some interesting features:
Marshall's Amazing, Colossal andEBookMan 911 Review Page Three
This is a "user's viewpoint" review,
and comparison to Wizard OZ-770 and OZ-800,
of the EBookMan 911 by Marshall St. John
This scan of the back of my 911 shows
some interesting features:
First, notice that there are four oblong rubber feet near the corners of the unit. These do a great job of keeping the 911 in one place when you are using it on your desk or table. The Wizards have no rubber feet.
Second, on the side of the 911, upper left hand, you may be able to see a sort of wheel. This wheel lies under your right thumb, as you hold the unit in your right hand. Move it "down" and the ebook advances a page. Push it "up" and the ebook returns to the previous page. A very handy device!
Third, to the right of the wheel, you will see the words "Audible Ready" and a small speaker. On top of the unit is a jack for earphones with a miniplug. Yes, you can download audible books, and MP3's, and listen to your EbookMan for hours at a time. (Be sure to add an MMC multi media card for extra memory for these large files).
Fourth, just below the wheel you can see a hatch that holds the optional MMC. I purchased a 64MB MMC for $30, and installed it, and am using it with no trouble. When I bought my EBookMan 911, I paid $50 for a brand new in the box unit. So I have spent $80 for an 80MB PDA, ebookreader, a pretty good deal, I think. The EBookMan 911 can be found on EBay for between $50 and $100. The normal retail price is over $200, but the unit has been discontinued. Nevertheless, Franklin maintains a website about the EBookMan, with a great support page full of questions and answers, as well as downloads. Go to http://www.franklin.com, and click on EBookMan.
The hatch at the bottom of the unit is the battery compartment. Batteries in the Wizard OZ-770 can last for months. But, the EBookMan is not easy on batteries! A good set of AAA alkaline batteries will only last between 5 and 10 hours of continuous use. I purchased four NMH rechargeable batteries, and a charging unit, and I am satisfied with this arrangement. This charger will fully charge two batteries in only three hours. I put freshly charged batteries in my 911 about 4 days ago, and they are still 50% charged. (There is a battery condition icon on the screen at all times, and it is easy to see the state of your batteries. There is a warning icon and sound when battery power gets too low.) I plan to change batteries whenever they get down to 30%.