Aluratek Libre Ebook Reader Pro (White)

I've had the LIBRE eBook Reader Pro for about a month and have enjoyed using it a great deal. It is great outside in bright sunlight (beach, car, etc) and is fine in a normally lit room. Dim lighting is not suitable for reading. Books are easily loaded to the reader either with "drag-n-drop" or Adobe Digital Editions (most e-library "loaned books") and calibre (free e-book program) works well for newspapers and magazines. I would have given 4.5 stars if an option and IF it didn't take a while to "get the hang of it" when it comes to loading materials from Adobe or calibre.Battery life is acceptable with one charge lasting me a week while I was slowly reading a novel that was "tedious." Unit will charge overnight by either computer USB cable or by A/C charger included with the unit. My major complaint is that you can't "read" while connected to your computer or A/C - the cords automatically switch to charge or management of your library. It would be so much nicer if you could sit in your favorite spot and charge while reading. (That's why I only gave 3 stars for accessories).I have not bothered with the background music feature or adding mp3 files to the reader - I have an ipod, thank you very much.Page turning is great with either the slider bar on the left side or the page turning buttons on the bottom left. The menu takes a bit of getting used to; but after a few minutes of checking all of the functions, all is fine. The font adjustment for size is also easy to manipulate (when I can't find my glasses I can just change the font size). The font can also be changed if you have a preferred font for reading (for most formats). Bookmarking is also quite easy and you can have several bookmarks for any book.You cannot annotate or make notes while reading and you must connect the reader to your computer to manage your library (or use your card reader to add/delete from the SD card). The included books are classics and is a nice bonus to have in case you have nothing else to read. (You can always back-up the SD card, delete the classics included, and add your own books then restore whatever you like).Overall, I would recommend this as a great first adventure in the e-reader market.

This was a terrible product; I would never buy it again. I had it for 6 months when it started to act up. It doesn't book mark my pages anymore and it takes forever just to change the page. It was nowhere worth the money that I spent on it.

Before I purchased the Libre, I researched Kindle, Nook and the Sony e-readers at length. I compared price, functions and ease of reading as well as availability and cost of downloadable books. I chose the Libre and am thrilled with it.Although the page turn key is on the left side of the unit, it's easy to get used to. I hold the unit in the palm of my left hand and turn the pages with my right. I LOVE that there's neither flash nor lag with page turns. Indeed, that was the deciding factor in my decision to purchase the Libre. Adjusting the font size and page orientation is very easy, and there are plenty of bookmarks available. Maybe the Libre doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Kindle, but it has everything I need and it beats the very slow-performing Nook hands down. I have friends who love their Sonys, but the page turn flash would drive me crazy.I can't seem to install PDFs so that they're readable, but considering that the PDF user manual for the Libre is accessible on the unit, that seems to be user error. The hundred books that come already installed are a good variety, though I won't read a lot of them and I love that a cheap and simple SD card will increase the memory capacity exponentially.The size is perfect, though I worried the screen might be too small. It's about the dimensions of a mass market paperback though it weighs much less than a fat one and it fits comfortably in the hand and the purse. It comes with a hand strap, a cover, all the necessary cords and earphones for the MP3 function.I am not a techie but I have no difficulty in downloading books, though I can't do it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and purchasers should be aware of this. Project Gutenberg however is a constant source of reading material and if I read every minute for the rest of my life, I'd never reach the end of the possibilities there. It's free and incredibly easy to use.The Libre will never take the place of physical books, nor is the public library in danger. The Libre's role in my reading life is to store classics and go with me everywhere so I'm never without reading material. It's perfect for my needs.+++++ETA on 9/22/10+++++:I originally rated the Libre five stars and have now downgraded to two. I've downloaded a lot of books from free sites and all of a sudden I couldn't download any more. As best I could determine from the very murky instructions and the purely awful Aluratek website, my Libre's internal memory was full. No problem, I thought smugly. I purchased a memory card, installed it and proceeded to copy the free 100 ebooks to the memory card. It snagged halfway through. There are no instructions on how to delete the 100 ebooks folder in order to free up memory, nor is there any way to tell the Libre whether to store books on the memory card or in the internal memory. This is my second day trying to straighten it out, and as best I can determine, the card is useless.THERE ARE NO EASY TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS! Any prospective purchase should know this. I'm deducting three stars from my review because the literature is VERY misleading. I'm am pretty unhappy at this point, and with the amount of money I've now invested in the Libre, I wish I'd purchased a Sony or a Kindle.++++++ETA on 7/25/11The difficulty of obtaining and downloading ePub, along with Borders' demise and the affordability of Kindle 3G with special offers, convinced me to buy a Kindle. Folks, Kindle leaves the Libre IN THE DUST!!!! I'm so sorry I wasted time and money with the Libre, when Kindle is vastly superior. I couldn't be happier with it, and I stand by the title of my review.

I own this and the JetBook (same manufacturer and overall device but different software).The JetBook has a much more intuitive interface. otherwise functionality is identical.This was a good value with the included memory card and case/sleeve, but just falls short when it comes to ease of use in comparison.

Reordered this one as other was lost in a fire and really like how this one is.