Barnes and Noble recently announced their new e-book reader, the Nook. It looks pretty cool, and in some ways I think it really blows past the Kindle. There is another reviews from Technology Review.
There are two big features that make me think this is a great new product that blows past the Kindle.
The first one is the lend feature. If you haven’t heard, with this you can “lend” your book to a friend to use not only on their Nook reader, but on their smartphone or PC/Mac. Any device that has a B&N reader can see the book for 14 days. That’s cool as I can give others an idea of what I recommend.
I know Amazon has the share among Kindles, but they devices have to be on the same account. I don’t necessarily want my wife on my account, or vice versa as I don’t want to see her books, or even manage a budget between us.
I don’t think this is a big deal, and I can’t see it costing lots of revenue. It’s more a way to create community and interest people. It also sounds good, which is important to ensuring people are happy with the device.
The second thing that I like is that it has wi-fi built in. I did find it interesting that Amazon is no longer using Sprint, but moving to ATT, which is the carrier for the nook as well. However ATT has horrible coverage where I am, and I constantly hear people complaining about coverage from them. So if that’s the case, and I can’t buy a book when I want, like from bed or in an airport, then wi-fi is a great second solution.
I like the idea of e-reading. I’m mostly using my iPhone to read for now. I would like to get a dedicated reader again at some point, mostly for the ease of reading in bright environments, and the tremendous battery life. However until I get some insurance or other coverage, and I have an easy way to get books from multiple sources, I’m not sure I want to invest in one.
I don’t think this survey was done well. Most people want an e-reader for $50, according to the survey. That’s the price at which they’d buy one. However I disagree with that. People purchased iPods at $200, and I’m sure some people would do the same for e-readers, but they’d have to include some connectivity. Maybe they ought to work with carriers to piggy back on your phone service and register a device with a cell carrier. Or at least with wi-fi networks.
The power is the platform and the network. They ought to also allow bookstores, like brick-and-mortar BN, Borders, etc. to sell e-books that can be loaded onto your book right there. Some people like paper, some e-readers, but trying to lock things down ensures that the platform can’t grow.
They should have done this on day 1 of the issue: offer users a legitimate copy and move their annotations. I’d like to say this didn’t bother me, but it did, and it definitely made me re-think the complete lockdown Amazon has.
It’s also one reason that I like reading on my iPhone. I can get books from Amazon, B&N, and other sources. I hope publishers will wake up and stop fighting for years as music publishers did. I don’t see the iTunes store losing a ton of sales because of the lack of DRM on their product.
If you offer books from multiple stores, in a format that multiple readers can use, you will speed adoption of the product, and possibly spur sales of books.
Ever since my Kindle broke, I've been reading on my iTouch for the most part. I've been using both the Kindle iPhone app and the Barnes and Noble app and while they are different (Kindle notes, BN notes) , they both have a few quirks and I can't say one is amazingly better than the other. I do like the fact that Barnes and Noble allows me to read on the PC as well as the iTouch, and I have used my PC a couple times when I've had the laptop and not my iTouch.
I've been debating what to do about my reading habits. I have made a few trips to the library in the last month to get books for the kids (and encourage them to read), and gotten myself a few books as well. I like reading paper, but it's inconvenient for me. I find myself without that paper book as I move through a busy life. So I definitely like the idea of ebooks myself. But am I ready for a dedicated reader?
I do think that the Kindle works amazingly better than an LCD screen. It is easier on the eyes, and it lasts much longer. Right now I need to be sure I have power handy for the iTouch or I'll drain it within a day. That can be a problem on long flights, and if I go back to the UK, I'll need a power solution. The Sony reader (saw one in Wal-Mart), works on the same principle, but they have less selection than either B&N or Amazon. I'm sure that might change at some point, but what I'd like to do is see these items decoupled. I think Amazon is making a mistake by not supporting other devices, and the same with Barnes and Noble, though B&N did say they'll support the ePub format.
I've purchased books from both amazon and B&N, and right now the platform is more important to me. Being able to buy anytime, anyplace, is a killer feature. So much so that I'm considering actually moving to an iPhone from my Google G1 just so I can converge onto one device. If I can get books from multiple sources on the iPhone, listen to music, and have a phone, that's winning me over. Sure my Google phone can play music, but it's nowhere near as convenient as iTunes. It has AmazonMP3, but I love having all my music easily found on iTunes.
Overall, however, the big thing I've noticed is that the content is what matters. When I read a story I like, I get lost in the story, ignoring the medium. Whether it's an iPhone, Kindle, or paper book, the story draws me in and I enjoy it.
I downloaded the Barnes and Noble eReader application the day I heard about it and synced up my iTouch immediately. I was curious to see how it compared to the Kindle application, especially across devices.
The install from iTunes is seemless. I "purchased" it from the app store (it's free) and then it appeared on my iTouch after syncing. It asked for my Barnes and Noble account information, and once I put it in, I immediately had a few books downloaded to the device: Dracula, Last of the Mohicans, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Sense and Sensibility. It also has a copy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
I tried a bunch of things on this device, and so I'll run through some comments on how things work as well as some comparisons with the Kindle application.
Buying books online, or getting samples, is easy, and about the same as the Kindle application. Both applications launch a browser that connects from the iTouch. You can also use a PC to purchase books. There is less of a selection from Barnes and Noble, but it's a good selection for me.
Buying requires that you set up a default credit card and then it’s a click and a confirmation.
The ordering in the Kindle application was always set for me to show the most recent read book at the top. This worked well as I often read a couple books at a time and keeping the most recent ones first was great. There were also author/title sorts.
The B&N app does it by download date, which is a pain for me. While typically my most recent book might be downloaded, there are times I'll buy 2-3 books and start reading one. Not having the most recently accessed book at the top is a pain to me. Not sure if it matters to others.
There is no sync. I have my “library” on multiple devices and there is no synchronization between them. At first I thought this was a big deal, but the more I think about it, perhaps not. If my wife and I share an account, and I think we should, then I don’t want her progress impacting mine. We share books in real life, but we might have separate dog ears or bookmarks in there.
As I think about it, the only good way for this to work is to have the ability to manually sync the book location up. Which means that every device would upload its progress periodically and then you’d get a list of devices on your account and locations, and you’d have to select one. Might be a nice future enhancement.
The readers are similar, but the more I’ve used the B&N reader, the more I think it needs work. In the Kindle reader I can swipe my finger right to left to turn a page, a gesture similar to turning a real page. I can go both ways, and that’s the default BN behavior. However the Kindle allows me to also touch the edge of the page on either side to change pages. The BN reader allows that, but I have to change the settings. I can select
It’s nice to be able to set this, but I’d like to be able to have a choice as I’m reading. There are times that I get tired of the swipe, and would like to touch. Changing the settings seems intrusive.
One of the reasons I get tired is that I prefer tapping. However tapping the page in BN reader works fine for turning pages. But if I want to get to the settings, and I have a few times, the tapping keeps turning pages. Normally in both readers tapping the center of the screen brings up the menu. Handy for changing books. I finally learned that I can swipe up or down to get the menu in the BN reader, but I keep forgetting. Very annoying.
On the other hand, their swipe seems to require a bigger swipe than the Kindle reader. I don’t know how you program these apps, but they definitely react differently on the same device.
The BN reader has many more options, from everything like colors and fonts to automatic scrolling, a search feature, line spacing, justification, even a quick day/night setting to allow you to set two reading modes and switch between them with a single choice.
There are two big things that I think really give the BN reader the edge, despite a few annoying ergonomic things. The first is the ability to select a word and look it up. A dictionary is included with your BN reader for free, and once you’ve accessed it, you can press a word for a second, and the dictionary will open and find the word. I think it’s a light dictionary because there have been quite a few words that weren’t in there, but still it’s nice. One of the things I really appreciated about the Kindle device was being able to look up words. I’d never done that with physical books, just guessing at meanings from context. I often looked up words on the Kindle device, and thought it helped me learn a few things.
I was very disappointed the Kindle on iPhone didn’t have this, and liked that the BN reader had it. What’s more, it will ask you if you want to have it look the word up in the dictionary, in Google, or in Wikipedia. That is really handy, and I think it’s powerful on a PC, iPhone, or Blackberry. Not so great on the iTouch unless you have a wi-fi connection, but still cool. You can also set the reader to automatically look it up with one of those sources instead of asking.
The second thing that I think is amazing is that they give you real page numbers. They might not match the exact page in a paperback or hardback, but that is infinitely more reassuring than the Kindle’s “locations.” The book paginates, which slows the reading when you get started, but after that it’s nice to see page xxx at the top.
And even better is a graphical bar chart at the bottom of the screen that roughly marks chapters and the progress to date. I would love that on the Kindle as I often want to decide how much further I have in a chapter. There’s no good way to do that with the Kindle other than page forward and find out.
There are things I like about both readers, and while I think it’s easier to read on the Kindle app, the BN one’s progress indicator and lookup features make it my preferred reader.
I think both companies could learn from the other app, and I look forward to seeing them ported to other devices.
I’m not a fan of Blackberry devices. Actually that’s not true, I really dislike them. They’re not intuitive, and I’ve never liked the form factors. Perhaps that changes as they move towards things like the Storm, but for now I’m avoiding them.
However they are popular, and my wife loves hers. So when I saw Barnes and Noble had a e-reader application for the Blackberry, I decided to try it. While we were having lunch today, I asked her to download it and see what it looked like. She did, and we connected to my account at Barnes & Noble.
Once there, the free books from B&N showed up, along with samples that I’d sent to my iTouch and samples I’d ordered from the PC application on my laptop.
A few comments. The Blackberry application seems much less refined than the iPhone/PC versions. It wasn’t as smooth to read, and the paging down sometimes paused the device. I wasn’t happy with the default font, but when we picked “font settings” from the menu, the screen went blank and the application seemed to go out to lunch. The screen was also small, and not really as easy to read to me.
In this case, the device got in the way.
My wife didn’t like it either, but she wasn’t thrilled with the iTouch or even the Kindle. She liked to pick up a book and just get back to her spot, but I think that’s somewhat because she doesn’t read much and the change was somewhat drastic for her. She used my Kindle a lot last year, but was annoyed when I read a book in between her sessions and she had to find her book again. I agree with that, and it seems these are personal devices.
The Blackberry application, like the others, doesn’t sync up your location among devices. In once sense that’s good since if my wife and I “shared” a book, we wouldn’t want things going back and forth. However if it were just me, and I moved around on devices for some reason, I find that slightly annoying.
I rate this as a poor implementation, but to be fair, the small screen was a bigger deal to me. She has a curve, so I’d like to see this on a Storm.
I saw yesterday that Barnes and Noble released their e-reader for iTouch/iPhone, Blackerrys, Mac, and PCs and at the same time opened up their ebookstore online to more than 700,000 books.
I think it's a great move, and I downloaded it right away. I'll sync up my iTouch and see how it compares to the Kindle reader.
One downside of this device, the formats used by the application aren't compatible with other devices directly, like the Kindle. They do support the epub format, so that's good, but it's disappointing that someone can't move content easily from the Kindle to the B&N application.
I also heard that they will be sending their books to the Plastic Logics reader, which is due to come out later this year.
I haven’t written about the Kindle lately, but I have noticed some news and I found it interesting.
First I saw recently that a new, large format screen might be coming out soon. This is interesting, and it definitely goes for a different market than the original. And it likely doesn’t include me.
I do like the idea of a flexible membrane, and it would be nice at times to not be concerned about the glass screen of my Kindle cracking. However the large screen I think gets in the way more often than not if you’re not in your house.
If it can do wireless delivery, and it has some protection from liquids (think early morning coffee), then I think it’s a good idea, and it might get more people interested in e-reading.
I have enjoyed my Kindle, and over the last few months I’ve read:
There might be a few more, but these are the ones I’ve gone through this year for sure. I’ve purchased a few books, though I haven’t had much luck in getting publishers to send me Kindle versions of tech books. I also started War and Peace as my “classic” novel.
I still am working on 4 books at a time. I tend to read them as:
I try to read a chapter of each and then switch. It tends to keep me moving through dryer content. I will admit to sometimes reading 2 or 3 chapters of the fiction books at times.
I also saw a note that most Kindle users are old, which makes sense. Most people I know my age or younger tend to watch more interactive media instead of reading. Older people still lean towards reading, as a gross generalization. It’s also an expensive device, at $350, and while I think I save some $$, it’s more the convenience for me. to date I have purchased over 100 books in less than a year, and many of these for under $9.99. They were new books, typically in the $15-20 range for me, so I think I’ve saved money, plus I’ve carried along dozens of books as a travel. The convenience is great.
My kids enjoy it as well. I purchased Marley at karate one night for my 7 year old to read (along with The Jungle Book and a few others as samples), and my 10 year old will grab it to read some of the sci-fi that’s loaded on there. Things that wouldn’t be possible if I were carrying my current book or two around.
I also have found the battery life to be excellent. I read most days, but I plug it in only every 4th or 5th day with no issues.
Or maybe part 3, depending.
Amazon reduced the cost of the Kindle yesterday. It's $40 off, a 10% discount, down to $359 from $399 and that's tempting. I've got some Amazon credits, about $100, and since I could conceivably deduct this as a business expense, review it for the site, I'm very tempted. If I had $200 in credits it would be a no brainer.
I found this very interesting review from a book lover. It mirrors a lot of what I think about the Kindle and how I would use it. This was the first review to talk about how easy it is to hold and read with the device. I'll admit that flipping from left to right with a paperback gets tough on my arms, and at night. I find myself shifting positions every minute or so to read the other page when I'd like to have the ability to keep reading the left side or right side only. It might be nice as well when I'm with a kid or someone and don't have two hands free.
I saw a post from Geekbrief on someone that keeps little around. It struck a chord with me since I have lots of books, so many that the shelves are overflowing, and lots of DVDs as well, but it I could go with less, I would. I like re-reading some at times, the last two years I've re-read perhaps 20-30 books from the shelf, but I'm a content person. I like the content, but I don't need to have them all around. I used to, and perhaps would like a library, but it's an extravangance I don't "need."
The other thing that struck me is on our trip this past weekend, I took 4 books, plus one in the car that is almost done. I found myself looking for books a few times or regretting that I didn't have a particular book with me. I also left one book at home that I wish I'd brought.
I'm getting close, and I'm not sure I'd save a lot waiting until Christmas for the Kindle. I think I'll give it a month to see if I get any more Amazon referrals and make any more $$.
