Got myself the gift basket!

dragoncat · 12-06-2009, 10:06 PM

After several months of research and actual hands on (at least on the sonys!), I decided to go with the pocket pro as my first ereader! The expandable memory, more open formats, user replacable battery, the food bank donation and even the color choice were the biggest factors in my decision. Really wanted a 6 inch screen, but I'm finding I'm quite happy with the 5 inch one instead! The extra goodies in the basket were also very nice! My hubby loves Starbucks coffee.

So far very happy with the reader overall. Very easy to use. My 9 year old is now begging for one of her own. Unfortunately, most of the books she's reading right now haven't been converted to ebooks. Haven't seen any Magic Treehouse, Junie B. or Goosebumps ebooks around yet.

Got a question for you guys, I was wondering if there was any way to read the free books I downloaded from the Sony store on the pocket pro? I'm not the most tech savy person and couldn't get them to load on my sd card, let alone my new reader. Not sure what I was doing wrong. The other books I picked up off feedbooks transfered just fine. Looking forward to reading some old classics again and few I never had time for!

I have a question for Robert. Was there was a mix up on the sd cards? My card has the halloween stories on it, not the Christmas ones! Not a big deal, just a surprise when I put the card in the reader.

Very happy Astak decided to go with the gift basket for the holidays! Thanks

LoganK · 12-07-2009, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragoncat

Got a question for you guys, I was wondering if there was any way to read the free books I downloaded from the Sony store on the pocket pro?

So far there is not. It may be possible to re-download the books in Adobe Digital Editions format when the Sony store switches, though.

dragoncat · 12-07-2009, 07:29 AM

Thanks Logan! Glad to know it wasn't just me doing something wrong. I'll keep an eye on the Sony store to see when they switch over.

user_none · 12-07-2009, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoganK

So far there is not. It may be possible to re-download the books in Adobe Digital Editions format when the Sony store switches, though.

The free books offered by Google on the Sony Store (under unearth a classic) are in EPUB and PDF. If you can find where the Sony Store saves the books on your computer and if they are .epud or .pdf you can just copy and pate them onto your SD card or reader. This will only work with the free books.

I was also under the impression that the Sony Store was already selling ADE EPUB files and has been for some time.

French · 12-07-2009, 02:32 PM

I also just received the gift basket and thought it was a nice touch (and I also got the Halloween stories instead of Christmas ones).

I noticed last night that the clip-on light that came with the basket appears to be capable of using a power cord instead of batteries (but no power cord incuded). It's got stuff printed that looks "power" related and it definitely has an input.

ETA: I purchased a book through the Sony bookstore yesterday hoping to at least get an option of what format and I did not. And as it happened, it was the original Sony format, not ePub. I'm o.k. with this since I also understand I'll be able to redownload the book in ePub when the site is converted by year-end.

frozennorth · 12-08-2009, 02:23 AM

The sony store switches to epub on December 11th. I'm sure you'll be able to redownload your freebies in epub.

dragoncat · 12-08-2009, 07:45 AM

I got that email from Sony last night after wrapping gifts for our school's santa shop. Hoping that all my goodies I've picked up the last few months can be switched over to epub. Thanks for the update though. As tired as I was last night it would have been easy to miss.

Robertb · 12-08-2009, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragoncat

After several months of research and actual hands on (at least on the sonys!), I decided to go with the pocket pro as my first ereader! The expandable memory, more open formats, user replacable battery, the food bank donation and even the color choice were the biggest factors in my decision. Really wanted a 6 inch screen, but I'm finding I'm quite happy with the 5 inch one instead! The extra goodies in the basket were also very nice! My hubby loves Starbucks coffee.

So far very happy with the reader overall. Very easy to use. My 9 year old is now begging for one of her own. Unfortunately, most of the books she's reading right now haven't been converted to ebooks. Haven't seen any Magic Treehouse, Junie B. or Goosebumps ebooks around yet.

Got a question for you guys, I was wondering if there was any way to read the free books I downloaded from the Sony store on the pocket pro? I'm not the most tech savy person and couldn't get them to load on my sd card, let alone my new reader. Not sure what I was doing wrong. The other books I picked up off feedbooks transfered just fine. Looking forward to reading some old classics again and few I never had time for!

I have a question for Robert. Was there was a mix up on the sd cards? My card has the halloween stories on it, not the Christmas ones! Not a big deal, just a surprise when I put the card in the reader.

Very happy Astak decided to go with the gift basket for the holidays! Thanks

Dear dragoncat:

Thank you for purchasing the Gift Pack (www.astak.com/charity)!! You are doing some good by helping to feed the hungry!!

Please email (support@astak.com) and they can merrily and nicely exchange that Halloween card for the Christmas Classics!! That should be easy and your 9 year old will like that I am sure. Please check though. My tech tells me they loaded BOTH the Halloween and Christmas classics onto the card! You should have BOTH!

Regarding the Sony store, they used to have all of their eBooks in a format we did not have and it was exclusive. Now they are in the process of changing over ALL of their library to EPUB (which the Pocket PRO has ). So... you cannot buy from them yet but will soon be able to do so!!

In the meantime, Books On Board, Diesel, and Powells Books are ideal for EPUB content eBooks. There are a good 300 websites you can purchase eBooks from that will display fine on the Pocket PRO!

Thank you very much!! You have helped the hungry this Christmas and that is great!!

French · 12-08-2009, 07:52 PM

Thanks for the response Robertb. I'm not the OP but I just checked my card from my gift basket and I'm not seeing Chistmas Classics. That's o.k....would have been nice but not worth the trouble of the exchange.

dragoncat · 12-10-2009, 02:10 PM

Hi Robert,

Just checked my card and it has the 100 halloween stories and 300 other stories, no Christmas.

I'm fine with the card I got. Not worth the time and trouble to exchange it with you guys. Just thought you might like to know that my card didn't have the christmas stories on it. Some people tend to get grumpy about stuff like that, so I wanted to make sure that your people knew about it. Like I said no big deal. I can look up Christmas stories and download them if I want them. Thanks for taking the time to check into it!

Robertb · 12-11-2009, 04:57 PM

Dear ALL:

I do appreciate that people do not feel too badly that they got the Halloween Classics in the Gift Pack for Christmas! Thank you.

BUT... I am not so generous!! I am really furious over sloppiness! I have taken this to the General Manager. I really hate stupid and dumb mistakes... and this is about as stupid and dumb as it gets.

Nobody will lose their job over this... but I would like to see such sloppiness stopped and Astak place more Quality Assurance on small matters also.

ABSOLUTELY cannot be tolerated.

Robertb · 12-11-2009, 06:04 PM

Dear All:

The first ten Gift Packs were pre-loaded with Halloween Classics by mistake and were shipped before the error was caught. ALL others have the Christmas Classics.

Our Head Tech read the riot act and acted swiftly to make an impression that this will NOT happen again.

For anybody that did get a Gift Pack without the Christmas Classics... please drop me a PM and we will send you an FTP link where you can download the 230 Christmas Classics.

I SO wanted everyone to be able to enjoy reading Charles Dicken's classic: "A Christmas Carol"! Seeing the movies is a fine experience... but Dicken's unique way of writing makes the pages come alive and it is like you are there for the first time when Jacob Marley's spirit paints his mental picture of an after-life of hopeless remorse for NOT caring for others while he was alive.

I just wanted you to know that we do not abide by a sloppy approach. IF Astak is to ever become a great name in eBook Readers it has to strive to be concerned about issues small and large.

HarryT · 12-13-2009, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertb

Our Head Tech read the riot act and acted swiftly to make an impression that this will NOT happen again.

I hope that he read it on a Pocket Pro? We have a nice Mobi version of it here, just in case you're in need of it again.

Robertb · 12-15-2009, 06:54 PM

Dear All:

There is no better bargain that this "A Christmas Carol Gift Pack"!! This is really a gem of a value and simplifies your gift giving while helping feed the hungry!!

This Gift Pack MUST be ordered no later than January 18 and you must live in North America!

Go to: www.astak.com/charity and make Christmas bright for someone you love while simplifying your life!!

QIbHom · 12-16-2009, 11:55 AM

I just bought a Pocket Pro (and love it so far, flashed the firmware last night, no problems), but didn't order the charity pack because the links made it look like it was Christmas (I'm not Christian) and Dickens (I don't much care for him) oriented. Still, Second Harvest is awesome, and if I'd read more closely, I'd probably have bought it to help support them.

I did get the 2 gig card, with the Halloween stories and the 300 PG books, though. It wasn't on the invoice or the box (it came last Monday). I assumed someone just chucked it in. I'm more than willing to pay for it or to send it back, as it appears it was an error. Robertb, just drop me an e-mail if I can make this right.

It was very nice to get it, though. Gave me something to read right away after the initial charge. My friends were impressed, too.

12-06-2009, 10:06 PM	#1
dragoncat Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: ohio Device: astak ppro	Got myself the gift basket! After several months of research and actual hands on (at least on the sonys!), I decided to go with the pocket pro as my first ereader! The expandable memory, more open formats, user replacable battery, the food bank donation and even the color choice were the biggest factors in my decision. Really wanted a 6 inch screen, but I'm finding I'm quite happy with the 5 inch one instead! The extra goodies in the basket were also very nice! My hubby loves Starbucks coffee. So far very happy with the reader overall. Very easy to use. My 9 year old is now begging for one of her own. Unfortunately, most of the books she's reading right now haven't been converted to ebooks. Haven't seen any Magic Treehouse, Junie B. or Goosebumps ebooks around yet. Got a question for you guys, I was wondering if there was any way to read the free books I downloaded from the Sony store on the pocket pro? I'm not the most tech savy person and couldn't get them to load on my sd card, let alone my new reader. Not sure what I was doing wrong. The other books I picked up off feedbooks transfered just fine. Looking forward to reading some old classics again and few I never had time for! I have a question for Robert. Was there was a mix up on the sd cards? My card has the halloween stories on it, not the Christmas ones! Not a big deal, just a surprise when I put the card in the reader. Very happy Astak decided to go with the gift basket for the holidays! Thanks

12-11-2009, 04:57 PM	#11
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	Thank you for kindness but... Dear ALL: I do appreciate that people do not feel too badly that they got the Halloween Classics in the Gift Pack for Christmas! Thank you. BUT... I am not so generous!! I am really furious over sloppiness! I have taken this to the General Manager. I really hate stupid and dumb mistakes... and this is about as stupid and dumb as it gets. Nobody will lose their job over this... but I would like to see such sloppiness stopped and Astak place more Quality Assurance on small matters also. ABSOLUTELY cannot be tolerated.

12-11-2009, 06:04 PM	#12
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	Mistake found and rectified! Dear All: The first ten Gift Packs were pre-loaded with Halloween Classics by mistake and were shipped before the error was caught. ALL others have the Christmas Classics. Our Head Tech read the riot act and acted swiftly to make an impression that this will NOT happen again. For anybody that did get a Gift Pack without the Christmas Classics... please drop me a PM and we will send you an FTP link where you can download the 230 Christmas Classics. I SO wanted everyone to be able to enjoy reading Charles Dicken's classic: "A Christmas Carol"! Seeing the movies is a fine experience... but Dicken's unique way of writing makes the pages come alive and it is like you are there for the first time when Jacob Marley's spirit paints his mental picture of an after-life of hopeless remorse for NOT caring for others while he was alive. I just wanted you to know that we do not abide by a sloppy approach. IF Astak is to ever become a great name in eBook Readers it has to strive to be concerned about issues small and large.

12-15-2009, 06:54 PM	#14
Robertb Astak Director, Bus. Devl Posts: 2,560 Karma: 2500000 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Astak Pocket PRO	We still have several Gift Packs left!! Dear All: There is no better bargain that this "A Christmas Carol Gift Pack"!! This is really a gem of a value and simplifies your gift giving while helping feed the hungry!! This Gift Pack MUST be ordered no later than January 18 and you must live in North America! Go to: www.astak.com/charity and make Christmas bright for someone you love while simplifying your life!!

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12-07-2009, 07:29 AM	#3
dragoncat Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: ohio Device: astak ppro	Thanks Logan! Glad to know it wasn't just me doing something wrong. I'll keep an eye on the Sony store to see when they switch over.

12-07-2009, 02:32 PM	#5
French Groupie Posts: 151 Karma: 1002968 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: none	I also just received the gift basket and thought it was a nice touch (and I also got the Halloween stories instead of Christmas ones). I noticed last night that the clip-on light that came with the basket appears to be capable of using a power cord instead of batteries (but no power cord incuded). It's got stuff printed that looks "power" related and it definitely has an input. ETA: I purchased a book through the Sony bookstore yesterday hoping to at least get an option of what format and I did not. And as it happened, it was the original Sony format, not ePub. I'm o.k. with this since I also understand I'll be able to redownload the book in ePub when the site is converted by year-end.

12-08-2009, 02:23 AM	#6
frozennorth Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 18772 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: Onyx Boox RIP, Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Libra	The sony store switches to epub on December 11th. I'm sure you'll be able to redownload your freebies in epub.

12-08-2009, 07:45 AM	#7
dragoncat Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: ohio Device: astak ppro	I got that email from Sony last night after wrapping gifts for our school's santa shop. Hoping that all my goodies I've picked up the last few months can be switched over to epub. Thanks for the update though. As tired as I was last night it would have been easy to miss.

12-08-2009, 07:52 PM	#9
French Groupie Posts: 151 Karma: 1002968 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: none	Thanks for the response Robertb. I'm not the OP but I just checked my card from my gift basket and I'm not seeing Chistmas Classics. That's o.k....would have been nice but not worth the trouble of the exchange.

12-10-2009, 02:10 PM	#10
dragoncat Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: ohio Device: astak ppro	Hi Robert, Just checked my card and it has the 100 halloween stories and 300 other stories, no Christmas. I'm fine with the card I got. Not worth the time and trouble to exchange it with you guys. Just thought you might like to know that my card didn't have the christmas stories on it. Some people tend to get grumpy about stuff like that, so I wanted to make sure that your people knew about it. Like I said no big deal. I can look up Christmas stories and download them if I want them. Thanks for taking the time to check into it!

12-16-2009, 11:55 AM	#15
QIbHom Connoisseur Posts: 68 Karma: 102 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Aztak EZReader Pocket Pro	I just bought a Pocket Pro (and love it so far, flashed the firmware last night, no problems), but didn't order the charity pack because the links made it look like it was Christmas (I'm not Christian) and Dickens (I don't much care for him) oriented. Still, Second Harvest is awesome, and if I'd read more closely, I'd probably have bought it to help support them. I did get the 2 gig card, with the Halloween stories and the 300 PG books, though. It wasn't on the invoice or the box (it came last Monday). I assumed someone just chucked it in. I'm more than willing to pay for it or to send it back, as it appears it was an error. Robertb, just drop me an e-mail if I can make this right. It was very nice to get it, though. Gave me something to read right away after the initial charge. My friends were impressed, too.