Customer Rating: 
Summary: Painful disappointment
Comment: I was so exicted to imagine that I could easily gather Gutenberg classic books, for free, and then read them anywhere. The eBookman was the answer, I was certain, for a webby person who was in danger of forgetting how to read more than one paragraph on a single topic.
Sadly, the eBookman does not live up to expectations. Simply put, it is poorly built, poorly designed and very poorly supported. My eBookamn lived about 3 months before various buttons crushed in and the navagation wheel fell off. Long before then, the eBookman found reasons to crash during simple opperations like... turning it on... or uploading a book. As has been mentioned over and over, the batteries will die within a few days of installation whether you use the unit or not. Franklin did little to support its customers even during the eBookman's primetime, and now I shudder to think what users do if they encounter problems.
My eBookman was laid to rest after less than 6 months of ownership when it no longer functioned in any form and Franklin failed to offer any significant help or restitution.
Customer Rating:
Summary: about the complains...
Comment: i'm in love with my 911-model...don't take the complains too seriously. just read the FULL manual provided with your device (pdf version on cd! not the printed one although that helps with most of the problems... see the troubleshooting and password sites).
OR read my reviews for the negative comments if youre in a hurry!
aside from hardware defects those problems don't exist! good batteries(alkaline or lithium),a good case and a full backup on pc and mmc are solving nearly anything with ease.
buy common mmc with 32 or 64MB - i got nine brandnew for 25$!
you only need internet access ONCE for verifying the os.
don't use a password on your device and you can restore everything from mmc or your pc without a hassle.
converting microsoft reader files is the only problem i ever had and even that can be solved with a little bit of tinkering on your pc. EVERY ebook or pdf can be converted if you really want. use a macro and run a batchfile to copy microsoftreader content into rtf or whatever format you deem neccessary. or you can use a little helper you may find in the net (smile).
it's a paradox: people buy a device for reading yet don't read the full manual provided. of course you need to process the information too...
Customer Rating:
Summary: E-Bookman/ Great purchase!!
Comment: I found just what I was looking for ay a great price! My purchase came quickly and I am very pleased with my Franklin E-Bookman! Now I can take my ebooks wherever I go! I love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: why
Comment: Does anyone know why the OS won't back up to the MMC card? Why does it have to be loaded every time the battery runs out? I'm trying here because customer service is non-existent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: a good
Comment: The price is right for what it does and it does what it does well.I am very satisfied with this ebookman. The only possible improvement I can concieve would be to enable it to accept higher-capacity memory.But.then it wouldnt be quite what it is,so what the heck? lol All in all,I am very satisfied with the unit and the service. well done (...)!!!
Summary: Painful disappointment
Comment: I was so exicted to imagine that I could easily gather Gutenberg classic books, for free, and then read them anywhere. The eBookman was the answer, I was certain, for a webby person who was in danger of forgetting how to read more than one paragraph on a single topic.
Sadly, the eBookman does not live up to expectations. Simply put, it is poorly built, poorly designed and very poorly supported. My eBookamn lived about 3 months before various buttons crushed in and the navagation wheel fell off. Long before then, the eBookman found reasons to crash during simple opperations like... turning it on... or uploading a book. As has been mentioned over and over, the batteries will die within a few days of installation whether you use the unit or not. Franklin did little to support its customers even during the eBookman's primetime, and now I shudder to think what users do if they encounter problems.
My eBookman was laid to rest after less than 6 months of ownership when it no longer functioned in any form and Franklin failed to offer any significant help or restitution.
Customer Rating:
Summary: about the complains...
Comment: i'm in love with my 911-model...don't take the complains too seriously. just read the FULL manual provided with your device (pdf version on cd! not the printed one although that helps with most of the problems... see the troubleshooting and password sites).
OR read my reviews for the negative comments if youre in a hurry!
aside from hardware defects those problems don't exist! good batteries(alkaline or lithium),a good case and a full backup on pc and mmc are solving nearly anything with ease.
buy common mmc with 32 or 64MB - i got nine brandnew for 25$!
you only need internet access ONCE for verifying the os.
don't use a password on your device and you can restore everything from mmc or your pc without a hassle.
converting microsoft reader files is the only problem i ever had and even that can be solved with a little bit of tinkering on your pc. EVERY ebook or pdf can be converted if you really want. use a macro and run a batchfile to copy microsoftreader content into rtf or whatever format you deem neccessary. or you can use a little helper you may find in the net (smile).
it's a paradox: people buy a device for reading yet don't read the full manual provided. of course you need to process the information too...
Customer Rating:
Summary: E-Bookman/ Great purchase!!
Comment: I found just what I was looking for ay a great price! My purchase came quickly and I am very pleased with my Franklin E-Bookman! Now I can take my ebooks wherever I go! I love it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: why
Comment: Does anyone know why the OS won't back up to the MMC card? Why does it have to be loaded every time the battery runs out? I'm trying here because customer service is non-existent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: a good
Comment: The price is right for what it does and it does what it does well.I am very satisfied with this ebookman. The only possible improvement I can concieve would be to enable it to accept higher-capacity memory.But.then it wouldnt be quite what it is,so what the heck? lol All in all,I am very satisfied with the unit and the service. well done (...)!!!