iRiver STORY e-reader review

Still another of the cheapest ereaders is the iRiver ereader comes in two versions: the STORY and the second generation, the COVER STORY.


Lately, the iRiver STORY has been on sale on Sweden's most popular online bookshop, BOKUS.se. The reviews Bokus refers to make the iRiver out to be a great little reader, but what is it really like? At "only" 1995 SEK, is it worth it?


The iRiver STORY and the iRiver COVER STORY 
Both versions are multi-language ereaders, meaning they can read the Swedish "three little pigs" (å ä ö) and many other languages (even Chinese!). (See the charts below for lists of the languages these ebook readers can handle.)

The features on the iRiver STORY and the COVER STORY are much the same: their screens are 6", their price tags are high, they use an inferior e-ink (compare to ereaders with Pearl, the latest and noticeably improved e-ink), and all but the STORY WiFi have only an 8-grayscale e-ink display (other ereaders and the STORY WiFi boast 16-grayscale). Both the STORY and the COVER STORY have poor battery life compared to other e-readers (up to 9,000 pages on the STORY and 11,000 pages on the COVER STORY. Other e-readers have up to three times that or more). 


The iRiver STORY claims to be the perfect comic book reader, but comic book fanatics say there's no zooming function, making it hard to read the blurbs. (For comic book aficionados, we recommend the NOOK COLOR e-reader.) They've both got other features but these are the basic features you want in an e-reader.

Can the iRiver STORY and iRiver COVER STORY read library e-books?
Both the STORY and the COVER STORY can read library ebooks. Library ebooks, American or Swedish or other, are encrypted. You have to decrypt the library ebooks / elektronisk biblioteksböcker before you read them. Your library should provide easy, step-by-step information on how to decrypt their ebooks. Once you decrypt a library e-book, you can read it on the iRiver STORY or COVER STORY. The ability to read library ebooks is very good for those who know for certain that their library offers the books they want to read. If this is you, you might consider an iRiver ereader. Or maybe not. Let's see if it's the best ereader for you.


If you're not big on library ebooks and instead plan to purchase the ebooks you want to read, both the iRiver STORY and COVER STORY can handle books from pretty much any bookshop—except Amazon. Remember, Amazon, the giant of online bookshops, has its own format that only the KINDLE can read—unless you convert your ebooks from Amazon's format to the format used by your ereader by using the free software CALIBRE. 


The latest iRiver ebook reader, the COVER STORY

The iRiver COVER STORY is so called because it comes with a cover. For the STORY, you'll need to buy a cover separately. The screen on this iRiver is not as easy to read as it is on other ereaders, in part due to problems with glare on the screen and in part due to the inferior e-ink and the limited 8-grayscale. This version has a touch screen; fingerprints on the screen can be a problem. Compare the e-ink Sony PRS vs iRiver. You can read our Sony PRS review and see if it might be a better choice for you. 

The COVER STORY gives you access to POP3-based email. It's noticeably faster than the STORY in turning pages and navigating around the device. The COVER STORY features auto-rotate, sensing and rotating the view when necessary; the STORY lacks this feature. This new version even offers note taking using a stylus. 


Summary

In short, we are not impressed. Although the iRiver STORY and the iRiver COVER STORY  are among the cheapest ereaders of good quality, and although they have some features that other ereaders don't offer, they lack too much for us to be thrilled. 


Getting down to basics, an ereader should have a dynamite screen that makes you want to keep on reading, but the iRiver models lack this vital element. For the best reading experience overall, we recommend you compare the iRiver vs KINDLE ereader. If you really only read library books, we think any of the Sony PRS e-readers is the way to go. 


Here's the older model, the iRiver STORY—the one on sale for 1995 SEK at BOKUS.se:







And here's the latest model, the iRiver COVER STORY: