jetBook-Lite review by By Jerry P. Danzig

[booklover6]

What attracts me to the Kindle is the 3G connection. I am very happy with my JBL (except for the wavering in the sunlight issue), but I still covet that 3G instant download feature. If the Kindle goes to $99 for Christmas, I will be So tempted to get one.

On further reflection, the Nook wi-fi is looking really good. I will see what they go down to during the holidays.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by booklover6

What attracts me to the Kindle is the 3G connection. I am very happy with my JBL (except for the wavering in the sunlight issue), but I still covet that 3G instant download feature. If the Kindle goes to $99 for Christmas, I will be So tempted to get one.

On further reflection, the Nook wi-fi is looking really good. I will see what they go down to during the holidays.

Y'know, I thought about that, but for me, the 3G isn't worth the money.

I almost always have my computer, and I can also download books onto a mini-SD on my phone which I can then transfer to the JBL, so it wasn't a big deal for me. I'd rather have the cheaper cost and the lack of attachment to a company.

I also have something on the order of 1000 books already on my JBL, mostly from fictionwise, so I am unlikely to need to download a book on the spur of the moment.

Even so, I might have bought the Nook Wifi if it came out before I got the JBL. Most of my books came from fictionwise and can be read on the Nook. In fact, if I had been able to download my books directly from my fictionwise library to the Nook, I would have paid for the 3G edition... I guess that should have been my first warning of the downfall of Fictionwise...

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by Number_6

I'd have to agree with Ken on this one. If you can't find a way to remove the DRM then a Kindle of Nook may be more your speed. It took me all of 10 minutes to google, download, install and remove drm from my first book. If you're a Windows user do a google search for "Inept Suite-1.0". This collection is pretty much idiot proof to install and even has a nice little window to perform the DRM removal.

I used to believe there are things that are idiot proof. I don't believe that anymore. You have no idea how many people I have seen who had trouble with so-called idiot-proof software. The other day, a girl I know wanted me to send her some photos. I compressed the folder into a self-extracting rar file and sent it to her. All she had to do was double click on the exe file and voila she'd have a folder full of photos. But then I got a phone call from her asking for some instructions. Get it? There are people who have trouble even with double clicking on an exe file.

To me, the Kindle is overpriced junk sold to mindless consumers, just like any Apple product you can name.

I think at some point in their engineering process they hired a team of blonds to try to use their devices.

But, I blame Bill Gates for the dumbing down of computer users. Almost nobody knows how to use a command line interface anymore! I guess it would be the public education system (and texting) to blame for the dumbing down of Americans when it comes to proper spelling!

Haha, reminds me of Idiocracy.

[treetotree]

Thanks Djharkay

That worked. Now I will be able to buy some of the books I want. Maybe I will not be forced into a locked system after all.

Ken, I will keep trying to figure this out. I don't know if I am too old or too dumb. Maybe the lite will come on.(pun) I hope so. I was at my son-inlaw's house, and we were comparing his new Nook to my JBL. I liked the JBL's display better and the size. The Nook was easier to use. Overall I will be very satisfied with the Jbl, if I can figure out how to get the books I want. DJ helped a lot with that by explaining the unlock system. I have not had any problems with it working correctly. It works very well. It is the operator that is having trouble.

[Ken Maltby]

In the vain of "teaching how to fish, rather than providing the fish", reading the simple
instructions provided at the web site that is selling you the books might help you in
the future. They generally want you to be able to use what they sell. Djharkay might
be unavailable next time.

Luck;
Ken

[sabredog]

My wife gave the JBL a big thumbs up with first use last night.

"Love it!"

To me, that is as good a review I have read.

The JBL is her first dedicated ereader.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by treetotree

Thanks Djharkay

That worked. Now I will be able to buy some of the books I want. Maybe I will not be forced into a locked system after all.

Ken, I will keep trying to figure this out. I don't know if I am too old or too dumb. Maybe the lite will come on.(pun) I hope so. I was at my son-inlaw's house, and we were comparing his new Nook to my JBL. I liked the JBL's display better and the size. The Nook was easier to use. Overall I will be very satisfied with the Jbl, if I can figure out how to get the books I want. DJ helped a lot with that by explaining the unlock system. I have not had any problems with it working correctly. It works very well. It is the operator that is having trouble.

There are python programs which can remove DRM from other types as well. Some of the Kindle (called TOPAZ) can't be easily removed, but almost any other kind can be quite easily and then Calibre can convert the unprotected file into epub, mobi or eReader formats which are easily read by the JBL.

Calibre also makes it easy to organize your books.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

In the vain of "teaching how to fish, rather than providing the fish", reading the simple instructions provided at the web site that is selling you the books might help you in the future. They generally want you to be able to use what they sell. Djharkay might be unavailable next time.

Luck;
Ken

Providing the fish would have been having him send me the file, deDRMing it and sending it back to him.

I spent the better part of a decade with eReader books, so it was fairly easy for me to switch over to the JBL with my eReader books. Even so, it took me a few minutes to figure out how to enter my information. First time, I entered my credit card number on the first screen because it wasn't clear.

Oh, and for both of you, it is DJHarkaVy...

[treetotree]

DJHarkavy
Sorry about the spelling. I get excited and try to hurry everything. Gets me in trouble. I never was much at spelling. One would think I would be better, because I read all the time. Maybe it is some kind of mental block.
Well anyway thanks for all your patience. I will try not to bug everybody. It's just that paper and ink is my knowledge base, but I prefer the convience of digital.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by treetotree

DJHarkavy
Sorry about the spelling. I get excited and try to hurry everything. Gets me in trouble. I never was much at spelling. One would think I would be better, because I read all the time. Maybe it is some kind of mental block.
Well anyway thanks for all your patience. I will try not to bug everybody. It's just that paper and ink is my knowledge base, but I prefer the convience of digital.

Don't feel that it's a bother. Everyone here was new to the game at some point. Let's just say this: With the use of Calibre to convert formats and various not-to-be-linked-to-but-findable-via-Google tools to remove DRM, practically any eBook you buy can be readable on the jetBook. Just takes a bit of patience and practice and then you have the trick. The only one to watch out for is TOPAZ -- and if you head over to the Kindle forums I believe they can tell you how to know if you are buying a TOPAZ book or not.

[DJHARKAVY]

Originally Posted by treetotree

DJHarkavy
Sorry about the spelling. I get excited and try to hurry everything. Gets me in trouble. I never was much at spelling. One would think I would be better, because I read all the time. Maybe it is some kind of mental block.
Well anyway thanks for all your patience. I will try not to bug everybody. It's just that paper and ink is my knowledge base, but I prefer the convience of digital.

Ask away... How do you learn if you don't ask questions...

[nealcormier]

Originally Posted by Kralik

Unfortunately, this is a problem with DRM that plagues the entire industry. If you don't free your ebooks from DRM, don't expect them to work in the long run.

JB reads non-DRM'ed ePUBs just fine, which is what they advertise.

------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, that's complete misinformation, totally false: as you can see from the Jetbook site, it advertises PDB, and ePub, regardless of DRM, which-it-states-clearly. I have called and talked to the customer service people and got PDBs to work on the JBL via username and CC#. Then, B&N switched to ePub, and I thought no problem, my JBL reads ePub, but AGAINST their advertising, it does not. The technician said it would read DRM'd ePubs with the SD card and firmware update. So I spent $20 on an SD card and poof!--NOTHING. NOTHING. The firmware update was successful and it DOES NOT READ IT. I called the technician back and he had told me weeks ago that I needed a firmware update. But, like a robot he simply repeated the boiler plate when I asked why it STILL would not read the DRM ePub format.

[nealcormier]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

For the Fictionwise purchases you can find the simple directions for unlocking
your ebooks by reading what it says on your bookshelf/the page that lists all
your purchases and provides the download links for them.

If you can't find an easy way to remove DRM infections, then you haven't
become proficient with search engines like Google. If that is proving difficult
for you, then you probably should restrict yourself to something like Kindle or
Nook. I should warn you though, the eReader DRM that you are having
trouble using is one of the easiest to use, and one that doesn't restrict you
to certain specific devices that are required to be registered to a site online.

Removing the DRM for the eReader DRM that Fictionwise uses,
(and for a time B&N) as well as a few others, requires that you enter
the same info as is required to unlock the file for reading on your device.

The following is an example of how a publisher may offer ebooks in different
formats and using different DRM scams:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/d...92&view=ebform

(Random House claims that the .pdb eReader format is their largest seller.)

Luck;
Ken

-------------------------------------------------

I have no idea why you think this guy can't run Google searches. The JBLs process of loading your username and CC# to read DRM PDBs, is ARCHAIC, and may be 'simple' but how would you ever know how to do it without calling the company (which is what I did) considering there is absolutely no tech manual that covers this issue and nothing on their site.

To boot the JBL is tempermental and reads files HALF the time in some cases.

You should NOT have to be a hacker just to use an eReader.

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by nealcormier

So I spent $20 on an SD card...

This part of your post tells me you're not the best consumer out there. I just bought a 4 gb hc sd card for $8.

After talking to tech support from various companies, I've concluded that it's a requirement for them not to know too much about technical stuff for them to work that job. And god forbids if they ever improve on their knowledge about these things that their company sells, they will be fired or something.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience

You should learn how to strip the DRM out of these ebooks. It doesn't matter if you get the JBL or kindle or nook, knowing how to strip out the DRM will make your life a whole lot easier.

Once you know how to perform this task, it will take you all of 5 seconds to strip out the DRM of a book. The other plus side is you could now call yourself a 1337

Added by edit.

I have recently begun to encourage people to get the more popular brand names like kindle and nook because of their idiot-proofness (new word copyrighted by moi). The JBL simply takes more know-how than the average person to be able to enjoy.

When I first got the device, I spent about a couple hours exploring it. After a couple hours, I knew exactly what to expect out of this device. I knew exactly what drmed format it read and which to avoid. I knew exactly how to set the settings to my own preference.

The following day, after a few google searches, I was able strip out the DRMs of the files I had. Some kind soul wrote a python script to do these tasks. And after using the script on a few files, I was amazed to see it not working on some files. After reading through the script a few times, I made some adjustments to fix a few bugs. Haven't had any problem since.

The point is it was no problem for me to do these things. I already knew how to tweak and hack. But most people can't tweak and hack. And personally, I think people ought not to have to jump through hoops to enjoy these devices.

Since you already got the JBL, I highly encourage you to learn how to strip out the DRMs. Trust me, it's worth it to learn. As someone else already posted a link to a download, they actually have a program now where it takes just a click of a button to do this task. And it's idiot-proof.

Hope your experiences will improve

Added by further edit.

My elderly dad has read about 20 ebooks using this device. He asked for my help about twice and that's it. Personally, I think this device is one of the easiest ones out there to use. My elderly dad, by the way, couldn't turn on a computer if his life depended on it. When he got a new computer just a couple months ago, I had to get him a special keyboard with built-in buttons to open up certain programs and do certain tasks. He still can't use the mouse correctly, so he's just sticking to the special keyboard. And he absolutely can't understand when to single click and when to double click.

And he thought the JBL was simple to use.

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by nealcormier

------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, that's complete misinformation, totally false: as you can see from the Jetbook site, it advertises PDB, and ePub, regardless of DRM, which-it-states-clearly. I have called and talked to the customer service people and got PDBs to work on the JBL via username and CC#. Then, B&N switched to ePub, and I thought no problem, my JBL reads ePub, but AGAINST their advertising, it does not.

Don't forget that the JB and JBL are different devices with separate firmware. Let's see the JBL features list:

Originally Posted by Jetbook.net

# Support of ePub, Mobi, PRC, RTF, .txt, .pdf, .fb2, .jpg, .gif, .png, and .bmp file formats
# Support of eReader (PDB) DRM format through Ereader.com and Fictionwise.com

It does NOT say it supports ePUB DRM, only eReader (PDB). Furthermore, one should never assume DRM is supported simply because the file format is. A small amount of research before buying would have confirmed this for you. I never buy electronics without knowing exactly what I am getting and the pros and cons of my device.

There are some advances in recent JB (not JBL) firmware that support ADE. However, as livingenzyme pointed out, it's worth your while to learn to strip DRM regardless. If you don't, you will have no guarantee that your books will be useful to you in the future. I have a whole set of books that are locked in an unstrippable format (.IMP) and now I cannot read them. I ended up rebuying them and learned my lesson.