I've spent a couple weeks with our Nook 1st Edition, and there has to be a better way. I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who have used a Nook and are now using anything else.
We bought it last June off Craigslist for $80. It's the original model without the color. It has an upper screen to display the text and a lower touch-sensitive (color) screen to manipulate the files & settings. Spouse downloaded a few freebies, used if for a couple weeks, and stopped. It just wasn't a compelling change for her.
Last week I took it to Las Vegas. It had been sitting around for a few months so I had to recharge it before I could upload a file from my hard drive (Scott Berkun's "Mindfire"). I eventually figured out the user interface after I'd uploaded three copies of Mindfire on it, but I was good to go. Maybe it's easier using WiFi instead of a USB cable.
The Nook seems heavy compared to a paperback, although it's lighter than a hardcover. The effective screen is only about 4"x6" because the rest of it is taken up with the touch-sensitive control screen at the bottom and the buttons around the perimeter.
The good news is that it can lay flat on the airplane tray table next to my meal, and unlike a paperback I don't have to juggle it to keep it open to my page while I'm eating or drinking. Of course the potential bad news would be spilling my coffee across the screen, as I'm wont to do with an occasional paperback.
The most annoying features of the Nook are the small text and the small display area. The larger the text, the fewer words and the more cycles of <stop reading><click a page button><watch the screen flicker><resume reading> I have to go through. I suspect that I'm reading more slowly on an e-reader than on a dead-tree book.
On a personal note, this display issue is extra annoying because when I'm reading in solitude, I've developed the habit of flossing my teeth. A hardback book is usually good for 3-4 teeth before I have to untangle from the floss to turn a page. Even a paperback is good for a couple of teeth before I finish the right-hand page. With the Nook it's one tooth at best. If I'm going to floss while using a Nook then I'm going to have to use a one-handed flossing tool.
The user interface is gradually teaching me how it's supposed to work. (This is a different system than "intuitive".) It gives good tactile feedback on the page-turning buttons. However I can never remember whether I'm supposed to simply click the power button or push & hold, and that button doesn't have much tactile feedback. (I eventually figure it out.) The touch-sensitive screen is way too touch-sensitive, and it shuts off while I'm staring at it before I've figured out what I'm trying to do. There's probably a setting I could tweak to give me more time... but the default is awfully short.
The most frustrating part of the user interface is endnotes. In a paper book, when I encounter a note in the text I'll flip to the back of the chapter and then to the back of the book. If I'm really organized then I'll insert a second paper bookmark at the notes so that I can easily flip back & forth.
Not so with the Nook, or perhaps there's a procedure that I haven't stumbled across. In Mindfire I would see a superscript number in the text indicating an endnote. But the screen of text isn't touch-sensitive, so I couldn't just tap the number of the endnote. Instead I had to activate the touch-sensitive screen at the bottom, pick "Go to", "Chapter", scroll through by swiping up the menu items like an Apple instead of pulling down the scroll bar like a PC, eventually find the "Notes" section, chase it around trying to tap it instead of scroll it, and then read the note. At that point I'd realize I had no "Back to the page you were on" button, and I hadn't memorized the damn page number.
I'm sure there's a way to set a bookmark for where you are before you try to navigate to the note. I'm sure there's an easier way to go back. But that's a degree of tweaking & setup that I'm just not interested in doing for every book that has an endnote.
The battery charge lasted less than a week. The especially annoying part of this was that it indicated over three-quarters charged before we boarded the airplane, and then two hours later (of a six-hour flight) it went from 50% to 3% in one cliff-drop instant. Then it shut down without warning, and when I recharged the battery the Nook had lost the page number in the book. But it's possible that this annoyance has been fixed on the newer models. In retrospect I could've shut off the WiFi for a much longer battery life.
However the learning curve and the "feature" set just don't seem worth the weight and the small reading area. I'd be interested in a screen that's at least 6"x9" (a trade paperback) if not bigger, as long as it doesn't weigh more than this Nook.
Our library lends a number of e-books, but the selection is very limited. Out of 100 "What's new" titles, only 17 were actually available and the rest were wait-listed. So I'm not going to get much library use out of an e-reader, and I'll continue reading their "Hot Picks" best-sellers in hardcopy.
Now that I'm burned out on the Nook, is it worth trying a newer Nook, or another e-reader? Or an iPad?
We bought it last June off Craigslist for $80. It's the original model without the color. It has an upper screen to display the text and a lower touch-sensitive (color) screen to manipulate the files & settings. Spouse downloaded a few freebies, used if for a couple weeks, and stopped. It just wasn't a compelling change for her.
Last week I took it to Las Vegas. It had been sitting around for a few months so I had to recharge it before I could upload a file from my hard drive (Scott Berkun's "Mindfire"). I eventually figured out the user interface after I'd uploaded three copies of Mindfire on it, but I was good to go. Maybe it's easier using WiFi instead of a USB cable.
The Nook seems heavy compared to a paperback, although it's lighter than a hardcover. The effective screen is only about 4"x6" because the rest of it is taken up with the touch-sensitive control screen at the bottom and the buttons around the perimeter.
The good news is that it can lay flat on the airplane tray table next to my meal, and unlike a paperback I don't have to juggle it to keep it open to my page while I'm eating or drinking. Of course the potential bad news would be spilling my coffee across the screen, as I'm wont to do with an occasional paperback.
The most annoying features of the Nook are the small text and the small display area. The larger the text, the fewer words and the more cycles of <stop reading><click a page button><watch the screen flicker><resume reading> I have to go through. I suspect that I'm reading more slowly on an e-reader than on a dead-tree book.
On a personal note, this display issue is extra annoying because when I'm reading in solitude, I've developed the habit of flossing my teeth. A hardback book is usually good for 3-4 teeth before I have to untangle from the floss to turn a page. Even a paperback is good for a couple of teeth before I finish the right-hand page. With the Nook it's one tooth at best. If I'm going to floss while using a Nook then I'm going to have to use a one-handed flossing tool.
The user interface is gradually teaching me how it's supposed to work. (This is a different system than "intuitive".) It gives good tactile feedback on the page-turning buttons. However I can never remember whether I'm supposed to simply click the power button or push & hold, and that button doesn't have much tactile feedback. (I eventually figure it out.) The touch-sensitive screen is way too touch-sensitive, and it shuts off while I'm staring at it before I've figured out what I'm trying to do. There's probably a setting I could tweak to give me more time... but the default is awfully short.
The most frustrating part of the user interface is endnotes. In a paper book, when I encounter a note in the text I'll flip to the back of the chapter and then to the back of the book. If I'm really organized then I'll insert a second paper bookmark at the notes so that I can easily flip back & forth.
Not so with the Nook, or perhaps there's a procedure that I haven't stumbled across. In Mindfire I would see a superscript number in the text indicating an endnote. But the screen of text isn't touch-sensitive, so I couldn't just tap the number of the endnote. Instead I had to activate the touch-sensitive screen at the bottom, pick "Go to", "Chapter", scroll through by swiping up the menu items like an Apple instead of pulling down the scroll bar like a PC, eventually find the "Notes" section, chase it around trying to tap it instead of scroll it, and then read the note. At that point I'd realize I had no "Back to the page you were on" button, and I hadn't memorized the damn page number.
I'm sure there's a way to set a bookmark for where you are before you try to navigate to the note. I'm sure there's an easier way to go back. But that's a degree of tweaking & setup that I'm just not interested in doing for every book that has an endnote.
The battery charge lasted less than a week. The especially annoying part of this was that it indicated over three-quarters charged before we boarded the airplane, and then two hours later (of a six-hour flight) it went from 50% to 3% in one cliff-drop instant. Then it shut down without warning, and when I recharged the battery the Nook had lost the page number in the book. But it's possible that this annoyance has been fixed on the newer models. In retrospect I could've shut off the WiFi for a much longer battery life.
However the learning curve and the "feature" set just don't seem worth the weight and the small reading area. I'd be interested in a screen that's at least 6"x9" (a trade paperback) if not bigger, as long as it doesn't weigh more than this Nook.
Our library lends a number of e-books, but the selection is very limited. Out of 100 "What's new" titles, only 17 were actually available and the rest were wait-listed. So I'm not going to get much library use out of an e-reader, and I'll continue reading their "Hot Picks" best-sellers in hardcopy.
Now that I'm burned out on the Nook, is it worth trying a newer Nook, or another e-reader? Or an iPad?