Rating: 
Summary: My EBM-911 overheated.
Review: Why Franklin built this device to run on regular batteries, I'll never know. About six months into ownership, I was reading an ebook when my hand began to feel heat coming from the unit. I shut it off and removed the batteries-- they were so hot, I dropped them. I tried another set of batteries and they overheated. I now read ebooks on my Compaq Aero pocket pc, which I've had for 3 years. The screen is smaller, but the device is dependable, with a rechargeable lithium battery.
Rating:
Summary: Suffering brings wisdom
Review: when I purchased this item years ago, I didn't have my hopes too high. For 99$ this device seemed unbeatable. The idea of a new open platform strongly called to me and the feature list was impressive. To be honest however I wasn't expecting alot. Franklin hasn't ever been one of my favorite companies for technological innovation. I was not however expecting a horror. With numerous design flaws both with hardware and software, this product is about as dissapointing as a stilborn child. I suggest looking online about the capacitor failure and battery problems. I suggest forgetting this device ever existed. Fortunately, for the world, this device no longer seems to be manufactured. Eventually I had to put mine down when it bit me.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Design Not Recommended
Review: I would recommend NOT buying this product. I've had mine for about a year and a half. Since the operating system is not hard-wired, you have to download it from the Franklin website any time the batteries wear down. On sevral occassions, the Franklin website was either down or being serviced, making it impossible to get the os. When everything is operating well it takes upwards of 15 or 20 minutes from a dialup to download. The software supplied is also a bear to work with. This is probably one of the most poorly thought out electronic devices I've ever owned. Am looking at other readers and when I find one I like, the Franklin 911 is going in the garbage.
Rating:
Summary: Please Don't Buy This Thing!
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy to read
Review: I bought my Ebookman 911 off of half.com for less than $50. I feel it was worth this amount of money, but not much more. The Mobipocket Reader is tricky to use, and isn't covered very fully in the user's manual. I bought it so I could read free ebooks off of ccel.org and from the Gutenberg Project. I didn't intend to buy any of the books for sale by Mobi Pocket or Franklin. I figure that having over 15,000 free ebooks on line is enough to keep me busy for years. What I have discovered is that the Ebookman will not allow you to read pdf documents (adobe acrobat)at all, which is a real bummer. According to the manual, it is supposed to allow you to read .html and .pdb (palm compatible) documents but I haven't successfully gotten it to do that yet. I intend to call their support number and get someone to walk me through it on Monday. The phone number isn't toll free but at least a support number is available. On the plus side plain vanilla text documents (.txt) are a snap to download, find and read. In addition, the Franklin ebooks and Mobipocket ebooks work flawlessly in this machine. I'm just not interested in spending the money on their books when I can get many of the same ones for free from public domain sources. As for the backlight, it works perfectly. I can read in bed or in a car at night to my heart's content. I like the Ebookman. I don't love it, but I do plan to get my money's worth out of it.
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