http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/ Engadget Comments for iriver WiFi Story turns to the 'overpriced wireless connectivity' chapter http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 9th 2010 3:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/
I hope they don't fade away. They are awesome technology but I have one problem with ereaders.

The companies that produce them don't advertise like they should. They are letting Apple get away with telling consumers that the iPad is able to read book and is therefore an e reader, a bold-faced lie. Countless people believe that the iPad is better for reading books than ereaders because it can produce color and do so much more than read books.

It is near-impossible to argue an absurd contrast ratio, battery life, and free data to someone set on an Apple product, but the like of Amazon and Barnes and Noble had better find a way to do it before e readers go the way of the Kin.

One way that I think that e reader companies could cut major costs is by consolidating their online bookstores. I don't want to turn in to Gartenburg and start screaming about fragmentation, but if say, Amazon and Barnes and Noble became the only two ebook retailers, than there would be an awesome uniformity throughout the market that is missing from it now.

People are confused about buying ebooks and companies are wasting money upkeeping ebook retailers.

You could liken this revolutionized market with the Android Marketplace (Android Marketplace being the actual ebooks) and HTC, Samsung and Motorola (These companies being the OEMs). These companies make varying hardware and compete like crazy for profit and mind-share while still allowing you to buy apps from one place.

Having Barnes and Noble and Amazon in a fierce competition should keep prices down and other companies would be left with producing awesome hardware.

i also think that Barnes and Noble, Amazon and all the OEMs should agree on some sort of commission to pay to each OEM every time that OEM's ereader has been used to buy an ebook off Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

I'm sure this won't happen because many companies are convinced that their is a lot of money in purveying their own online book retailers but I am sure that consumers are hurt in this because selection is hurt, as is uniformity.]]>Jul 9th 2010 4:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Since I don't think there will be a ton of commenters on this article, I was wondering if you, @paulmiller, would want to weigh in.]]>Jul 9th 2010 4:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/
Always bet on people trading quality for convenience.]]>Jul 9th 2010 4:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Of course, none of the people who just have all-in-one devices have probably ever used a single purpose device, otherwise they would realize what they're missing. Something that is capable of all things is a master of none.

There's a reason why e-readers haven't disappeared years ago and why more and more are being made. It's because people keep buying them.]]>Jul 9th 2010 4:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/You make an excellent point. I wish that the prices of ereaders would come down because right now, given the choice between a jack of all trade and a master of one, the jack of all trades has it in the bag... especially when there's a bitten apple on the back.

There's no way that a Kindle DX cost anywhere NEAR the MSRP to produce. If they started selling it for around $100, then people would buy them. I think the prices are artificially inflated and are bound for a future price-implosion.

Hopefully.

P.S. Amazon makes a metric shit ton pushing ebooks for almost the same price as physical ones. There's no reason to gouge the consumer on software too.]]>Jul 9th 2010 4:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 9th 2010 4:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 9th 2010 5:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 14th 2010 8:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 14th 2010 10:40AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/
Problems to consider:

1. The Zoom with the four steps, should be possible to customize in settings, so I would be able to have it on medium/sec.medium/high as my own customized standard.

(We are working on this issue.)


2. Zoom in both versions does not work in landscape mode. Why?
We are working on this issue to upgrade the firmware in order for this function to work.

(Right now we are working on:

-reaction speed of the buttons

-freeze problem

-Djvu viewer function to be added

-more functions to be added in the future

*Since we are currently working on a Touch Screen Wifi version of the iRiver Story, it may take some time to develop different areas of the Story. )

3. The corner Zoom has to be easier in functionality, "sorry but to 80es software engineer loves his idea"
(We are currently working on this issue for easier functionality. )


4. When I have a book on my SD card and read in it, the Story does not save my Reflow and Zoom settings, this means that i every time I read a book from my SD card have to inter the settings once more. "sorry but that's really crappy"

(If you insert the SD card, book folder is created. If you want to keep the settings of the books you are saving, you must save it under this “book” folder. Further explanations about this issue are to come. )

5. Why does the Story not recognize any book in the book section when i only have my books on a SD card, should recognize them. (have my books on different SD cards, categorized)
This means that each time re-inter another SD card it shall remember where i was in the book and what Reflow/zoom i had, otherwise it wont be real to call it an expansion possibility.
(This is a similar situation as question #4.)


6. The Reflow display some pdf, very weird, exampled under:

Fred is fat and lives in a shel
ter while eating fish with his toes, and usually he sleeps with fresh herring under his pillow.
Unfortunate for the other resi
dents in the shelter, he is resisting any fish related arguments.

So it breaks the lines in some words, this is really not acceptable, please fix it.
(This is due to reflow information not being put into the actual book file correctly. But we are still working on it. )

7. Must agree with critics that it is cheap not to deliver a cover with the story.
(Planning to take care of this situation.)

8. There should be a possibility to set the story, to re-inter directly into the book you just read last time, so you don’t have to g0 through the menu every time.

(If you turn on the device while in sleep mode, it will continue from where you left off. The problem is that currently, it is not possible to go back to where you left off if you turn off the device completely. It is not impossible to obtain this function. Instead, customers can use the “recent book” function for now. )


9. I can not bookmark pages in pdf's.
(That is because the book file is not under the “book” folder.)


10. Recent book, should be resent books, if you are reading several at the time.
(We are looking into that function as well. )]]>Jul 19th 2010 11:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 9th 2010 6:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/Jul 9th 2010 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/09/iriver-wifi-story-turns-to-the-overpriced-wireless-connectivity/
I can only say one thing, reflow reflow reflow reflow reflow reflow, when will it work and will it ever work, no no no.

I did throw 250 Euros into Irivers crap story, and did expect a product there worked, but it is far from usable and not worth more that 30 Euros.

Please dont, expect any updates, any service, any pleasure.]]>Jul 14th 2010 8:53AM