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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.)
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.
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).
Everyone should get a little Nookie!
That's correct. It's not around, it's arectangle.
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.
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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....
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.
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!!
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While you LEND a book, you can't read it. The other party can read it (without paying for it). Then you get it back and you can read it but the other party can't.
What could be Fairer than that? Its exactly like a paper book, except the other party can't fail to return your book.
Jeeze, I wish I could get this plan for the tools I lend to my neighbor!
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
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.
i'm not paying $250 to buy books
That's not really that much. I spent more than that on my bookshelves, and they're not even portable.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
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?
I would have agreed with you until I got a Kindle as a present. I have started reading a lot more because of it. Its e-ink screen is much better than an iPhone (I don't want a flashlight shining directly into my eyes when I read at night). When I travel, its size is great (fits in my bag much more easily than a paperback).
Also, I find downloading e-books more convenient than acquiring physical copies of books.
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.
These will be instantly obsolete when someone (Apple?) perfects the tablet, single purpose devices won't be competitive.
This right here is one of my main problems with ebooks. Lets face it, I'm a total technogeek. But I have a real issue moving forward with ebooks. I fully understand that these concerns don't apply to everyone, but here are MYcurrent reasons for sticking with paper books, instead of spending money on an ebook reader, and the ebooks themselves.
- Battery - Common complaint, my books don't run out of battery
- Space - I can fit a paperback in my pocket.
- Durability - Both are ruined by water, but I can bang a paper book around pretty good and it's still readable. Even if I totally destroy a paper book, I'm only out the few dollars it cost me for that book [I buy most books used].
- Obsolesence - in 15, or 50 years I can give my books to my daughter or grandkids, and they'll be able to read them all or sell them to someone else to read [hopefully not :) ]. There's a good chance that the ebook I buy today won't be readable in 5 years let alone 50.
- DRM - as above, it's getting better if you can lend them, but when I'm done with my book I can give it to a friend, or sell it back to half-price books. Unless the ebook versions are *significantly* cheaper than the physical books, this is a problem for me. Every couple months I go to Half-Price Books, and pretty much buy their entire sci-fi/fantasy clearance section. I pay an average of about $3.00 for hardcover books and I still have the ability to give it away or sell it after I read it [though I prefer to keep my books]. Ebooks will need to compete with that pricing for me the consider it seriously.
- Physicality - This is a double-edge sword. On the one hand, it'd be great to have 1500 books in the space of one. On the other hand, I love the look of a wall full of books in my office. I love the different covers. I love the smell of the books.
- Disaster - If I were about to freeze to death, I could at least burn my books to keep warm. Can't do that with an ebook. :) Ok that's stretching a bit, and I'd probably spend so much time convincing myself to actually set a book on fire that I'd freeze first anyway.
I think the best thing that could happen, that would get me to buy one of the ebook readers, is if publishers started including the ebook along with the physical book. Obviously this would only be useful to the person who first purchased the book, but still allowing them to give/sell the physical book. And when I do buy a new book, I'd even be willing to pay an extra $1 or so to get the ebook to go along with it.
With all that said, this 'Nook reader looks very cool. If I found something like this on sale at a significant discount, I'd really consider getting one, even if I just used it to read the huge number of free books available via B&N and other sources. But at the current new price, I'd just as soon buy a bunch of paper books.
Nothing to see here
Disaster - If I were about to freeze to death, I could at least burn my books to keep warm. Can't do that with an ebook. :)
This concern is unfounded. Lithium-based batteries have been proven - in real world situations - to burn most excellently.
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My cardboard boxes are free. Of course, they can't be used to show off how intellectual I am.
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- Durability - Both are ruined by water,
Sometimes. I've dried out a water-damaged book that was personally valuable to me, and it came out halfway decent. Perfect, no, but still quite readable.
I'd have to unlearn so many habits with eBooks. I suppose it wouldn't be hard to stop gripping my books in my teeth when I'm running out of hands, but I'd have to break myself of my habit of using a bad book to kill flies with. If I'm reading a book I dislike and a fly lands nearby, I'll whack it with the book. Oddly I reflexively won't do this if I'm enjoying the book. So all it'll take is one bad book and one fly and there goes the eBook reader. And if anyone sees me do it, there goes any attempt to live without having something insanely stupid to try live down.