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Nook Simple Touch (or the jump to e-readers in general)


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Nook Simple Touch (or the jump to e-readers in general)
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MBHockey
skates=grafs
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
 
2011-12-25, 11:30

I was doing very last minute Christmas shopping at Barnes and Noble yesterday when this little guy caught my eye. I had never heard of it before (admittedly out of the loop the last year and half with tech stuff). I played with it for about a minute before I had to leave, but I really liked it. At only $99, I'm considering getting this for myself for Christmas.

But I am not at all sure I am ready to make the jump into digital reading. My brother bought the first generation Nook when it came out and he still loves it. The only thing I can't seem to get over is the timelessness of books. I enjoy purchasing books and having them on my bookshelf. The distinctive color bindings, the heaviness of a book in your hand, and how I write in them or put sticky notes all over the place. I love how they are arranged in only a manner that makes sense to me, although if I had to articulate it I could not.

My biggest fear, really, is investing in to some sort of e-reader platform and having my books locked to it. Whereas physical books are timeless, if B&N or Amazon gets out of the e-reader business then all those purchases would be wasted.

I never had this problem with music since I started listening to CDs about the time you could rip them to MP3s anyway. I imagine I would felt similarly about the move to digital music had I been around when record albums were the mainstay.

What do you guys think? Am I over-thinking this jump to e-readers? Is this the obvious next step in reading? I guess I am just not convinced yet!

At $99 it is a very tempting offer (I think there's a Kindle for even less but it comes with ads(?))
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Capella
Dark Cat of the Sith
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Rochester, NY
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2011-12-25, 12:49

As regards the preservation issue, I de-DRM and convert into multiple formats all of my ebooks whenever I purchase them basically immediately. It irritates me that there are competing, incompatible formats, so making sure I have any new book in 5 formats backed up in at least 2 places is important to me. The way I see it, it's my content now, so I'm entitled to ensure I can keep accessing it.

It also helps I get a lot of books from companies like Baen that don't have book DRM and are awesome.

"A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras
twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2011-12-25, 15:39

The $79 Kindle has ads, but you can get them removed for another $30.

If you're considering getting an e-ink reader, be sure to read Marco Arment's detailed comparison. My sister was going to get a Kindle Touch, but then we switched it out for a Kindle 4 after reading that review.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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MBHockey
skates=grafs
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
 
2011-12-25, 17:54

thanks for the link. the Kindle 4 sounds nice but not having a touch screen kills it for me. Seems the Nook may be the best choice for me if I do decide to go with an e-reader.
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Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-12-26, 12:08

I must say that what I have seen of e-ink has not impressed me. It is sort of smudgy and does not look like a real 'page' on the screen. I love reading on my iPad though. It has a very natural feel to it. And I figure that even if any of the electonic book providers get out of the business, that won't prevent me From continuing to read the book on the app, even if it were unsupported for additional downloads. Alternatively, as Capella indicated, you can convert the file into other formats. Granted, it is still nice to have physical books volumes, and for some books I do buy them.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
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MBHockey
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
 
2011-12-26, 14:20

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinney View Post
I must say that what I have seen of e-ink has not impressed me. It is sort of smudgy and does not look like a real 'page' on the screen. I love reading on my iPad though. It has a very natural feel to it. And I figure that even if any of the electonic book providers get out of the business, that won't prevent me From continuing to read the book on the app, even if it were unsupported for additional downloads. Alternatively, as Capella indicated, you can convert the file into other formats. Granted, it is still nice to have physical books volumes, and for some books I do buy them.
I have to say I'm the opposite. I've always been impressed with how similar e-ink looks to a printed page. I much prefer to read a novel off that type of display than something LCD based like an iPad or my computer. Sure the refresh rate is abysmal with e-ink, but i'm not playing games on it!

There's a B&N pretty close by. I think I may go today and pick one up to try it out for a few weeks while I am off from school.

Edit: I went, but couldn't do it! I don't know what it is about e-readers, but I just can't pull the trigger. I do think the device itself is nice, but I'm not sure I am ready to make the jump yet! Sorry to waste board space

Last edited by MBHockey : 2011-12-26 at 16:08.
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addison
Formerly “AWM”
 
Join Date: May 2009
 
2011-12-26, 16:17

Quote:
Originally Posted by MBHockey View Post
I have to say I'm the opposite. I've always been impressed with how similar e-ink looks to a printed page. I much prefer to read a novel off that type of display than something LCD based like an iPad or my computer. Sure the refresh rate is abysmal with e-ink, but i'm not playing games on it!

There's a B&N pretty close by. I think I may go today and pick one up to try it out for a few weeks while I am off from school.

Edit: I went, but couldn't do it! I don't know what it is about e-readers, but I just can't pull the trigger. I do think the device itself is nice, but I'm not sure I am ready to make the jump yet! Sorry to waste board space
Why didn't you take advantage of the trial period? It's kind of hard to tell if it's for you by standing there in a store. I thought an e reader wasn't for me either but my wife got me a Kindle for Christmas last year and I love it. I still like the idea of physical books but it's just so much more practical.
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MBHockey
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: New York
 
2011-12-26, 20:25

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWM View Post
Why didn't you take advantage of the trial period? It's kind of hard to tell if it's for you by standing there in a store. I thought an e reader wasn't for me either but my wife got me a Kindle for Christmas last year and I love it. I still like the idea of physical books but it's just so much more practical.
A few reasons. First, I have about 10 books on my shelf that I want to read right now. I wouldn't re-buy them in the Nook format (or any other format for that matter). Second, I didn't want to give up how I constantly write in the margins in my books. Sure, e-readers have annotate functions but they are clunky at best. And third, if I traveled more an e-reader would bring some serious advantages to the table and make its inherent shortcomings easier to overlook. But as a medical student I don't have time for travel (I barely have time to read for leisure as it is). I didn't need a trial period to tell me that; just some serious contemplation when I was at the store for an hour today playing around with it while weighing the pros and cons.
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torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2011-12-26, 20:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWM View Post
Why didn't you take advantage of the trial period? It's kind of hard to tell if it's for you by standing there in a store. I thought an e reader wasn't for me either but my wife got me a Kindle for Christmas last year and I love it. I still like the idea of physical books but it's just so much more practical.
My wife is pretty anti-tech and she uses her Kindle all the time.
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akonobi
 
 
2011-12-30, 19:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinney View Post
I must say that what I have seen of e-ink has not impressed me. It is sort of smudgy and does not look like a real 'page' on the screen. I love reading on my iPad though. It has a very natural feel to it...
Same her but instead of an iPad I read a lot on my Kindle Fire because I read more when I'm in bed than at any other time, and I like the lights to be off when I do, so I needed something with its own light source and something that doesn't get quite as warm as an iPad.
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2011-12-30, 19:52

Suspicious.

Anyway, to build on what tori said, my mom and technology do not mix and she loves her Kindle. My sister loves hers, too.

If you're thinking about an e-reader, I'd try one out! I think you'd like it. You might not feel like you have much time for reading (and as a medical student you probably don't), but e-readers help you maximize the time that you do have, I think. They're really easy to bring with you so that you always have your books during those little bursts of downtime during the day (waiting in lines, doctors' offices, &c.).

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-01-03, 07:58

I wonder, what's the most widely compatible or "open" ebook reader? I've looked in the past, but it seem to be a mess of "proprietariness". I'm not against DRM, but I am against surrendering control of the device and/or its content to a central command, and being locked into one storefront.

.........................................
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Capella
Dark Cat of the Sith
 
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2012-01-03, 10:50

Basically, there's no one totally free option. .epub is the more open standard, so a Nook (or iPad with an epub reading app) is a better option. However iBooks and the B&N store both use proprietary DRM that you'll have to break if you want to convert the filetype to anything else. We're at the equivalent of the bad old days when iTunes was DRMed and other people thought they could make incompatible DRMed stores as well. If you don't feel like hacking your files, I'd advise either picking a store you're sure will stay around, or avoiding the jump. Or buying only titles from publishers that Do It Right and don't screw you with DRM and sell on their own sites.

"A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras
twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder
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Matsu
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Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-01-03, 16:35

Nook is which store's format? Barnes and Noble? We don't have them in Canada. I think Kobo is our equivalent, but I again do not know if this is another locked in proprietary reader. Can I take something that is ePub from one store onto a 3rd party reader?

The way I see it we need support for ePub, PDF, and some common text formats.

.........................................
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addison
Formerly “AWM”
 
Join Date: May 2009
 
2012-01-03, 16:46

You can put an ePub book on a Kindle too.
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HHogan
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2012-01-25, 11:34

Quote:
Originally Posted by AWM View Post
You can put an ePub book on a Kindle too.
I had to convert to MOBI on my Kindle Fire.
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addison
Formerly “AWM”
 
Join Date: May 2009
 
2012-01-25, 20:29

Yeah. I've used Calibre to put some ePub books on our Kindles. Works fine.
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