Franklin Ships EBookMan Device

Posted on February 15, 2001

Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., a provider of handheld ebook reading devices, has announced shipment of its eBookMan multimedia device. EBookMan serves as an ebook reader, music player, and personal digital assistant. Consumers can purchase eBookMan at Staples, Amazon.com, and other retailers.

Three different eBookMan models -- EBM-900 (8MB), EBM-901 (8MB with backlit display) and EBM-911 (16MB with backlit display) -- are available. All three models include a Franklin ebook Reader, an audio book player, an MP3 compatible music player, address book, date book, to-do book, and memo book. Available for $129.95, $179.95 and $229.95 respectively, each eBookMan model is equipped with a USB port for connection to a PC (optional serial connection also available) and features optional memory expansion through industry standard Multimedia (MMC) cards.

``Franklin has long recognized that consumers want more functionality from their handhelds,'' said Barry Lipsky, president and CEO of Franklin Electronic Publishers. ``Today marks an important day in Franklin's history. Our eBookMan team has been hard at work for fifteen months and it's exciting for all of us to see this effort come to fruition. We are proud to bring consumers the first ebook reader that combines a robust feature-set with portability, ease-of-use, and, most importantly, affordability,'' he added.

A built in voice recorder and an eBookMan version of Microsoft Reader software are in the works. EBookMan synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook using Intellisync software from PumaTech and plays audio books available from Audible.com. Users of other desktop PIMS, such as Lotus Organizer 5.0 and ACT! 2000, will be able to download optional Intellisync connectors from franklin.com. Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. also recently announced its content conversion developers' kit (CDK) for Franklin Reader. Franklin's CDK allows publishers to produce ebooks to be read on the eBookMan.