I bought a B&N Nook!

[Ktrek]

As hard as it was for me to finally decide to make the transition over to ebook format I decided on the Barnes and Noble nook. I have been seriously collecting Star Trek books for close to 20 years now and believe me when I say this was not an easy decision. It's hard to think of purchasing something that isn't all that tangible and I will probably miss the covers and seeing the books displayed on my shelf but I am running out of room. I suppose I could store my older titles in boxes and just display the more recent books but I like to see my collection as one whole. I know I'm anal.

My nook has not arrived yet but is supposed to ship by this Friday. With the delays that B&N has had I doubt that it will ship before next week but we'll see. My christening purchase will have to be a Star Trek book and I'll probably buy one of the ebooks not available in print yet. Now that I've made the decision I'm actually kind of excited but also sad at the same time. It feels like a major milestone in my thinking and my life and I suppose I will never be the same.

Kevin

 

[Judith Sisko]

My christening purchase will have to be a Star Trek book and I'll probably buy one of the ebooks not available in print yet. Now that I've made the decision I'm actually kind of excited but also sad at the same time. It feels like a major milestone in my thinking and my life and I suppose I will never be the same.

Kevin

My very first nook purchase was Wardilmore's Distant Early Warning. I've downloaded five not-yet-published-in-book-form SCE/CoE books so far.

No, you will never be the same!

 

[Ood Sigma]

Part of me thinks having a Nook (or a Kindle or some other reader) would be very cool. I'm a big proponent of e-books and I bought every Star Trek e-book-only title released (and just read them on a computer). But I can't make myself give up the physical paper books -- not because I like the way they feel or other sentimental reasons, but simply because my massive collection would be incomplete. It seems like such a silly reason but there it is. Hmmm, I suppose, come to think of it, that is a sentimental reason...

 

[Ktrek]

Part of me thinks having a Nook (or a Kindle or some other reader) would be very cool. I'm a big proponent of e-books and I bought every Star Trek e-book-only title released (and just read them on a computer). But I can't make myself give up the physical paper books -- not because I like the way they feel or other sentimental reasons, but simply because my massive collection would be incomplete. It seems like such a silly reason but there it is. Hmmm, I suppose, come to think of it, that is a sentimental reason...

No it's not a silly reason at all. I went through the same exercise about getting one because of that very thing. I guess what it ultimately came down to for me was is it so important to own a "thing" i.e. the physical book, or is it the content that is most important? Granted I may change my mind and continue buying dead tree versions of only Trek books and buy everything else on my nook. I'll just have to see what happens when the next Trek book comes out.

Kevin

 

[AdmiralSteven]

I think owning a Kindle or Nook would be pretty handy, especially while traveling, but I like the feel of a book in my hand and flipping the pages. I also love the way books smell, strange, I know, but I love the smell of books and I won't get that with a Kindle or Nook.

 

[Judith Sisko]

I think owning a Kindle or Nook would be pretty handy, especially while traveling, but I like the feel of a book in my hand and flipping the pages. I also love the way books smell, strange, I know, but I love the smell of books and I won't get that with a Kindle or Nook.

An eReader IS a handy device and I'm glad I purchased mine, but I also don't see myself completely giving up bound books for the sake of my nook.

 

[EmperorKalan]

Part of me thinks having a Nook (or a Kindle or some other reader) would be very cool. I'm a big proponent of e-books and I bought every Star Trek e-book-only title released (and just read them on a computer). But I can't make myself give up the physical paper books -- not because I like the way they feel or other sentimental reasons, but simply because my massive collection would be incomplete. It seems like such a silly reason but there it is. Hmmm, I suppose, come to think of it, that is a sentimental reason...

Those aren't silly reasons, and the expense of an e-reader can quickly dampen any coolness factor, especially when you're still paying for the books themselves.

What finally prompted me to get my kindle is the amount of things I read in Word or HTML or PDF format, the inconvenience of trying to read those things on a laptop on a train or subway, and the prohibitive expense of printing it all out for convenient reading. The files can be converted to the Kindle's format, and I can pull it out, read, and stuff it back in my bag the way I would with a book or sheaf of papers.

Of course, now that I have it I also use it for e-books. I also subscribe to some blogs that I can now read more thoroughly when it's convenient for me instead of skimming them at less convenient times. But if my only reason for getting one had been e-books I don't think I would have bothered. You'll need to assess your own potential uses to decide if it's worth the purchase price for you.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Hmm. I'm waiting to see if Apple is going to do something with regard to the e-book format. Rumor has it something is going to drop in the first half of 2010.

Gatekeeper (who still has room on his bookshelves, but not much!)

 

[JWolf]

The nook can be slow and it can crash. It's not really stable enough yet.

 

[JWolf]

Hmm. I'm waiting to see if Apple is going to do something with regard to the e-book format. Rumor has it something is going to drop in the first half of 2010.

Gatekeeper (who still has room on his bookshelves, but not much!)

if Apple does anything, it's not going to be good for us. It'll be good for Apple. But to be honest, I don't think Apple is doing anything with regards to eBooks. Sony is doing something by bringing out the PRS-900 which is a 7.1 screen eink Reader with wireless to connect to Sony's eBookstore.

 

[bbailey861]

I really want to pick up a portable ebook reader. Before buying, though, I would like to opportunity to use one for a week or so. I have toyed with the Sony, very briefily in the Sony store, but now that the Kindle is available in Canada, I'd like to handle it as well.

 

[Ktrek]

The nook can be slow and it can crash. It's not really stable enough yet.

Most of the majot issues have already been addressed with a firmware update today. A major update will be coming sometime in January. In my opinion the nook is the best ereader available and has the potential to kick Amazon's butt once some apps start being devloped for it.

I'm a moderator over at nookboards so I'm pretty aware of all the negative hype. A lot of it unjustified.

Kevin

 

[Braxton]

The best thing about the Nook is that it was designed with an open source OS that can be expanded upon. I actually like the design of the Nook over the Kindle and if the price was lower, I may get it. I can't justify spending $250 on this right now, I'd have to really pick up my reading to make it worth it if I bought one. I'd love to be able to get all my current books on it free but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[JWolf]

The best thing about the Nook is that it was designed with an open source OS that can be expanded upon. I actually like the design of the Nook over the Kindle and if the price was lower, I may get it. I can't justify spending $250 on this right now, I'd have to really pick up my reading to make it worth it if I bought one. I'd love to be able to get all my current books on it free but I doubt that will ever happen.

Most eink readers are based on an open source OS as most use some version of Linux.

 

[JWolf]

The nook can be slow and it can crash. It's not really stable enough yet.

Most of the majot issues have already been addressed with a firmware update today. A major update will be coming sometime in January. In my opinion the nook is the best ereader available and has the potential to kick Amazon's butt once some apps start being devloped for it.

I'm a moderator over at nookboards so I'm pretty aware of all the negative hype. A lot of it unjustified.

Kevin

Will this firmware update fix the issue of some ePub eBooks not working?

 

[Ktrek]

Will this firmware update fix the issue of some ePub eBooks not working?

Jon,

I am not aware of any epub books that do not work. I do know that if they have DRM they need to be loaded into Adobe Digital Editions first and then sideloaded to the nook.

The only other issues I am aware of are books purchased through Barnes and Nobles and they say it is not a problem with the nook but with the authoring by the publisher. They have been trying to get the publishers to fix them as soon as possible.

So far I have found many of the problems that people complain about wind up being with the user.

Kevin

 

[LightningStorm]

So far I have found many of the problems that people complain about wind up being with the user.

Kevin

Interesting. I'm curious if these complaints come in droves or are they just a few people bitching loudly? I ask because a lot of problems people have with a lot of technology is with the user. But as a person who creates technology myself, I have to ask myself if I have a lot of users making the same mistakes is it because they are truly idiots, just slower than the average human, or is my product not as intuitive and user-friendly as it should be?

I ask not to incite debate on the quality of the Nook, I honestly didn't even know B&N made such a device until this thread was created, but to see if it can be looked at objectively and ask are the issues truly user oriented or is this a "working as designed" but designed poorly in some areas situation?

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm jealous. Somebody buy me one.

 

[Ktrek]

Interesting. I'm curious if these complaints come in droves or are they just a few people bitching loudly? I ask because a lot of problems people have with a lot of technology is with the user. But as a person who creates technology myself, I have to ask myself if I have a lot of users making the same mistakes is it because they are truly idiots, just slower than the average human, or is my product not as intuitive and user-friendly as it should be?

I ask not to incite debate on the quality of the Nook, I honestly didn't even know B&N made such a device until this thread was created, but to see if it can be looked at objectively and ask are the issues truly user oriented or is this a "working as designed" but designed poorly in some areas situation?

Those are good questions Icestorm. I really don't know. I just got my nook today and have played around with it for several hours and read several things with absolutely no problems. I was pretty aware of how the unit works though having played with one in a B&N store on two differnt occasions. I think it does exactly what it's supposed to do and even better than I expected actually.

Kevin

 

[Judith Sisko]

Well, I'm pretty happy with mine!

JS