Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

Three years ago I bought a dedicated e-book reader called Kolin from Argosy.  I wanted something that could hold my reference material.   I was spending my days at the library writing my comprehensives while my daughter was taking summer courses at a local college. I was tired of printing so many pdf files and lugging them back and forth only to find that I had left one at home that I really needed.  The Kolin seemed to fit the bill; it was small, but had a nice size screen, it could read pdf files, and used AA batteries. It was reasonably priced at about $180.  I thought that I had researched the reader thoroughly and was excited to receive my new device.  This week I came across a post I had submitted to the Ebook Community forum:

Thought I’d add my take on the Easyreader. The model I have is the EB683 that includes MP3 capabilities. The on screen says Kolin as well as the carry case that came with it. I was looking for something light and inexpensive with the ability to read pdf files. I contacted Argosy and they were very helpful. The price I paid was $183 plus shipping (via UPS). It came with batteries, the external storage card, headphones, software, and the English OS was preinstalled for me. If you purchase one make sure you tell them that you want the English OS. 

I have also tried listening to a MP3 on it, but it is not stereo. Besides the storage card is only 16mb and from what their support center wrote me, the cards are not sold separately (At least through Argosy). The body of the device is a light pearl white and comfortable to hold. Functions have a short learning curve for the most part. An English user guide is on the device, but it only has the bare basics. The screen reminds me of the Hiebook, but is so much easier to read from and larger view area. There’s no backlight so no reading in the dark, but it very readable in daylight. The real problem is content. That is if you want to read a best seller. Otherwise you can keep yourself busy with your own content and the free stuff on the net. If someone knows how to get the zoom feature to work, please let me know.”

The software could be better, but it is understandable. I found it hard to change the format of the books to my liking. Some text formats better than others. When I convert a pdf file it was effortless, however much too small to read. The device is supposed to have a zoom feature, but I have yet to be able to access it. It also allows you to make simple bookmarks, but no annotations and highlighting. The device also allows you to flip through pages.  Transferring the books to the device can be tricky. Sometimes the software has a hard time connecting to the device. What I really don’t like about it is that the memory card looks like a CF card in everyway except that it isn’t. So you can’t use a card reader to transfer books directly to the device.

So, needless to say, this purchase turned out to be a disappointment. I never got the zoom feature to work.  This week, I decided to give the reader another chance since my skills at formatting and conversion skills have improved and once again I was served another big dish of disappointment.  I can’t find the USB cord that connects the reader to my PC.  As stated above the CF card is not really a CF card so using an external card reader is not an option.  So now the reader is essentially unless I can either find the cord or buy another.  So the moral to this story is to beware of proprietary accessories not just proprietary formats.