My Nook Experience
I’ve now had a few days to play around with my Nook, and thought I’d share my initial observations. To respond to some readers who posted comments on my previous post, I will not be trading in the Nook for a Nook Color. I actually waited until the Nook Color was announced before opening the box – I wanted to see what the new gadget had to offer and if it’d be worth trading mine in.
There were some rumors that the Nook Color would feature a screen with Mirasol technology, and I was disappointed to learn that it actually had an LCD screen coated with something to reduce glare. I state at an LCD screen all day at work, and don’t want to do the same while reading. Plus, I’m not sure how well the LCD screen would fare in the sun and I’m interested to hear feedback from Nook Color owners.
I think the color screen matters if you want to read a lot of magazines, or textbooks, or kids’ books, none of which I’ll be doing. Nook Color also stores more books (6000) and allows the reader to send updates to Facebook and Twitter directly from the eReader. Personally, I didn’t find any of these extra features particularly appealing, so I’m happily sticking with the original Nook.
My Observations/Pros of the Nook
- It’s bigger than I expected, in a good way. It’s not heavy, but has a nice “significant” feel to it.
- I think few people realize how clear and book-like the e-Ink screen actually is. I showed the Nook to some friends, and that was the first thing they noticed.
- The bottom LCD touch-screen adds a little oomph with the color buttons and book covers.
- Getting ePub books from the public library has been surprisingly easy, although you have to connect the Nook to a computer in order to transfer the ePub files.
- I’ve been enjoying the Nook Facebook group where administrators post a free eBook every Friday.
- The instructional videos online are very helpful in getting started with the Nook.
Cons
- BN.com has a Free NookBooks section, but for some reason, not all the free eBooks are listed. I saw some Kindle titles that were available for free, and when I searched on BN.com, turns out they were free there as well.
- I didn’t care much about the LendMe feature of the Nook, but it was still disappointing to learn that not all purchased eBooks can be lent out. Publishers control which titles can be used for lending, and each book can only be lent out once….ever.
- The PDF manual for the Nook is very confusing and can benefit from some serious editing.
- There are definitely more Kindle books than NookBooks available, but I hope that will change in the near future.
All in all, I am pretty happy with the Nook and I think the fact that it supports a wider range of eBook formats outweighs many of the cons. I like not being tied down to one proprietary format and being able to check out eBooks from the library is priceless to me.
Category: Etc.
[...] had my Nook for many months now and absolutely love it. (Read about my experience here.) I still read paper books, but traveling with a Nook is so much easier. The funny thing is, I [...]
Good review of the pros and cons. I am such a heavy library user, that the Nook wins hands down for me….the ability to ‘borrow’ from the library is the deal maker. I will be waiting to get a hands-on to look at the screens before I decide on color v black/white, but your comments are definitely helpful.
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I own both the Nook and the Kindle and I hate to say that the Nook is a lot more complicated than the Kindle. But it does offer a few more things than the Kindle does. I do hope that they expand the book store for the Nook as well.
And the whole “free book” thing about not really being free irritated me!
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Wow, sounds awesome! I am not the most technical person so am a little scared to venture too far into the ebook world, but it does sound like a fun gadget to have for on the go reading. I would have been very frustrated with the PDF manual ( I hate confusing directions!) but it sounds like you have this thing down
. Keep sharing your experiences!
I also work at B&N, and have had a Nook since March. I was amazed at how the screen does not bother my eyes, and I do like the Lend me feature. I’ve lent ebooks to friends, so it’s a great way of sharing. I’m hoping publishers will relax and open more books to the Lend Me feature. I also love that you can add space to your Nook so you can store thousands more titles on your Nook. I am getting the Nookcolor, just ’cause I think it’s pretty cool! I like that having an ereader gives me more choice in how I want to read books. If it’s just a book I want to read, but don’t necessarily want on my shelves, I buy the ebook. If it’s something I want to keep, I buy the paperback or hardcover. Or, I can check it out from my metro library. That’s a big seller for the Nook in my store.
Ms. Caboo recently posted..Sometimes Youve Just Got To Read A Romance
Great to know! My mom has a Nook so I’ll share this with her!
Nice review on the Nook! Regarding the free books thing, if you type in ’0.00′ as your search term, you should see all the free books currently available on the Nook! You can type in ’0.00 fantasy, mystery, etc’ and it should pop up by genre.
I work at BN, so I’ve pretty much been schooled on the tricks. :p
~Brooke
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Oh WOW, thanks Brooke!
These are interesting points that you bring up that I may not have thought of initially when looking for an ereader. I did not realized that it comes in color now. I am curious to know if you can change the font style. It is my understanding that you can changing the size also.
Esme, you can change the size of the font on all books. I believe fonts are dependent on the specific book.
I am glad you are enjoying your Nook. I know I was totally anti-ereader when I started my blog in April. But since getting my Nook in July I am a convert! LOL
Julie recently posted..Winner-Signed Copy of Torment
It does seem like the NOOK overs a lot of neat-o options … so far as an ereader goes, it sounds most appealing. Not sure I’m ready to take that plunge yet, but glad you’re sharing your experience(s) with us!
This was a nice review, but I’m a little confused about what you said about the amount of e-books available from Barnes & Noble vs. Amazon. “There are definitely more Kindle books than NookBooks available…” is what you said, but B&N’s website claims to have more than 2 million e-books available When I looked at Amazon, they show 743,969 results under “All Kindle eBooks” and some of those seem to be games, not even books. Oh, and just a note on the free NOOKbooks section, if you go to barnesandnoble.com and type “0.00″ in the search field for NOOKbooks, you can find more free titles.
B&N includes all of the books listed on Google Books in order to inflate its ebook numbers. These include multiple copies of public domain things that are available for free on all ereaders.
Amazon only counts the books that they actually sell in their book totals. The Amazon Kindle store has by far the largest ebook selection out there.
feedbooks.com is a good site. I found an author on BN wesbite under the free books. but she had 2 more books I was able to download off feedbooks cause BN didn’t have them.
I also found a silicone wrap to go around mine. It makes it much easier to hold. You can find them at BN but ebay has them much, much cheaper.
mandy twimom101 recently posted..Melissa de la Cruz signing today!!
I got a red leather case for the Nook for my birthday – love it!
Another feature I really like about the Nook is the ability to add memory to it (and thereby adding a LOT of extra books, as well as music!) – and you can always ‘archive’ any NookBooks you own…’store’ them at BN.com to give you more roome on your Nook, then ‘unarchive’ them & move them back to the Nook when you want to have immediate access to them. It’s similar to storing books in your garage, or keeping them on the endtable in your living room! LOL!
Yes, I definitely like the archiving feature as well!
Vera recently posted..Review- Our Lady of Dreams by Chanson Duvall
I’m glad you posted about your Nook. For the longest time I thought I wanted that e-reader, but I think I’m leaning more towards the Kindle. The cons for the Nook that I’ve read are just too significant for me, even though the Kindle is at least forty or fifty dollars more expensive. Thanks for posting!
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Lauren, the Kindles are actually about $10 cheaper for both new models – WiFi and 3G. It’s an individual decision – for me, the cons were not significant enough to dislike the Nook. Like David mentioned below, I’m finding other sites for eBooks beyond just BN.com. As far as the LendMe feature – it’s flawed, but Kindle does not yet allow sharing at all.
Good balanced review however, although at first it may seem like there are more kindle books available, the nook can utilize other ebook sites including fictionwise, Sony, border and of course any public library that loans ebooks. Kindle is limited in that raspect.
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