Well, it finally happened. I spazzed out and left my Kindle on a red-eye flight. I was managing trying to get off the plane with a service dog, so I guess I had my hands full with carry-ons and sleep deprivation.
Anyway, I filed a police report and called Amazon so that the device will be blocked from being registered on a new amazon account (which I double checked using the serial number and my own account - it has). Some person tried to re-name the device from my name to "Miss Maliyah" and tried to purchase some dirty books using my credit card. Thankfully, everything was sorted out with a single phone call to Amazon, which I was pleased with - don't get me wrong. I have personally had nothing but good experiences with Amazon customer service.
However, I am still considering alternative ereader devices. I started out with the Kindle #1 and loved it, and purchased a Kindle 2 after selling my used Kindle 1 on Amazon. However, once I received my Kindle 2, I found that I didn't much care for the text-to-speech (I also use audible audiobooks - far superior, of course, since it's actual voice actors/readers) and I missed my removable battery and expandable memory card slot. I also preferred the gentler and easier-to-access pageturn button on the Kindle 1 (which some people didn't like since it was easily bumped).
These were the features I appreciated in my previous devices and are important to me:
- Expandable Memory (especially for audiobooks, which are large)
- Easily accessible pageturn buttons
- Removable battery
- Mobile web browser (for wikipedia, etc), which necessitates...
- Either a 3G or WiFi connection (WiFi-only is fine if expandable memory is available - I can download files using my phone)
These are the features which I didn't much use:
- Text to speech
- Annotations (I mostly just read)
Now, after looking through a couple review websites, I am torn between the BeBook Neo and the Nook. I live in the US, and while I'm not conveniently located near a Barnes and Noble store, one is available to me within a 1-hour bus drive, and getting out in public is something I would like to do more often as I am mostly stuck at home. However, knowing that all of my Kindle books are stuck in .azw format after my Kindle was stolen leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so I am intrigued by BeBook Neo's open-source architecture and ability to read many different formats of ebooks. I am also relatively unfamiliar with ebook stores outside of Amazon's, which would be a learning curve in itself but something I would gladly do to support more widely-usable DRM formats that don't lock you into a certain provider.
These are the
features that I like in the Nook:
- In-store specials encourage getting me out of the house
- Book loaning (my friends do not use Nook but can download the PC/Mac/Apple software)
- Cover art (via bottom navigation screen)
And the
features I don't like in the Nook:
- Pushes Barnes & Noble DRM, which isn't much different than being locked to Amazon's .azw
These are the
features that I like in the BeBook Neo:
- Open-source
- Supports many book formats and book sellers - not pushing any single book seller
These are the
features that I don't like in the BeBook Neo:
- No cellular connection, however with a SD slot I can at least copy books onto a memory card using my phone's data connection
Of course, I am open to alternative suggestions and will probably be purchasing my new ebook reader by mid-June (my birthday gift to myself). Does anyone have experience choosing between the Nook and the BeBook Neo? Or does anyone have any alternative ereaders that I should consider?
I am an avid reader, and I'd love to start supporting store-unspecific DRM (or even DRM-free) books, as long as they have a decent enough selection of the books that I read.
I spend much of my day reading, and as a bit of a speed reader it's hard for me to lug around the weight of several paper books with me all day.