iriver Story up for sale in the UK, can be imported to the US for contrarian amount

Other than a delightful-looking keyboard, it's a little tough to tell what sets the iriver Story apart from its E Ink brethren (other than its complete lack of wireless), but the little issue of a $400 US pricetag for import versions doesn't give us much reason to find out. Meanwhile, in the UK the somewhat more reasonable £230 tag has been affixed to the now-shipping e-reader, and while that's still a tad bit more than just shipping a Kindle to the UK, if you're still interested you can feel free to check out a few videos after the break that do a mild job of explaining the device to a rollicking soundtrack of Taylor Swift.

[PJE Posted Nov 29th 2009 11:16AM]

At the current exchange rate $400 is £242 - hardly a more reasonable amount. Although the British have always paid more for electronics than the Americans - one of the reasons why I moved from the UK to the USA ;0)

[fourthletter Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:26PM]

@PJE

Hows that non-free health care working out for ya ?

[Tes Posted Nov 29th 2009 2:05PM]

@PJE

Consuner electronics is one of the main reasons you moveed to another country? Priorities man...

[ScottishDan Posted Nov 29th 2009 8:33PM]

@PJE
I was gonna say exactly the same thing - it's less than $20 cheaper in the UK - hardly a deal.

@Tes
He said it was one of the reasons - not one of the main reasons.
I'm sure I can think of many reasons why I'd rather live in the US than the UK (although the healthcare considerations would be a concern)

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 29th 2009 11:25AM]

True, not much price difference if you do wanna try it out. Sans the importation cost and it could come down cheaper, or at least closer.

[designfabulous Posted Nov 29th 2009 11:26AM]

I know that iriver has partnered with various Korean content providers but what's going to happen to the UK users?

[diamonddogs Posted Nov 29th 2009 4:10PM]

Probably just provide links to the Waterstones and WH Smith ebook stores, as Sony does with their reader library software.

[weg Posted Nov 29th 2009 11:47AM]

With the Sony Reader Touch available for 220 pounds at whsmith.co.uk (the Sony Pocket reader is 150 pounds) there, they'll have a hard time selling this device in the UK.

[geekthree Posted Nov 29th 2009 12:13PM]

So Paul

[geekthree Posted Nov 29th 2009 12:18PM]

@(Unverified) Wtf i tryed to type chevron 3 (as in the heart symbol thing) and engadget's comment system cut it and everything afterwards out.

New Style Engadget, same shitty underlying system.

[Wwhat Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:36PM]

Yep, removes HTML in a rather dumb manner, it has ♥ for unicode, but it's no <3 for HTML

[Nitesh Posted Nov 29th 2009 12:29PM]

So...400 dollars for an e-book reader with no wireless? What makes it worth it over cheaper readers with built in wireless then?

[Wwhat Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:38PM]

The confuse themselves with apple.

[Wwhat Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:38PM]

They*

[Jeff Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:33PM]

Is it just me or does iRiver always seem too little too late?

[eugeneaction Posted Nov 29th 2009 1:54PM]

still hate static books...

[nichts Posted Nov 29th 2009 2:56PM]

Good to see they make a strong effort to differentiate it from a Kindle...

[BubbaJ Posted Nov 29th 2009 7:54PM]

Amusing how they always misrepresent how slow and unresponsive these devices are in real-world use. Too bad iRiver didn't bring anything new to the table.