Kindle vs Nook vs.....?

[Karl Henning]

I went to the store to see how they handled such a PDF (I tried the Elgar Cello Concerto). Not at all satisfactory for that purpose, really; so I went full speed ahead with the Simple Touch just for reading text.

[petrarch]

I went to the store to see how they handled such a PDF (I tried the Elgar Cello Concerto). Not at all satisfactory for that purpose, really; so I went full speed ahead with the Simple Touch just for reading text.

Pity. Am I correct in assuming screen size is the issue? I take it the rendering engine has no trouble in displaying a PDF file, but navigation in the page is probably awkward (even in the DX it is slightly so, despite the bigger screen).

[Karl Henning]

Well, I actually tried this on the Nook Tablet in the store; it does the touchscreen zoom in or out very well.  Might be partly a fault of the scanned score which I was reading, but the view was grainier than I should like. Given that, and the fact that I prefer to read the e-ink (and not needing the bells and whistles on such a model, myself — my Droid does fine with e-mail, and I prefer to watch movies on a larger screen than a tablet) I elected to go just with the Simple Touch.

For fun, I'll try to read a score of mine on it later, just to see what happens . . . .

[Ataraxia]

I was puttering around with my FreeBooks app on iPhone and discovered this:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doctor-who-and-the-empire-of-glass-andy-lane/1028739627

Naturally, I started in right away. 

[DavidW]

Alright Karl, now that you've had your nook for awhile... do you still like and use the touch or do you just use the buttons?  And do you use the Georgia font?

[Karl Henning]

I do prefer the touch, I seldom use the buttons. And Georgia is not a font option : (

I still like it very well : )

[DavidW]

I do prefer the touch, I seldom use the buttons. And Georgia is not a font option : (

I still like it very well : )

Oh woops I confused it with the kindle fire!   I have too many readers.  I use malabar on the nook.  Georgia on the fire, and there are no choices on the plain jane kindle.

[DavidW]

I'm really excited about this new nook with the builtin light.  I've preordered it.  It's a bandaid on the overall problem of contrast but should really help.

[Karl Henning]

When's it come in, Davey?

[Karl Henning]

Barnes & Noble shares surge on Microsoft deal

"The promise we're making to consumers is that you're going to be able to read your Nook books" across a number of devices," Lynch said, adding that Microsoft and Barnes & Noble will combine their research and development efforts.

[DavidW]

When's it come in, Davey?

Wednesday, it shipped on Friday night by 3 day express UPS.  I'm really excited!!!

[DavidW]

Yes that Microsoft deal is big news, and secures the future for nook.  I believe BN is also separating Nook from the brick and mortar side which is good because the latter side will eventually fail (and soon) while the nook will live on.  They get $300 million from MS and MS gets 18% of the stock.  Also the integration with Windows 8 (which is going onto phones and tablets as well as pcs) will really help them increase their users.

[Karl Henning]

Yes, I am a party interested in the sustainability of Nook : )  Hard not to agree with your point that the br-&-mortar ops will sink at last, at some point.

[jwinter]

I'm hopeful that the Microsoft news means that the Nook will be around for a long time.  I've had the Nook Simple Touch and the Nook Color for a long while now, and love them both.  The Nook Color is pretty good for comics and magazines (though ideally I'd like a bigger screen), and I really enjoy doing the NY Times daily crosswords on it (not to mention Angry Birds).  If I'm going to read a novel, though, the Simple Touch is my clear first choice.  There's oodles of great free stuff at manybooks.net, Project Gutenberg, etc., if you have a taste for the classics.  I also find it very convenient to read the morning paper on the nooks -- very easy to pull it out and read an article when I have 5 minutes to spare, much simpler than carrying a newspaper around, and saves trees.

Oh, and you may want to download a copy of Calibre -- it's great for converting from one ebook format to another, and for editing the tags on non-DRM'd ebooks to make them sort the way you want, change the cover, etc.  There are also easy-to-find calibre plug-ins that will quickly strip the DRM off your books, so that you can do with them as you please.

[DavidW]

It's same here Jwinter, I like games, comics and web browsing on a tablet, but serious reading on an eink ereader.

I use Calibre and those plugins too, it is what keeps me from vendor lockin.  I also keep my own ebook archive on dropbox as a backup (along with my external hd).

[Karl Henning]

Interesting, gents. I do enjoy my Simple Touch; may well not trouble to move.

[DavidW]

I almost returned the nook glow after reading from gizmodo and the digital reader how fragile the screen is... but I decided to keep it and just push for in warranty repairs/replacement if the screen gets damaged.

[Karl Henning]

Good luck, dude!

[drogulus]

     MFST NOK BKS

     If this works it will be a revolution, and one of the great comeback stories. If it doesn't 2 companies go bankrupt and the other one slowly shrinks into irrelevance.

     
     

     

[DavidW]

I think that anyone that refers to companies by their stock tickers has a case of acronym tourettes!