Aluratek Libre... confused about SD card

[char10]

That's too bad.I just stumbled on the sale while doing a search on aluratek libres.I wanted to look at it before I bought it ,but sears doesn't carry them in the store.

[jlg432]

I live in Canada. I picked up my Aluratek on Saturday June 12 at Futureshop.

The box clearly shows "Included 2 gb SD card with 100 eBooks"

I did receive the SD card in a card holder within the box (Not in the reader) where the cables were located. The books were also Factory loaded into internal memory and yes it only showed 20 megs left. Once I confirmed that the books were on the card I deleted the installed books from the unit's Internal memory leaving me with 90.8 megs free.

This unit came with software V.17 and Patch V17.

The earlier unit that I purchased and returned in late Jan 2010 had 110 megs free memory - no books installed internally and also had the 2 gig SD card w/100 free classic eBooks.

It looks like the higher firmware takes up more space.

I now own a jetBook by Ectaco and an Aluratek Libre Pro.

I bought the Aluratek because IMO it has the best PDF handling in a 5" screen ereader. The main draw backs would be with tables and complicated diagrams. As for PDF text access within the documents - no problem.
If you would like to see what I mean just drop me an email and I will send you some screen shots.

The Aluratek differs from the JB in the following ways.

** It supports ADE ePub DRM which is used by several ebook retailers that sell ebooks via the Internet.

** The ADE ePub DRM also allows you to access public library ebooks online through "Overdrive" software or something similar. Check with your local library.

It has a serif font available which I do find pleasanter on the eyes for me.

It supports graphics in ePub format and therefore supports magnification and word wrap (Text Flow) instead of the 6 step font sizes. It supports bold titles in extreme size differences compared to the text of the body. I believe this is why the page images are zoomed as appose to font increments.

It does a better job with PDF docs because it supports "text flow on/off" which give the reader the ability to focus on the text for the reading part.
To view tables you still have to turn "text flow" off and zoom into the table and pan the screen to get a readable size (depending on the size of the table).

I found that Text Flow -On satisfied almost 95 % of my PDF document readings.

On the flip side:

jetBook

Has a built in dictionary that is good for basic English and does support a cross translation for 4 languages - Spanish, German, Polish and Russian.

The dictionary is basic and I found that most words that I needed help with were not in the database. I would have preferred a choice of language support and a stronger dictionary database. As this company majors in Language translation tools I believe that this unit will do well in that niche.
It does support various languages along with the required character sets if that is what you need.

I did like the T9 Predictive text entry facility which is not included in the Aluratek.

This unit does not support any DRM of any sort at this time. There is a promise to add DRM support for B&N format in the future but this has yet to materialize. The jetBook-lite currently supports DRM for B&N.

Note: ADE ePub DRM can be removed from purchased books making these purchases accessable on the jetBook.

In the jetBook ePub files are treated as text files in as much as you can select one of the 6 font sizes unlike ePub on the Aluratek. There is no embedded image support other than the book cover - at least that is what I have experienced. The same ePub file displayed through the Aluratek shows bold (Super sized) titles and embedded images when they exist.

Common features

Both units support some form of ePub, HTML, RTF, FB2, Mobi, PRC, TXT

Both units have content search - if you want to jump to a chapter just search on the number or the word "Chapter" then keep hitting the right arrow for the next - until you reach your goal.

===== Revised June 15-2010 =======
Aluratek Content search doesn't work within PDF or ePub doc's - probably because they are graphical in nature. There is no Font control - you zoom in/out to resize.

JetBook Content search doesn't work within PDF for the same reason as above. It does work with ePub but then again the ePub is converted to Text by the looks of it.
The same applies to the Dictionary - it doesn't work within PDF.

Both support content search within TXT, RTF, FB2, PRC, Mobi and HTM/HTML.
===========================

** Both support screen rotation (Portrait, Landscape)

** Both have power management as well as auto page advance if you want.

** Both support picture slide show as well as an MP3 player.

** The MP3 player can be used for background music while reading or you can even use it for mp3 format audio books.

Both units have identical hardware and claim to use SDHC cards up to 16 gb and may be even 32 gb. I currently use a 4 gig micro SDHC in an SD adapter.

Both units appear as external media when connected via a USB2 cable to a PC. This allows you total flexibility in organizing your ebooks as long as you do not exceed 3 levels of folders. (the units tend to slow down when accessing ebooks located in folder that exceed that limit).

Both units have the same hardware controls which I really like. Same display quality etc.

Both units allow file management within the unit. Create a folder, delete folders-files, copy folders/files. Rename as well.

Both units support "recently read list" as well as multiple bookmarks with in a book. (even though the bookmark data is different between them they work the same way).

Both support the shortcut access to a command or folder/file via the corresponding number tabs on the side of the unit.

I don't mind the lack of wifi or 3G access. Using my netbook I like capturing Internet articles that interest me and group them into MS Word and save the new Doc as HTML for reading later on my e-reader at a convenient time.


John

[jlg432]

Aluratek is carried by Furtureshop and Best Buy in Canada. They usually have a demo but you may have to bring your own sd card with data as the supplied sd card is usually still in the box. I added a book of each format to the internal memory of the demo unit at our local Futureshop as it did not have any files on board. How can you get a feel for it without something to look at.

John

[icedtea]

Originally Posted by jlg432

whole post

Wow, thanks so much - that was very informative. I've been leaning towards the Libre Pro but was hoping for a good sale price because I'm on a budget (now if only it would go as low as it has in the States). But airmiles has a 10x bonus this week, so I might cave in for that...

[MLXXXp]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87036

[wud_pecker]

Does anyone know how to remove the 100 preloaded books from the Aluratek Libre Pro? I've read it can be tricky and I don't want to just start deleting the files. Anyone hear anything?

[jlg432]

If you are talking about the 5" Aluratek Libre Pro (Transflective LCD screen) then yes it is very easy. You don't even have to delete the books. Just connect the device via a USB cable to your PC. You should then see two external media drives pop up (providing you have an SD card inserted into the device). Using Windows explorer - just cut and paste them to a folder on your PC. With some of the Aluratek Libre Pro models the 100 free books came installed on the "Internal User memory". Moving them to your PC will free up that space. If they came on the supplied SD card then using any SD card reader/writer you can offload them to your PC. These free books are classic public domain books that can then be passed on to anyone els in your group that would like to read them. They take very little space on your harddrive.

You will also see some other folders in the "Internal memory". Just leave them alone. The Adobe folder is where the key is kpt for any ADE DRM ebooks you may have on your device.

You might also want to look at getting "Synctoy" form Microsoft. It is a free syncing program that allows you to mirror two folders. One on your PC and one on a device via the USB cable. I make updates to my PC folder and then sync the Libre afterwards. This way you always have a back-up of your books.



John

[Ken Maltby]

It's not a bad idea to backup the non-ebook files and folders to their own folder, as well. As mentioned,
it takes up hardly any space on a hard drive.

Just to set the record straight the Ectaco jetbook, which shares the same hardware, is using the same
Adobe Reader Mobile v9.1.1 as the libre, and handles .epub and .pdf exactly the same.

It is well worth it to get a USB 2 card reader for your PC, to work with your SD cards. The libre only
has the old USB 1.1 interface, and is much slower. SyncToy works very well with an SD card in a card
reader.

Luck;
ken

[wud_pecker]

Thank you John and Ken!!

[jlg432]

Just thought I would add that my jetBook and my Aluratek Libre Pro are still going strong and the battery life is still decent.

John