-6 PST. We're closed for Thanksgiving and on Friday, though!