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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?
According to the comparison sheet, they're using AT&T.
Some wireless. Less space than a kindle. Lame.
From the website: "Most eBooks can be lent for up to 14 days at a time." So I'll wait to see the fine print before I jump for joy at another potentially crippled bit of electronics. I'll wait for a few months to see whether they've retained the power to delete user data or go about bricking the thing once someone "opens" it. If they reserve the 14 day to only titles under active copyright, then I'll be a bit more amenable to the gizmo (although eInk's refresh rate after a page turn still drives me up the wall). I simply don't trust any party related to the publishing and distribution industries to provide a device that simply meets my needs without resorting to underhanded tactics to impose their own agenda at a later date.
He who would be a man, must be a nonconformist. -- Emerson
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.
Dear B&N,
Please partner with us.
Sincerely,
Thomas' English Muffins Inc.
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).
According to the comparison sheet, you can.
Everyone should get a little Nookie!
How does the availability of dedicated ebook readers prevent you from using your iPhone? If it does it must be you, because Stanza has worked for me for more than a year and delivered several books without my opening my wallet.
If I read ebooks anywhere other than on planes I might spring for something else, as the iPhone is a marginal substitute.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Yep. Even the "international" version of the Kindle is not available in Canada. WTF is up with that?
That's correct. It's not around, it's arectangle.
As a current Kindle 2 owner, the thing that matters the most (at least to me) is book selection. An e-reader is only as useful as the books you can put on it. B&Ns claims of "over a million titles available" (thereby claiming they have more titles then the what's available for the Kindle) is spurious at best, as I believe (IIRC) it includes a lot of free public domain books, books that are freely available on the Kindle, just not necessarily from the Kindle store. Sure, it's nice that they include more of those books in their own store, but that doesn't mean their EXCLUSIVE selection is any better. For anybody looking to compare Nook from Kindle, look at which books are available in the respective stores first.
"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...
If their titles are bogged down with DRM I'm not buying it. Not as a political or philosophical statement; I've just burned my hand on that stove too many times. The music companies have figured it out (or at least have been clubbed into submission). Hopefully the book publishers will come to their senses as well.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
No, no, you got it wrong. The "everything white" decor only existed in sci-fi shows, not in real life. See Buck Rogers.
1970s decor is the "fake woodgrain panel" look, as epitomized by the classic Atari game console. Even my old 70s television looks like it was made from fake wood. If you really wanted to make your iPod or Kindle have the 70s look, slap some paste-on woodgrain on the front. Like so: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XzjG65PlXj4/SluT0Q1RIiI/AAAAAAAAA-M/aZphER_TxdU/s400/woodipop.jpg
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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.
The wireless service is provided by AT&T. Says so at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/
This isn't the sig you're looking for... Move along.
I have a Kindle, and when I turn the wireless feature off, I've had a single charge last for 2 weeks of reading averaging 2+ hours a day, at a pretty regular rate. With eInk displays, it's the number of page turns that eats power - slower readers might have better results.
A second reason is that the iPhone display, while nice, is still back-lit and still gives me headaches if I read off of it for extended periods of time. eInk looks more or less like paper and doesn't operate by shining a bright light in my face.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
And like everyone else, I call them "hammers".
I can read PDF just fine - the conversion process can be done in multiple ways and costs me a few pennies down to nothing for the Kindle. So that's no biggie. The MP3 player? I have that on my multiple year old Kindle too - I have YET to EVER use it so that's no biggie. The expandable memory? I have that on mine too but it's SD and they killed it on the new version - stupid of them IMO. That said the new Kindle has more base memory and quite frankly if it's just books you're putting on there it will hold a metric shit-ton of books! The average paperback book I get is under a meg and I have gigs of storage on my device. So, while a nice touch this advantage isn't that big a deal to me.The color touch screen for nav I don't get, what's the advantage? If it uses more power then I don't want it - make the device like the Energizer Bunny and last a long long time and I'm happy. Things like refresh rate changing pages are a bigger deal to me than this gimmick, honestly refresh on my old unit is okay by me.
Having owned and used an eBook reader for a good long time now I can tell you that capacity, battery life, and coverage for the radio are big concerns for ME. My very biggest concern is availability of BOOKS at decent prices - more magazines would be nice. That's what I am buying the thing for and if it cannot give me a ton of access to books then it's worthless. Right now Amazon gives me all the books I can absorb, with rare exception, at somewhat decent discount rates. Lending is nice but 14 days isn't long enough for most - I've seen how slow some people are with reading! Give it a full screen that does color I might be more interested but not at the expense of most of the battery life.
Really for me this is a yawner unless it starts a price war on content. I know I'm locked in with Amazon DRM but I also know how to break it if I really wanted to - I've got the tools. If I had NO eReader then yeah sure this would be more interesting but their past with eBooks would give me pause . Anyway, nice to see more entries into this realm. Perhaps with more and more readers coming out someone will make the breaking of Amazon DRM a little bit easier and more automated? That would be helpful!!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
I've used my iPhone and prefer my Kindle. Battery life, ease of reading and display size are all good reasons why I don't like reading on the iPhone. You might like it but for me it's like trying to watch p0rn through a keyhole - still entertaining but I'd much rather have a front seat!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Why can't I just use my iPhone?
Didn't read the manual? Fingers all thumbs? Is it turned on?
Without further information, I will be unable to diagnose further why you are unable to use your iPhone.
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
Some feature that would cause my paper books to come flying back after 14 days sounds good to me. I've had too many good books go out on a one way loan. If I give you my book, I don't ever want to see it again. However, if I loan you my book, I want the damn thing back. OK? Like those Baroque Cycle books and the Otherland hardcovers. You know who you are.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
that doesn't sound unreasonable to me, as long as you can get the book back when your friend is done.
They're one step ahead of you my infringing friend.
By including a PDF reader and wifi, they have prevented you from surreptitiously rooting their device to install such a reader, and then hacking the hardwired interface to load your ill-gotten reading material.
So go find all the pirated books you want - B&N has already won by taking away the thrill of victory by allowing you to load and read them as part of the basic package.
You can hang your head in shame, knowing that The Man has beaten you again. ;-)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I've read more than 120 books now on my iPod touch (which is very much an iPhone with no phone), no problems. Yes, a larger screen would be nice and you have to set a sensible brightness level (too bright in a rather dark environment is bad) but mostly I just forget that I'm reading on an electronic device and not a real book. I just read. There's not much more to say here, I'd say. I think the e-ink displays are overrated. They may have some slight advantages but they're far from perfect.
And the iPod has the advantage of being small and light enough to be safely held in one hand and to go into any pocket, which is great. And compared to most ebook readers the iPod is cheap. And it can be *so* much more than just an ebook reader.
It's quite simple. A punt is a flat-bottomed boat which is propelled by pushing a pole against the river bed (similar to a gondola). A punter is to Oxford and Cambridge as a gondolier is to Venice. (Don't worry if you've never heard of Oxford, Cambridge, or Venice: they're in Europe).
No unicorn. Less controversy than a Kindle. Lame.
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.
At least they're not using the verb "squirt" to describe sharing content.
Here, try this book *skeet* *skeet*
:x
From a no name company, but this number that just got posted on Engadget seems incredible. Android, and apparently an open OS that runs ordinary Android apps.
Same concept, but seems like more of a generalist device (and also much uglier). Can read not only ebooks, but can surf the web on the little LCD on the bottom, and then when a button is pressed, mirrors the content on the eye friendly e-ink display.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/20/watch-spring-design-alex-push-the-web-to-e-reader-format-video/
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.
Kindle does not have WiFi capability, so it is irrelevant that you can't use WiFi on Flights. I only turn on my Wireless connection on my Kindle when I want to browse and download a book. So for a few minutes every few weeks, when I grab a few books for my queue. Other than that, it stays off for battery conservation.
Also, Kindle is incredibly good for Flights. Especially long ones. I don't' travel every week, but I travel often, and between waiting at the airport and time on the plane, I can go through 2-4 books on a trip. A Kindle is much lighter to carry than a stack of books. plus if you run out, you can switch on at the airport and get another.
Blame Canadian content laws. Amazon is classified as a bookstore in Canada, and therefore must sell X percent Canadian content - a protectionist policy that supposedly protects us from evil Americans taking over our media. The net result is that Amazon could either stock and attempt to sell a boatload of Canadiana which sell poorly (and in Amazon's low-margin line of business, is death), or Amazon can choose not to operate in Canada at all. It has chosen the latter. Amazon.ca is operated entirely from within the USA (no employees or warehouses in Canada), and all shipping is contracted out to a 3rd party (which, being a shipper, is not subject to the content laws).
Funny enough though, the shipper that handles all of Amazon.ca's work, the one that helps the company dodge Canadian law - is none other than Canada Post, owned and operated by our government. Some things just don't make sense.
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.