January 14, 2010

Aluratek Libre Ebook Reader Pro: Review



I've had my Aluratek Libre eBook Reader for a few weeks now. I've read one entire 400 page book on it  and have used it enough to share a few thoughts about it.

What it does

First the technical mumbo-jumbo.

Supports PDF (Adobe Digital Edition DRM/non-DRM), TXT, FB2, EPUB (Adobe Digital Edition DRM/non-DRM), MOBI (non-DRM only), PRC (non-DRM only)and RTF electronic book format

I downloaded a couple of books from the ladies at girlebooks for free in epub format. I liked this more than pdf format. The reader came with 100 free books on a memory card. All of them public domain and available on Project Gutenberg (pdf). Books can be loaded right onto the device's internal memory from your computer or to a memory card.

Text size can be adjusted from teeny-weeny to HOLY MOLY . I feel more comfortable somewhere in the middle. There is no backlight and it's an e-paper LCD display. I found the gray background a little dark but that might be just me.

Pages turn quite quickly; there's no lag time. There are 3 ways to do this: Click the pages icon on the bottom, push the sliding button on the side or insert the page number. Pages can be Bookmarked (a feature I love!).

It also plays music and holds photos. I haven't tried either because I have enough devices around the house for that already.

Though I didn't clock it, the battery life is said to be 24 hours and I'd say that's pretty accurate.

It came with a padded case.

What it doesn't do

All the fancy stuff that the Kindle does. You can't be out jogging and decide to download a book. You have to use your computer for that. You can't read newspapers or magazines on this device.

My Opinion

Let's face it. This is the Ugly Stepsister of ebook readers. She looks like a calculator and that Aluratek logo doesn't help much. But she has a great personality. It takes care of business and I'm completely satisfied with it. The biggest selling point of this device is that it's affordable. This was a Dell Deal of the Day: $149 Cdn. That's a lot better than most of the other devices available in Canada now ($100 less than the Sony eReader).

The only thing I want to do with an ebook reader is read books. I would not use one for reading newspapers or surfing the internet. I'm never far from my laptop so these things do not concern me. If I was taking a long trip, I'd have to make sure it was loaded up first, just in case.

If you are on the fence about ebook readers, concerned about price or just want to read books, then the Aluratek Libre is a good entrance device.

Disclaimer: I was not approached by Aluratek for this review. My darling husband bought it for me for Christmas (thanks Babe!).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Hopefully, I can answer. I'm not the most technically inclined person around.

To see it in action, check out this video:





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Posted by at 7:05 AM
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11 comments:

  1. It sounds perfect for you! I'm glad you're in enjoying it.
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  2. That would be all I would want to use it for, so thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. Your hubby gives great gifts :)
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  3. This is one of the e-books that I am not at all familiar with. Thanks for the review!
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  4. Cool. Sounds like you got a great new toy. I've been saying I'm not interested in owning a reader and I just found out there's a Kindle application available for My little Pod (an iTouch, I think??), so I might consider that if it's not an expensive thing. I'm by nature a serious cheapskate.
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  5. I'm always curious what others think of their e-reader. I haven't decided yet whether I truly want one or not, but all information helps. Thanks for sharing!
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  6. This is my kind of ebook reader. I don't want a really fancy one either.
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  7. I love my Kindle for a couple of reasons. It's easy to use on the treadmill or at the table while eating lunch. It's also easier to turn pages for the lazy part of me. I can do it left or right. As far as all the so called fancy stuff. Well, don't kid yourself, surfing the Internet on it is a major drag. I tried it and didn't like it all. All I really want to do is read a book and an occasional newspaper on it. That's enough for me.
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  8. Cool! I'm glad you love your reader as much as I love mine. I havne't finished a book on mine yet, but I'm 3/4 through Emma and closing in on the end of Mrs. Dalloway. E-book download site recommendation: feedbooks.com. Love it!
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  9. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad it works for you. I am definitely still on the fence about whether I'd actually use one...
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  10. I love my ereader it's so easy to use, and for the pictures they come up as the same color as the text, but in pretty good detail depending on your picture taking ability, lol. Almost done with Dracula, and read most of Grimm Brother's Tales I got for free online.
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  11. I just bought a pair of Aluratek Libres over the weekend, one for my girlfriend and one for me. It has elevated me to Awesome Boyfriend status. For my part, I am impressed by the sturdy feel of the reader and the clarity of the screen. I'm still on the fence about the sliding page-turn bar on the left side (not a big fan of moving parts like this--more to break down), but that's my only gripe. I breezed through Alice in Wonderland a day later, started Wizard of Oz, and painlessly purchased my first ebook recently. I think I'll be reading more, now that I own this thing, just because it's so cool to use!
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