Every year my wife lets me get some kind of electronic device for Christmas. There are not many electronic devices I really want anymore as I have good equipment but ever since the Sony Reader came out I have been wanting an ebook reader. She thought I would want an I-Pod but I really have no use for one. All I need is a phone that rings and lets me call. I could care less about all the little apps that are available. It just would not suit my needs very well. So, I told her I really liked the features of Barnes and Nobles new ebook reader called The Nook. Even though there are similar designs to the Kindle the Nook has quite a few more features. Unfortunately it will not arrive in time for me to take on my vacation but I'm pretty excited about being able to carry 1500 books with me wherever I go and up to 75,000 if I expand the memory. I decided I will purchase all my Star Trek books in ebook format from now on instead of paper. I'll miss the paperback books for sure but I'm running out of shelf space. My entire Star Trek library, and more, would fit on the Nook, which is an amazing thing to think about. I'd like to publicly thank my wife for her kindness and generosity and putting up with my geekiness all these years!
(http://www.desinformado.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/barnes-and-noble-nook-e-reader.jpg)
Looks good. I have been toying with the idea of getting something like this. It has a better price than the Kindle, and should be less proprietary.
Wow - so that make three Ebook readers out there now? Hmm, kind of surprised by that.
Cool idea although that particular device is not one I've heard of (I've not heard of many). The black words on white screen approach is supposed to work well. How are the books priced in comparison to paper?
Bookshelf space is a problem in our house too but I've worked round that up to now by buying my Star Trek books in eReader format and reading them on my device of the moment - currently iPhone.
Barnes and Noble have actually scuppered that for me, however, by buying up eReader and locking down a lot of the content to the US. Thus my electronic reading habit is rapidly dying out.
Cool Device, sure is thin as well, looked at some pictures online, looks like it has a nice interface to navigate a person's library.
Quote from: Feathers on November 14, 2009, 02:33:23 PM
Cool idea although that particular device is not one I've heard of (I've not heard of many). The black words on white screen approach is supposed to work well. How are the books priced in comparison to paper?
If you look online at B&N's website you will find that the ebook price is the same as the paperback book. One huge difference though is that all new books released in hardcover are only $9.99. Since most hardcovers cost twice that or more I think that will be a savings. Plus I quite often skip buying hardback books and wait for the paperback even if it is a year later. Now I can afford to read a title when it is released.
There is a good comparison chart on B&N's website that shows the differences between it and the Kindle. I think the Nook outshines the Kindle although I'd be willing to bet that the next version of the Kindle will copy a lot of the Nooks features.
Will reading books in the Nook give new meaning to the word nookie? LOL
Kevin
It could have been the Wook!
The most important thing to me would be how well it feels and looks when you read it and the catalog of books available. My wife Lynn has been interested in the Kindle, but the price still seems to high for the device and we also think the e-books should be cheaper overall. But I can see things going more this way over time.
I'm not sure I agree with you Rico. The I-Pod is just as expensive for what it does and like I said earlier I would much prefer an ebook reader. For me it serves a far greater usefulness. Only because I LOVE books and reading is my favorite pastime. And not to mention that the screen is...shall we say... READABLE! :)
Kevin
I found the Nook comparison page to the Kindle. Here it is:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/compare/ (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/compare/)
A good e-book reader would be great, I've tried doing this on my iBook, it's small enough so I just tuned the page and opened it like you would a book, but the screen isn't good enough to let you read for hours.
Carrying a library with you is cool, and if you like the classics anyway (means older than 70 years), just go to project Gutenberg, they have 30 000 books!
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page)
There are also some people who are starting their career as an author by releasing their books as free audiobooks and free pdf (still selling paperbacks), an example would be him:
http://jchutchins.net/ (http://jchutchins.net/)
I agree price has an impact on these decisions and that's where eReader did well for a while. Much cheaper than paper.
Since they've moved into the ownership of mainstream publishers that's changed but I have started to wonder on the costs of servers and bandwidth against paper and ink. For a major publisher there would still be quite an expense involved in electeonic distribution. Not as much as driving books round the country maybe but still not completely free either.
Prices have risen as electronic reading has started to go mainstream but once the public at large really takes it up and we all have a personal PADD, I think we'll see a reasonable differential settle into the system. What I don't know is how long that will take.
Quote from: Ktrek on November 14, 2009, 07:08:48 PM
I'm not sure I agree with you Rico. The I-Pod is just as expensive for what it does and like I said earlier I would much prefer an ebook reader. For me it serves a far greater usefulness. Only because I LOVE books and reading is my favorite pastime. And not to mention that the screen is...shall we say... READABLE! :)
Kevin
Well, obviously you wouldn't agree with me since you are getting one of these. I was just sharing my views. As always everyone is entitled to their own opinion. One last thing I will say though is it will take awhile for these E-Readers to catch on and really penetrate the market (just like DVD players, cell phones and .mp3 players have done). At that point there will be even better units out there and they will certainly cost less. My wife and I both love to read too and I'm sure will eventually get some type of E-Reader. I'm just going to wait awhile.
I LOVE project Gutenburg!!!
The funny thing is that Rico posted a picture on Facebook 'Me on the bridge' (sitting on the TOS captains chair) - this put into my mind the old poem 'Horatio at the bridge' - which has been filling my thoughts all weekend now. I found this right away on Gutenburg (and subjected my poor kids to a reading of it last night as a bedtime story before our trip).
Levar Burton said he just got a Nook on twitter yeasterday.
http://twitter.com/levarburton (http://twitter.com/levarburton)
I tweeted him and suggested he test it with this:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24161 (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24161)
50 year old SF about water on the Moon.
psik
Mine doesn't ship for another 8 days! I've read a LOT of reviews by professionals and plain ol users and the reviews are mixed. I saw a really good YouTube review that the reviewer actually took the time to learn how the Nook works. So many other video reviewers seemed bent on slamming the device and not really operating it correctly. There are a few bugs but B&N says that a firmware update is to be released next week that will address many of the issues and complaints. Admittedly they should have had the bugs worked out before releasing the device but we don't live in a perfect world. At least B&N had the foresight to use an operating system that would allow future upgrades and fixes. I'm still looking forward to getting mine in my grubby little hands! Here is the YouTube review I mentioned. It's 25 minutes long and from a ZDNet reviewer. Almost all other video reviews I have seen are 2 minutes or less. This guy takes the time to show you how cool the Nook is and show off it's features.
In-depth walk around the Barnes & Noble Nook ebook reader. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiB5sPPkfms#)
Hey Cosmonaut, I heard about JC Hutchins on a comic book podcast I listen to, and the whole 7th Son stuff sounds really awesome. I'll probably pick up 7th Son: Descent in the book store the next time I find myself in one, simply because the whole concept sounds so gosh-darned interesting.
BJ
Quote from: Captain BJ Wanlund on December 13, 2009, 11:29:03 AM
Hey Cosmonaut, I heard about JC Hutchins on a comic book podcast I listen to, and the whole 7th Son stuff sounds really awesome. I'll probably pick up 7th Son: Descent in the book store the next time I find myself in one, simply because the whole concept sounds so gosh-darned interesting.
BJ
It's quite impressive how giving away his stuff for free (podcast, pdf) got him fans and a book deal. I'm not sure if he is in bookstores or just on Amazon, I'm not up to date and it might confuse him with http://www.scottsigler.com/ (http://www.scottsigler.com/) (who, too, gives away free audio books).
Sigler is the favorite novelist of ori-STUDFARM whom I'll quote here:
"Imagine Stephen King at his height crossed with the science of Michael Crichton..and that is as good a summary as you can get. If you are not put off by the brutality or language, try listening to "Infected" first. This will totally hook you in."Not my genre, but I know the books, the praise is due. :)
Guess I'm old-fashioned, but I like real books still.
Quote from: Yeoman Mara on December 13, 2009, 01:29:37 PM
Guess I'm old-fashioned, but I like real books still.
Me too, but I think I will pull the trigger on the new tablet PC device Apple is likely to be rolling out in the Spring. It can be a book reader, will have wireless internet, photo and video capabilities, kind of like a giant iPhone without the phone part. It will be perfect for me traveling for work.
There are books and books.
Those paperbacks you won't never read again and everything that out dates fast (programming etc.) will do very well in digital.
The hardcovers are something else, I think there will be even more of the very lavish and stunningly beautiful prints.
It's win/win I'd say! :)
Quote from: cosmonaut on December 13, 2009, 02:25:51 PM
There are books and books.
Those paperbacks you won't never read again and everything that out dates fast (programming etc.) will do very well in digital.
The hardcovers are something else, I think there will be even more of the very lavish and stunningly beautiful prints.
It's win/win I'd say! :)
Question is, can I use one of these to display semi-nude pics of myself? Just asking..... ;)
Quote from: Bryancd on December 13, 2009, 02:54:00 PM
Question is, can I use one of these to display semi-nude pics of myself? Just asking..... ;)
Yes you can Bryan! Of course you would be 16 shades of gray but you can do it.
Kevin
Quote from: Ktrek on December 13, 2009, 05:51:11 PM
Quote from: Bryancd on December 13, 2009, 02:54:00 PM
Question is, can I use one of these to display semi-nude pics of myself? Just asking..... ;)
Yes you can Bryan! Of course you would be 16 shades of gray but you can do it.
Kevin
That's likely for the best, Kevin. :) Let us jnow how you like it!
Quote from: cosmonaut on December 13, 2009, 12:35:22 PM
It's quite impressive how giving away his stuff for free (podcast, pdf) got him fans and a book deal. I'm not sure if he is in bookstores or just on Amazon, I'm not up to date and it might confuse him with http://www.scottsigler.com/ (http://www.scottsigler.com/) (who, too, gives away free audio books).
JC is great! I have been listening to 7th Son for years. Mur Lafferty has some good (free) stuff out there as well. Amazing how people steeped in 'New Media' manage to build a writing fan base for themselves - bypassing and then getting the attention of the traditional publishing world.
The guy who came up with the name nook submitted over 400 names for the device. I thought you guys might find this article of interest:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/rex-wilder-originates-name-for-barnes-amp-noble-nook-e-reader,1070095.shtml (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/rex-wilder-originates-name-for-barnes-amp-noble-nook-e-reader,1070095.shtml)
Here is something weird that could make more sense than a Nook.
http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/21/more-on-the-bits-and-pieces-99-cherrypal-africa-netbook/ (http://www.teleread.org/2009/12/21/more-on-the-bits-and-pieces-99-cherrypal-africa-netbook/)
But what you see ain't what you might get.
psik