Through the touch screen, you can enlarge the text size (there are only two sizes to choose) and a tap in the upper right corner of the page places a bookmark.

Touching the books icon in the lower right corner brings up a table of contents listing all books on the device, as shown in Figure B. The 8mb flash memory on-board holds four to six eBooks, and with an optional 64mb SmartMedia card, it will hold about 10 selections.

FIGURE B


You can take a small library with you. Roll over picture for a larger image.

You can purchase proprietary formatted books from the eBookwise site, or load your own documents in plain text (.txt), Rich Text format (.rtf), Microsoft Word documents (.doc), HTML (.htm or .html), and Rocket eBook Editions (.rb). The major weakness of the eBookwise 1150 is that it does not support Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or Microsoft Reader (.lit) eBooks from other sites. Most of these also have DRM encryption, so you cannot convert them to a compatible format.

In the past few months, a new crop of eBook readers featuring E ink technology have raised the interests of techies and bookworms. More closely resembling black ink on white paper, these EPD (Electronic Paper Displays) displays are touted as reflective and easy to read in bright sunlight or low light conditions while being readable from any angle. The Sony Reader and iliad by iRex are the two major contenders. At $350 for the Sony Reader and $699 for the iLiad, trying one of these requires more than pocket change.

These new devices can read PDF files and have added features such as synching with your computer to download RSS feeds to read on the go. Perhaps the prices will come down in time for my dog to buy me one for Christmas. He always buys just what I want within his extremely low canine credit limit.

I give the eBookwise 1150 a 4. It's got a nice beat and you can dance to it!

OUR RATING: 4 of 5

G. Denise Lance, Ph.D. is a researcher, online instructor, and freelance writer who often covers assistive technology.