Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Barnes & Noble's Nook, Reviewed

Posted by timothy on from the 2d-mover dept.

harrymcc writes "Barnes & Noble's Nook — the most significant e-reader since Amazon's original Kindle — hits B&N's retail stores today. I've published an extensive review of the device, which is also the first e-reader to run Google's Android OS: It's an interesting and capable gadget in many ways, but the interface — which is sluggish and somewhat quirky — isn't polished enough to render it a Kindle killer."

5 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. Killer by Zerak-Tul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What e-books need is not a kindle-killer but a dead-tree-killer.

  2. Don't Need a Kindle Killer, Exactly by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just need something that forces Amazon to keep innovating and keep pricing competitive.

    Thanks, B&N!

  3. To beat Kindle you need better policy by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps it is my slashdot bias, but the story about Kindles having books removed from readers' machines still strikes a sour chord with me. I recognize that most consumers don't know a thing about and many don't care. I don't see much difference between book burning and book deleting. To me the reasons, are irrelevant. Abuse will always emerge when opportunity is given.

    1. Re:To beat Kindle you need better policy by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yet they did not issue a firmware update that would remove the easily abused feature.

      When rights are able to be taken away, they are no longer rights -- they are privileges. I'd just as soon buy an actual book.

      Apologizing for behavior is one thing. Making sure it never happens again is quite another.

      With all this DRM everywhere, all we are really ensuring is that 1000 years from now, no one will know who we were or what we did.In the short term, we are losing public domain. In the long, we are losing our identity.

  4. What does a book offer that a reader doesn't? by professorguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A book offers permanence. Books are created so the only infrastructure required to receive the information within is your brain. And how can you get rid of books authorities no longer like? Well, because of the light infrastructure requirements, you CAN'T. No book burning has ever deleted an entire work from the culture.

    But if a corporation decides to "burn" an e-reader book, can they? They sure CAN! And the book will be gone with no chance of ever discovering an unburnt copy.

    Sorry, no. The function I want is PERMANENCE. That cannot be built into an e-reader.