Shades of the PVR "commercial skip" up(down)grade...
This is a discussion forum wherein owners of the RCA Rocket EBook 1100 discover that the "upgrade" to a Gemstar GEB 1150 is at least partly a "downgrade". The REB 1100 included the ability to load non-Gemstar content, using external utilities. For the GEB 1150, you must purchase all content through GemStar - if they don't offer it, then you don't read it. If you had non-GemStar content, now you can't read it on your spiffy new grayscale screen...
An additional discussion forum here, where many owners make it clear that this is a Critical Success Factor in the upgrade process.
Also, here is the Gemstar description of the upgrade. Notice how they don't mention that the device you get back won't do all the things it did when you sent it in?
And finally, just to get a full picture of the attitude of the company, try this FAQ - see the final question, where the question of having materials on your PC or Palm is addressed:
"...second, the PC and the Palm Pilot are considered "open" systems: anything read on a PC or Palm could be copied illegally."
This ignores the point that you can also copy anything read on a GemStar Ebook. You just need a scanner or photocopier.
With an approach like this, it's almost as though they would prefer not to have the inconvenience of customers.