Under a Gibbous Moon

I have recently come into possession of the Barnes & Noble Nook E-Reader. I have been using it for the last several days and have so far enjoyed using it.

I have never seen a Kindle in person. I have played around with Sony’s E-Reader in the store. As far as I can tell, they all have identical E-Ink screens. It is very sharp and, as advertised, is as easy on the eyes as the printed page.

A surprising thing about it, is that the screen never actually turns “off”. By off, I mean that when you power down the unit, the screen goes blank. Instead, the screen displays a series of images for a “screensaver”. This is because the screen only requires power when the display is changed so the image does not actually use any additional power.

This also meant that I had to resist the urge to turn off the screen every time I put it down as I am used to with a cell phone.

The Nook has two sets of physical button on either side. These have the exact same function, which is to turn the page. This allows for left or right side use. They are easy to press and a small raised bump makes it easy to find them without looking. The only thing I wish is that the they were higher up on the unit. For me, they are a bit too low to hold comfortably for extended periods.

One of the big selling feature for the Nook was its color LCD touch screen. From here, you access the various menus for the unit. It is not exceptionally high resolution and reminds me of cell phones maybe eight years ago.

The touch screen itself is responsive but there is a very noticeable lag between actions taken on the touch screen and the effects on the E-Ink screen. This can be distracting and I find it easier to not look at the screen while I am typing. While this does not impact normal use (i.e. reading) it is distracting when you use it heavily, such as shopping. I don’t know whether it is a hardware or software issue but I am surprised that they would allow it to impact their major revenue stream.

The Nooks free wireless service depends upon AT&T’s network. This is a factor if you live somewhere where they do not have service (say much of downstate Illinois). When it works, it is adequate, though it seems a bit slow for the type of information being transfered though I suspect that, since it is not being paid for, AT&T throttles the connections.

I have not used the e-book lending feature but I do know that it requires that both parties has a B&N account (free online registration).

Purchasing e-books is a simple process. Your account has a default credit card which is charged when you select and confirm buy. They are then downloaded within about a minute to the Nook. Purchases are then available from your online account. This means that if you need more than the 1,500 book capacity, you can archive them and download them again later. Additionally, extra storage space is offered via a micro SD card slot.

The Nook’s library sorts books by date acquired but it is also searchable. One point of annoyance is that you can load e-books manually from other sources they go into the My Documents folder and are not part of you main library, that is reserved for B&N purchased books only. This leaves you with two libraries, B&N books and non B&N books a pointless design choice that, in my opinion, is only there it make it difficult to use e-books from other sources.

My final opinion is that the Nook is a perfectly serviceable e-book reader. There are some unfortunate corporate self interest design choices that mar what it an essentially solid device but it definitely in the same class as the other readers on the market today.

Oh, and one final not to publishers. If you are going to offer free excerpts from your book, make it more than three damn pages. One book gave me seventy-five and I by that point I was involved enough in the story to buy it on the spot. Giving a couple of chapters costs you nothing because its like a puzzle without most of the pieces, worthless. A longer excerpt is more likely to get the reader involved and, therefore, more likely to purchase the book.

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