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The Kindle Killer Arrives
GeekZilla sends coverage from Wired's Gadget Lab on the Nook, Barnes & Noble's first e-book reader. "Sleek, stylish and runs the Android OS. What's not to like about Barnes and Noble's new e-book reader? Despite the odd name, the Nook looks like an eBook reader that would actually be a worthwhile investment. Best feature? The ability to loan e-books you have downloaded to other Nook owners. The reader, named the 'Nook,' looks a lot like Amazon's white plastic e-book, only instead of the chiclet-keyboard there is a color multi-touch screen, to be used as both a keyboard or to browse books, cover-flow style. The machine runs Google's Android OS, will have wireless capability from an unspecified carrier, and comes in at the same $260 as the now rather old-fashioned-looking Kindle." Here is the B&N Nook site, which is still not visible on their front page and has a few non-working links. (Nook.com isn't set up yet.) Their comparison page takes dead aim at the Kindle. Among the advantages in the Nook's column: Wi-Fi, expandable memory via microSD, MP3 player, and PDF compatibility. (But remember the cautionary note B&N struck six years back when they got out of the e-book business.)
i'll buy the paper books or download them on my iphone via the kindle or B&N reader apps. loaning books sounds like a good option and i hope they bring it to the B&N iphone app. with websites like Goodreads that link to facebook, it can be a viral marketing strategy
Can users install their own apps or replace the OS? If not, I don't see how use of Android OS would matter.
The Kindle Killer Arrives
How do you kill that which has no life?
Who says you suddenly can't use your iPhone to read books now that B&N has their own reader which might appeal to other people?
This author takes full ownership and responsibility for the unpopular opinions outlined above.
The real killer question is whether it supports remote deletion like the Kindle does. The feature comparison doesn't mention this. Of course we'll only really know for sure if and when the feature is actually used; claims that it doesn't support it can't really be trusted (and the feature might be added in a later firmware update anyway).
I'm not getting into this crap where you can control what I can and cannot read. Take your orwellian device and cram it.
"But remember the cautionary note B&N struck six years back when they got out of the e-book business."
A great deal has changed in six years. Small computing has become more ubiquitous with the arrival of the netbook, high capacity flash devices are a lot more common, low power cpu's more common, wireless hot spots vastly more common...
Low sales ahead in the UK as British punters embarrassed to go into their book shops and libraries and ask for Nook e-books? :-)
For non-UK folks, "Nooky" is cheeky old fashioned slang for sex, so "nooky book" would mean a porno novel....
Limiting your ability to "loan" books out to only 14 days sounds like DRM to me. As long as e-content has limitations not present in real books, there's no compelling reason for me to switch.
.nosig
does it hvae the inernation wireless feature that the latest kindle has?
If not its not a kindle killer. Remember folks, there is the REST OF THE WORLD
Read what I mean, not what I wrote.
There's more than that, when you think of all the times we've been burned:
- Archivability ? physical book can go on shelf, can ebook be stored outside of reader device?
- Format conversion? can I export passages as raw text?
- Right of resale? used ebooks?
- Annontations? can i write in margins?
- Distribution? can I read the book aloud? to a group?
- Expiration? can the content be revoked?
This device appears to be superior to the Kindle in every way. I told my friend just now, "hey, I know you're interested in the Kindle, but you should wait for the Nook!" I explained how it was better. His only question was "Cool, but can it get the Wall Street Journal like the Kindle?" I checked. It's not on BN's ebook site. Fail. Content is still king.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
MP3 support on this thing would be cool.
You download an e-book along side the audio version.
You're at home reading your book on the Nook and when you hop in the car, it can play you the audio while you're driving. When you're ready to return to reading, it has your spot saved.
I'll use this slashdot post as evidence when I get in lawsuit over who patented the idea first.
So you would rather have it behave exactly like a real book?
As soon as you loan it to a friend, it will be wiped from your eBook reader?
Really?
You should travel on the trains on the east coast. Every man in a suit I see going to work in NY in the morning is either reading a Kindle or busy working/reading on his laptop.
A kindle only makes sense for a terrestrial traveler (WiFi download of books/news) who also uses it regularly. On a plane you can't get WiFi, nor are you going to travel to work daily by flight. So it makes no sense to use a Kindle there.
Now this market might not be very large. But it is extremely rich (hedge funds, Wallstreeters or the average beautician in NY) and will last a while -- people have been commuting for work to NY for years and they won't start driving anytime soon.
http://slashdot.org/submission/1062723/Cheap-mobile-data-plan?art_pos=2
I would like to have one of these devices, but not until they stop charging such ridiculous prices. E-book readers will never go mainstream until they cost less than $50. Eventually they should just give these things away.
Will I be able to lend any book available at my library for free (tax dollars and all)? I woudn't mind DRM then.
Kindle is not a Touch. It's not meant to be a Touch. It's for reading books. And for that purpose, it's way better than a Touch.
You're right: I'm not typical. I read a lot - I read one book a week when I'm working 12 hours a day, at least one book a day on vacation. I have disposable income galore. I don't read in the dark; I just don't go to bed until I'm ready to sleep or do other bed things. As for speed, it's only unreadable for half a second or less - about as long as it takes to turn a real page. If you have a device with a large screen, like a Kindle, you're not turning the page more than 2-3 times a minute.
Wow! That's scary! People will be looking back at our insane, all-knowing prognostications and laughing at what a bunch of idiots we are.
Read my blog: HansMast.com
This claim is very much debatable. If your vision is very poor (meaning, you can't read an iPod), then sure, you need a big reader. But there are very few other features the Kindle offers that actually make it a better choice when you actually look at them carefully.
A book a week? I read a book a day. Here's some of my library, all pre-e-reader. I have more books just packed into the shelves on the ceiling -- well over a thousand -- than most people even own. Reading a book has always been part of my daily routine. So I really don't have time for e-ink to ghost up into readability. When I turn a page, I want to continue reading. And I read fast... my page consumption, with the smallest font, is quick on either Kindle or iPod. But the Kindle makes me wait after every page. The iPod does not.
[laughs] of course you don't -- you have a Kindle, you can't read in the dark.
And you think this is a good thing? You turn the page on an iPod, there's zero lag, you're reading instantly. One tap and you're there. And I think your 1/2 second estimate for a page turn is way out of line. I hold a physical book with the next page ready to flip, and flip it in a small fraction of a second. I think most serious readers do the same; otherwise, again, you're losing time and breaking rhythm. I'd estimate physical real-page turn time at about 50 ms, or a 20th of a second, max. Less for a paperback.
Ok. Kindle: .5 second for the text to come up; 3 pages a minute; 1.5 seconds; 1.5/60ths, or 2.5% of your reading time shot. A minute and a half per hour. iPod touch: Doesn't matter how fast you turn the page, because there's no delay. No reading time lost. Zero. touch is about 50 chars/line (in portrait... in landscape, it's about 75.) This is pretty much right where you want to be for maximum comprehension if you don't have to move your eyes. Consequently, page turning is perfectly reasonable; better yet, because the screen is small, there is little eye movement required and this also speeds up your reading if you are reading at a reasonable level (which I know you are because you say you can get through a book a day on vacation.) Finally, the contrast on the touch fonts is much higher than that on the Kindle; this makes a significant difference in readability. All these things lead to fewer breaks in concentration, less strain when reading (given that you have normal vision), and higher reading speeds.
I'm happy you're happy with your Kindle; but as I say, we own both, and the Kindle is a pale shadow of the reader that the Kindle app on the iPod touch is. With both at hand, the choice for readability, storage, flexibility, convenience and comfort is easy: it's the iPod. And as I said initially, when there is a real tablet out there - not e-ink, and not just a reader - that'll be the end of the readers. e-ink is to LCD as McDonald's "eggs" are to a gourmet breakfast. LCD's offer glorious color, high contrast, high speed, high resolution, ability to read in any light, and when that LCD is on a general purpose tablet, functionality that exceeds that of a dedicated reader by an almost incomprehensible degree. Because the iPod touch is small, there will be many users that cannot deal with the small fonts, and for them, the Kindle and devices like it are the only fallback available. Tablets will eliminate that one failing, and that'll pretty much be the end of it unless e-ink comes a very long way forward.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.