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159 of 161 found the following review helpful:
The good, the bad and the ugly.Feb 16, 2001
By Robert A. Lang
"embert"
After a prolonged delay, and eager anticipation the Franklin eBookman finally shipped today. Its not every day that a new device comes out that features all the usual organiser/PIM/PDA function but also an MP3 player, an eBook reader and an Audio Book player. First impressions are mixed. The box comes with the device, a flimsy plastic cover, a USB cable and thats all. No user manual or instruction guide. Instead, just a leaflet telling you to download the operating system from Franklin.com. That's right! - You have to download the OS and install it before you can use it. Took me about 1 hour (and I'm not computer illiterate!). Beware - all the basic information takes up almost 5MB of memory. Leaves only 11MB on the EBM911 and only 3.5MB on the EBM900!!Finally...up and running! The screen is clear, backlight works well. The case is solid (surprisingly heavy). Touch screen is sensitive, and the handwriting recognition software is fairly accurate, even with no practice. A (on-screen) pop-up keyboard is provided if you prefer. The PC-link software is effortless. Simply drag files from the PC screen to the eBookman screen and the file is transfered instantly. Now, a few bugs emerge. The Date Book funtion allows you to view your appointments in daily, weekly or monthly format. Unfortunately, when adding a recurring appointment in the daily view, it did not show up on the weekly view(!) Easy to miss a crucial meeting this way. Also, the To-Do list is not synchronised with the Date Book. So if you have added a task to do in the To Do folder, it will not show up on the relevent day in the Date book. Annoying. The MP3 player is surprisingly good quality sound, even without earphones. But it played my test file too fast. I could not find any parameters to change the playback speed. Still waiting to download an ebook for the eBook reader. The claim is a clear type, resizable fonts, read in landscape or portrait orientation, bookmarkable, searchable text. Finally, the ugly. The stylus provided is a very cheap, plastic job that looks like it came out of a cereal box. It does not click firmly into the case, so easy to lose. Overall, this machine has potential. Some bugs need ironing out. Luckily, with the PC synchronising software, this should be an easy job for Franklin, by just providing updates to their downloadable software. The open platform allows 3rd parties to produce custom software. Applications should abound in the near future. I'm not 100% happy with it yet, but I'm going to keep my eBookman to see what the future holds.
173 of 177 found the following review helpful:
 Beware Of Data LossJan 11, 2004
By TOL
I have had my eBookman for over a year now and I have read all of the reviews on this site and others. The pros and cons seem to be pretty accurately stated by other reviewers so I will not waste anybody's time repeating what has already been said. However, there seems to be something which has been missed in other reviews. What I've noticed is that most other reviewers seem to be avid readers who use their eBookman's everyday. And for those users, the complaint that I have is probably simply a minor annoyance. But for users like myself who bought the eBookman for the occassional business trip or long flight, there is a ridiculously inconvenient feature that makes it almost impossible to use. That is, if you leave your eBookman off for any extended period of time, the batteries continue to drain until they are completely dead! Yes, you heard me. THIS UNIT USES UP THE BATTERIES EVEN WHEN IT IS OFF. For example, I would regularly put in a fresh set of batteries and within 3 weeks they would be completely dead (without ever having turned on the unit). At first, I thought there was something wrong with my unit. But a call to Franklin's technical support confirmed my worst fear: This is the way the units were designed! But, wait - I haven't even gotten to the punch line yet! When the batteries run out, all of the data is lost - INCLUDING THE OPERATING SYSTEM. This is because the unit has no internal battery back-up. It just uses a capacitor which only holds a smal charge for a few seconds (supposedly just long enough to change batteries when the battery indicator is running low). But if your batteries run out, it's BYE-BYE data! So, for the casual user, what that means is that you end up having to re-install the entire operating system and all of your titles every time you turn the unit on (assuming you do not use it an a VERY regular basis). This, by the way, is no short task (although, in fairness to Franklin, it is a simple process). For me, this problem renders the eBookman TOTALLY USELESS. Now, I'm sure there are avid readers or frequent travelers who would love to have what otherwise would be classified as a pretty decent reader for a very decent price. But, for me, it is just a paperweight. In summary, if you use the eBookman everyday, I guess you could find a use for it. But if you plan to let it rest - even for a relatively short period of time - I would look elsewhere.
28 of 28 found the following review helpful:
Please Don't Buy This Thing!Sep 03, 2004
By L & D RN
I purchased this item directly from the manufacturer and had it shipped to my home. This was the single worst purchase I have ever made. The device came broken, ie, the display screen was full of black lines that wouldn't clear. When I tried to talk to customer service, they would not just take back the item, but wanted a restocking fee of 6.5% for this defective item. AND the phone number I had to call for customer service is in New York and no toll free number was provided. When I asked to talk to the customer service manager, they refused, then after I insisted, they put me through to the manager's voice mail. He never returned my call (big, huge shock). In any case, I have had the shipping company investigate the broken item and I hope to get my money back one way or the other. All in all, the manufacturer of this item provided a poor product and rotten customer service. If I could give a zero star rating, I would.
21 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Battery Life is terrible!Feb 25, 2001
I'm not going to talk about all the great things this device can do. But there is one really poor thing that it does that one would never guess. First, you don't recharge the eBookman! Even the Cybiko works by being changed. With the eBookman you have to use batteries. And I had mine less than 24 hours before I ran them out! The AC adapter costs extra! But that's only so you can use it while plugged into a socket. Sure the eBookman is a great device but these short comings are very unnecessary and really disappointing. It's worth buying but this info is also worth knowing before you buy it. Sincerely, A technology columnist in Chicago
40 of 44 found the following review helpful:
 very good but not perfectMay 03, 2005
By Teapot Tales
What I like about it (I own ebm-901):
1. Open platform (thus lots of useful FREE software available).
2. Generic AAA batteries support.
3. Simple USB interface.
4. Large screen.
5. Good handwriting recognition.
6. Sturdy and reliable case.
7. Low power consumption.
8. Good music playback quality.
Now, about its well-known problems: folks, BACKUP your data on your MMC! This way you will NEVER lose your OS and apps! Come on! The device does have a power backup in the form of a capacitor, which is really bad and it hardly does anything. For a techie, it is not hard to put in a differect capacitor. Problem solved. Sometimes it helps keep memory intact if you pull out one dead battery and put it a fresh one, then pull out another one and replace it with fresh.
You cannot manage your files on MMC from within the EBM's OS. Who knows if Ectaco will ever release a new version of the OS.
Otherwise I love my eBookMan, I use it all the time, it's my primary mobile library, and I am quite hesitant to look elsewere for a new PDA.
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