37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
If you just want to read books - this is a great product
I was curious to see if the second review I wrote about ebookwise would also not get published by Amazon.com. The ebookwise is a very good product if you are only intersted in reading ebooks. I have had mine for about three years now and I really like it. I am an avid reader who would go on vacation carting 6 brown market bags of books with me so being able to store...
Great - once it is up and running....
The Kindle isn't available in Canada, so after much research, I decided on the Ebookwise 1150. The price was excellent, and on arrival there were a couple of books loaded so I could immediately play with the machine, and could do so while it was charging - instant gratification! The reader is wonderful. Easy to use, great for reading in bed (backlight doesn't disturb...
I was curious to see if the second review I wrote about ebookwise would also not get published by Amazon.com. The ebookwise is a very good product if you are only intersted in reading ebooks. I have had mine for about three years now and I really like it. I am an avid reader who would go on vacation carting 6 brown market bags of books with me so being able to store about 70 books on the one device was a definite selling point for me. When I first started with the ebookwise there were not many named author's books out there but now ebookwise is starting to match the new books coming out. There is the capability of changing the font to a larger size or adjusting left hand or right hand usage. The battery life is very good, the backlight fantastic for reading at night or in the car with the ability to adjust brightness and contrast. It's about the size of a paperback and easy to put in my handbag to use when I am waiting in long lines. Tech support for me has been excellent with quick answers back either by phone or email. Buying and downloading books is easy and quick. I would highly recommend this device for someone who is just interested in reading ebooks period. If you want to surf the net or read magazines or blogs - go for Amazon's new product.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I agree with the previous review. I have also used an eBookwise for several years and have never been disappointed in my choice. I also had a Cybook Gen 1 for about a year and liked it but kept coming back to the eBookwise as my favorite. The battery life is fantastic - about 20 hours and the backlight is worth raving about.
I'm very happy to see the Kindle and hope it spurs a real interest in ebooks.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I've had my ebookwise machine for a few weeks. I chose it partly because of price and also ease of reading on it. Before ordering, I had read reviews online of the machine which said that it was a little challenging to download books into it. I also saw sites which spoke of the Ebookwise Librarian and the GEB Librarian (which are basically the same program). It looked like the downloading problems were fixable.
So, I ordered the machine and when it arrived, I wanted to get books into it right away. Unfortunately, I bought some books which were supposed to be in .imp format (the format that this machine normally reads). I could not get the books to show up in my library. I transfered them into the smart media card, but it wouldn't recognize it. You should know that the Ebookwise Librarian/GEB Librarian Software cannot recognize .imp files it did not create itself. So, it won't understand your .imp file and so downloading your book is more complicated.
You can always download books from ebookwise's website. It will instantly download into your machine and will be saved indefinately for your use. But, there are only so many books on the website and if you have a favorite ebook author, you might not find that person's books on the site.
That being said, the best way to get your ebooks into the machine is to download them in HTML format. Then, open your ebook in MS Word (which will automatically read HTML files no matter what browser you have) and save as a .doc file. Ebookwise has a free service for you to upload your personal files and then download them into your machine. I think it is called the Personal Content Manager. So, you can put any word document and it will recognize it and convert the book into .imp and add the book to your personal library. Eventually, you'll use up all of your personal content space (10 MB), so you may have to delete an older book, but whenever you want to read the book again, you can take the same .doc file you first created and upload it to the Personal Content Manager again.
So, we've covered the main negative. Here are the positives:
The machine is small, but it is about the size of a mass market paperback. You can read pretty easily once you adjust the font. There are two font sizes. You can highlight text or search for a word or phrase you previously read in the book. The reader is backlit, so you have to adjust the contrast when you're in a dark place or outside in the sun. The battery lasts a long time. I think somewhere around 15-20 hours. I generally don't run the battery down. I like to read while it's charging and I charge mine at night and only rely on the battery when using it away from home.
There is a usb cord and a telephone cord so that you can connect to the internet. No, it's not as convenient as a Kindle or PDA which has built in wireless, but for $130, why complain?
I've heard that Kindles and Sony Readers have a flash whenever you end a chapter and ebookwise does not. Hoevever, if your ebook has a chapter menu, you may see this screen pop up after you complete a chapter, but if you just click the "next page" button, you can bypass this screen and keep going. I only saw this on one or two ebooks, most of the ones I have don't have a chapter menu at each chapter break, so it's fine.
All in all, I'm satisfied with it and I've grown to love this machine. I like to read while laying down or laying on a sofa, so I've never wanted to buy a lot of ebooks because I don't like sitting at my computer and reading them. I wasn't sure I would easily adjust to having an ebook reader, but I love it and you can save book shelf space!
And, whenever you stop reading and turn the reader off, the machine remembers which book you were reading and what page you were on. The only other negative about this machine is that when you finish a book and go back to it a week later and open it up, it won't re-set and open at the beginning. It will still be on the last page. My way around this is to do a search and look up the author's name so I can get back to the title page of the book.
Hope this helps!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I've had this for several years. I researched with my online friends, and found the consensus was this was the best reader out there. The battery lasts forever, it's got a great back light, you can change the font to reflect your likes, it'seasy to navigate between both pages in a book, and the bookshelf itself. I did purchase the Librarian to make it easier to upload books, and I somtimes wish there was more out there I could purchase formatted for this. I will admit to some having me some Kindle lust, lol. The eBookwise is about the size of a paperback novel...easy to carry, but could be lighter. One of the things that I don't like about my eBookwise is that all the buttons are on the left hand side. I'm a serious righty, and when I lie on my right side and read it makes for awkward page turning. I have to position it just so where I can prop it up to hit the page turn buttons. I've often wished it had buttons on both sides and you could choose which you'd like to use. Overall this is a wonderful product, and I don't know what the heck I did before I had it. I can remember printing out entire ebooks to read. This is pretty inexpensive, and it holds a charge forever, and holds many, many books. It's like taking a whole library in your purse. And no one can be checking out the cover to see if you're reading a bodice ripper!!!
All avid readers are SO missing out if they don't have an eReader of some sort, and this and easy to use, priced right place to start. I think we'd all love to have a Kindle, but we can't all rush out and spend that kind of money. You'll be thrilled with your investment here!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
After months of debating, I took the plunge and purchased my Ebookwise 1150 from their website a couple of days ago. It is currently on sale for less than a hundred dollars, so why not? It arrived promptly today; as soon as I got home I registered it, downloaded two books from my online bookshelf and began to read. Easy as pie. Also, it arrived fully charged!
Yes, you do have to download drivers, but that is simple and fast (I have Vista and encountered no problems). I then registered my 1150 via USB with zero issues. Anyone purchasing this device must remember it is older technology and has no wifi, so connecting via a PC/Mac or phone line(!) is the only way to load up books. But it's a small inconvenience considering that their site has exponentially grown due to the increasing popularity of ebooks. One can find pretty much the same books as for other ereaders, and with the purchase of their Librarian software (which has a 7-day free trial period), one can even upload their own content.
The backlight is a BIG PLUS over other ereaders...no clip-on light required for reading in bed at night!
The 1150 is about as big as a paperback and about a pound, so it's not feather light, but not too heavy to be annoying. In fact, I like the feel because it is more "book like."
I will update as my usage increases. I am looking forward to many, many enjoyable reading hours with my new ereader! I might even purchase a couple for Christmas gifts if it lives up to my modest expectations...LOL!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
The Kindle isn't available in Canada, so after much research, I decided on the Ebookwise 1150. The price was excellent, and on arrival there were a couple of books loaded so I could immediately play with the machine, and could do so while it was charging - instant gratification! The reader is wonderful. Easy to use, great for reading in bed (backlight doesn't disturb your partner), and has a few handy menu items like the "search" and ability to earmark a page.
That said, if you think downloading books to this reader is as easy as downloading music, you are in for a shock with this machine. You will have to:
1. register your machine,
2, join the website (to be able to upload personal content and buy their books),
3. download a driver from the website, and
4. you will need to find an obsolete smart card and reader if you wish to expand your library.
Got Vista?
1. The website's driver will likely not work.
2. The software will have to be installed outside your program file. Furthermore, once installed the software worked initially, but then stopped working. Tech support took days and could not help. I uninstalled/reinstalled the software (Librarian), and then it worked again.
64 bit Vista? It better have a smart card reader as an external smart card reader will not work.
As a person who is very comfortable with computers and has a myriad of tech toys, this is the most user-UNfriendly item I've ever had.
Furthermore, the selection of books for this reader on both the Ebookwise and Fictionwise websites SUCKS unless you love porn and SciFi. Forget any bestsellers - if they are available on the website, they are in a format this reader can't read.
That said... I bought 3 of them. One for myself, my husband and a friend. Simply because once the thing is up and running the reader itself is great, the price is good, and there are other places to find books - Project Gutenburg, etc. If you have an XP op system you will be better off. I reinstalled everything on my desktop (XP) and off my laptop (Vista 64 bit).
The support for the software, driver, reader is there but it takes time as it is email support so things go back and forth, day after day. And they never read my emails closely enough to get the problem solved the first, or even 2nd time around. GIVE ME A PERSON TO TALK TO!!! (If Samsung made a reader I'd buy it because Samsung is the only company that gives you a phone number with live tech support!)
So five stars for the reader... zip for the website/software/book selection.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
(
Saving...
