About Robert
Robert McKay. Still a 20 something, but not for much longer. Married. Writer. Geek. Vegetarian. Technophile. Bibliophile. Audiophile. Lover of learning. For more about me, check out the about me page.
| Oh, Nook, how I do love thee. |
| Written by Robert McKay |
| Wednesday, 21 October 2009 11:04 |
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ePub support: Openness FTW.
WiFi: Being a former slave in the wireless industry with a company that hated on WiFi I know that despite their claims cell coverage is not ubiquitous and I know that AT&T has a crappy signal where I live.
Expandable Memory: Kindle 1.0 had it, but 2.0 does not. Most users may never need it, but the ones that do need it will kill you in the media for not putting it in. I love finding ways to use my gadgets to their full potential and putting a limit on that potential is just plain silly in my book.
Looks/design: The Nook is preeeetty. Kindle may have taken a play from Apple's book when it comes to openness, but they didn't take not of their plays for dodging the fugly stick.
Book Sharing: While I don't like the 2 week limit on the sharing a book (most libraries give you 3 weeks), I applaud B&N for putting this feature in. No other e-reader has allowed anything of the sort as far as I know.
Availability: Nook will be available in B&N retail stores! I don't know anyone in close proximity that owns a Kindle and if I'm going to drop close to $300 on something I want to be able to touch it and test it out first.
Name: It may be silly, but I don't think that something that is used for reading books should be in anyway associated with fire. Nook just makes me think of curling up somewhere cozy with a nice book.
Price: Yay, let's all run to their website and pre-order one! Oh, wait, I don't have $259 plus tax to spend on anything right now, let alone a dedicated e-reader. *sigh* This is the one place that Nook doesn't beat Kindle. I'm glad the prices are starting to come down, but they still have a long way to go. If I were still a cell phone slave I may have decided to pick one of these up for Christmas, but that's not going to happen this year and I'm sure there are quite a few other people in the same boat.
So, is the Nook perfect? No. There are things other than the price that could be better, but it is a step in the right direction. Maybe by the time I can afford a shiny new gadget there will be an even better solution on the market. Any of you have reasons you'd prefer to have the Kindle or another e-reader entirely or just want to share in the Nook love? To the comments!
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I know it's just another e-book reader, but Barnes and Noble has my fanboy squee dialed up to OMG. I really liked the idea of the Kindle when it hit the market. It had quite a few things that the Sony reader didn't have, but there were still quite a few things that it didn't have. Yesterday Barnes and Noble officially announced the Nook e-book reader and addressed almost all the concerns I have with the Kindle. Let me break down some of my favorite things about the Nook for you as compared with the Kindle.
If I had to pick today, I'd pick the Nook over the Kindle because of the expandable memory. I'm a notoriously finicky reader with upwards of 50 books going at one time. If I'm going to read, and I'm going to buy a dedicated reader, then I want to be able to read ANY book I own at any given moment.
I also like the lending feature and the color library browsing screen.
If Apple doesn't come out with a tablet in the next quarter or so, I'll probably break down and get a Nook.