Why I would not buy a nook

bcarlson · 04-02-2011, 01:01 PM

I received a Nook Wifi for chirstmas. After using it for the last three months, I have determined I would not purchase this item if i had a choice. I will caveat this statement, I have no long term experience with any other reader and I do not know if my complaints about the nook would be the same with other readers.

I have a lot of ebooks, more then what fit on the nook core memory. I added a 32gb microsd hc card as allowed in the instructions. I moved over 3K books from my pc to the card using Calibre. When I had no card I could move the books from the pc to the nook with no issues. When I eject both the nook and card from the pc using windows (not calibre) the card does not always work afterward. At one point I waited over 6 hours for the Nook to find the books on the card. I contacted customer service and they were unable to assist me. I went to local BN store and they were unwilling to assist until I told the manager I would not leave until they could either help me in person or find someone in their tech service that could assist me. Eventually they found someone who had experience with my issue. The only solution was to un-register the nook and reset to factory settings then re-register. This of course caused me to lose all the pictures I had for my wallpaper and screen savers along with all the books in "my documents". After this it did find my books.

If the problem ended there, it would not be so bad. However, now it is a crap shoot if I add books or pics to my nook. Sometimes it can find teh sd card other times it does not and I have to un-register again. The most sure fire way to avoid this (works about 75% of the time) is to leave the nook connected to the pc until the pc is shut down.

Along with the nooks difficulty reading sd cards all the time, I am still very upset that side loaded material does not show any metadata in the info screen of the book. I understand it is possible to root the nook to change this, but it should not be necessary. I was told by BN (both store and phone help) that they just do do that. I had to create a book in Calibre of all my books with the synopsis of each book. So if I want to find out what a book is about I have to find it in the large Calibre created book then go back to my documents to find it again. It is a pain in the butt.

These two problems would lead me to not purchase a Nook.

jbcohen · 04-02-2011, 02:11 PM

Not going to speak ill of a Nook because I like them, its just that I typically recommend a kindle for people such as you. The Kindle has a search function that makes finding a book on your book stacks easier.

bcarlson · 04-02-2011, 02:25 PM

The issues isn't finding the book. The issue is not having access to the synopsis of the book once it is found.

spaze · 04-02-2011, 02:46 PM

Wow, you have to be a fast reader if you have to have 3000 books in your reader.

bcarlson · 04-02-2011, 04:39 PM

lots of short stories

afv011 · 04-02-2011, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcarlson

lots of short stories

I agree with spaze. You are not making it easy for yourself by having so many books at the time. Granted, it should just work, but why not put books enough to last you a month or two, and keep cycling them as you need?

I personally have some 150 books in the internal memory and it only takes about 20% of the available space. And this will last me well past the end of the year.

bcarlson · 04-02-2011, 05:24 PM

While storing the books on the device itself would eliminate my issue with the sd card, it will not fix my problem of the lack of access to the metadata. Honestly, this upsets me more then the sd card issue. I hate the fact that I cannot lick on "info" and get access to the synopsis of the book or any other data I put on there.

SCION · 04-02-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcarlson

While storing the books on the device itself would eliminate my issue with the sd card, it will not fix my problem of the lack of access to the metadata. Honestly, this upsets me more then the sd card issue. I hate the fact that I cannot lick on "info" and get access to the synopsis of the book or any other data I put on there.

B&N appear to be totally clueless or don't give a darn about library management for the user. The same attitude has been carried over to the NOOKcolor. I'm interested in an eink device, but won't buy the NOOK 2 when released. I don't want to root the device for basic functionality that should be there. I've ranted about no tag/collection recognition before. At the very least book description should be provided. Unreal.

chas0039 · 04-04-2011, 09:14 AM

I hacked my Nook specifically because of their garbage library management and their limit on the number of books (close to 1275). After the 1.5 update did little to help, I wrote Nook off and all my new readers are now Ectaco. They are not flashy or wireless, but they clearly spent some time with the readers to see how to make their software and they cost half as much.

These days I almost never use the Nook. It was fun for a while but it is no longer a serious contender for those of us who are hard core readers, at least in my opinion.

dschoemaker · 04-04-2011, 11:30 AM

OK in partial defense of the nook... 32 gb card? 3000 books? Your looking for a computer, not a $100-250 ebook reader (refurb all way up to nook color). Sounds like trying to launch a rocket to the moon with a pocket calculator.

Do their adds overpromise... YES; but its still one heck of an ebook reader for the average user. And for those who root them its a steal for an android touch tablet.

frugal · 04-04-2011, 01:58 PM

Your discussion points out a couple of limitations of Barnes and Noble and the Nook Color.

Your first problem was with product support. B&N are book sellers and do not seem to yet have the staff and systems to handle support issues related to the reader hardware and software. They are in the middle of trying to transition their business to electronic media while their revenue stream from their current core products sucks. Even with the best of intentions, it's hard to ramp up training and business systems while Amazon is eating your lunch on your core business.

Fortunately, there are several online communities, like this one, with people who are willing and able to help you work through technical issues like these. Did you try to get help there? Some of the SD card problems could have been caused by formatting or partitioning issues.

Second, you seem to be an ebook "power user" with needs a bit different from what I would consider normal. This does not mean they're unreasonable. The Nook Color is designed to be an ebook reader and incorporates the concept of a book shelf which represents a small to medium collection of books. It looks like what you want is an "elibrary" and that is probably outside the specs that the Nook Color was designed for.

Please keep in mind that B&N's primary purpose for the Nook Color is to help them sell you ebooks. I doubt that they make much, if anything, on selling the hardware. Just for curiosity, how many of your 3000 ebooks were purchased from B&N?

It could be that your best option today is to use Calibre to handle the library functions and to copy books, or small collections of them, to a reader like the Nook Color when you are ready to read them. It certainly should do fine for a month's worth of reading material.

As an ebook READER, the Nook Color seems like a good deal to me. It's clearly not as good as a library management system. If someone else knows of a single product that does both well for a reasonable price, I hope they'll mention it here.

To be honest, the Nook Color doesn't doesn't do everything I want either. It just seems to be the best solution for my needs at this time. After a couple of weeks of research, I'll finally go buy one today.

takayami · 04-04-2011, 04:46 PM

I have 2 misfortunes when a bought the nook color. First was DOA. Next day I change it. The second does a funny stuff in store on 5thAv so after that i' am 3rd. which is beyond expectation.

A have about 2500 books on MicroSD (mostly is Oracle standard documentation which come with product) and my target was to determine if i can have all technical document with me.
And yes is working.
Nnot on a direct attempt because 2500 pdf are too much to access with my file, but as stated above is not a pc.

But with search is more than perfect.

I do not like not having a function to remember where i read last time on pdf.

RAH · 04-04-2011, 04:47 PM

Well said, Frugal!

WillRockwell · 04-05-2011, 07:04 AM

Why would anyone need more than 1000 books on their Nook? If this is your complaint, you'll find something you don't like with any E-reader.

chas0039 · 04-05-2011, 10:32 PM

Why would an E Reader offer the capacity of a 32gb SD card and then not support any more than 7% of the capacity?

I have collected ebooks for 10 or so years and have long been looking for a suitable reader (anyone remember the Rocket Ebook Reader?). The reasons many of us have more than 1000 books are wide and varied, I read 10-20 books at a time and I don't want to have to connect to a computer every time I want to swap books, and lose my place. I have spent too many years with my ebooks on my computer.

The biggest gripes with the Nook are problems with storage and access and search and sort functions. Almost none of these are issues with other ebook readers, so essentially, the problem is just sloppy, incompetent, and arrogant programming of their firmware. This is especially annoying after the many, many suggestions are ignored with the 1.5 firmware.

Those of you who can't see the reason to have more than a few books at a time will probably be content with the Nook. Those of us who can't see why Nook won't do what all the other readers already do will probably do what I did; but their next readers from someone else.

04-02-2011, 01:01 PM	#1
bcarlson Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Nook	Why I would not buy a nook I received a Nook Wifi for chirstmas. After using it for the last three months, I have determined I would not purchase this item if i had a choice. I will caveat this statement, I have no long term experience with any other reader and I do not know if my complaints about the nook would be the same with other readers. I have a lot of ebooks, more then what fit on the nook core memory. I added a 32gb microsd hc card as allowed in the instructions. I moved over 3K books from my pc to the card using Calibre. When I had no card I could move the books from the pc to the nook with no issues. When I eject both the nook and card from the pc using windows (not calibre) the card does not always work afterward. At one point I waited over 6 hours for the Nook to find the books on the card. I contacted customer service and they were unable to assist me. I went to local BN store and they were unwilling to assist until I told the manager I would not leave until they could either help me in person or find someone in their tech service that could assist me. Eventually they found someone who had experience with my issue. The only solution was to un-register the nook and reset to factory settings then re-register. This of course caused me to lose all the pictures I had for my wallpaper and screen savers along with all the books in "my documents". After this it did find my books. If the problem ended there, it would not be so bad. However, now it is a crap shoot if I add books or pics to my nook. Sometimes it can find teh sd card other times it does not and I have to un-register again. The most sure fire way to avoid this (works about 75% of the time) is to leave the nook connected to the pc until the pc is shut down. Along with the nooks difficulty reading sd cards all the time, I am still very upset that side loaded material does not show any metadata in the info screen of the book. I understand it is possible to root the nook to change this, but it should not be necessary. I was told by BN (both store and phone help) that they just do do that. I had to create a book in Calibre of all my books with the synopsis of each book. So if I want to find out what a book is about I have to find it in the large Calibre created book then go back to my documents to find it again. It is a pain in the butt. These two problems would lead me to not purchase a Nook.

04-04-2011, 09:14 AM	#9
chas0039 Sceptic Posts: 573 Karma: 73436 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: The Lake Device: rooted Nooks, retired. JetBook Lite, Kindle 3, 4, Kobo Nia, Libra H2O.	I hacked my Nook specifically because of their garbage library management and their limit on the number of books (close to 1275). After the 1.5 update did little to help, I wrote Nook off and all my new readers are now Ectaco. They are not flashy or wireless, but they clearly spent some time with the readers to see how to make their software and they cost half as much. These days I almost never use the Nook. It was fun for a while but it is no longer a serious contender for those of us who are hard core readers, at least in my opinion. Last edited by chas0039; 04-04-2011 at 09:17 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Please help out on this. Should I buy this nook?	mickeyfinn	Barnes & Noble NOOK	6	03-29-2011 11:21 AM
Best Buy and nook color	Mitzasuro	Nook Color & Nook Tablet	20	11-29-2010 03:17 PM
Classic how do i buy nook from outside US? currently in Singapore.	nelson7lim	Barnes & Noble NOOK	10	09-07-2010 01:33 AM
Classic Should I buy a Nook?	JoshLessard	Barnes & Noble NOOK	41	09-05-2010 01:34 AM
Best Buy now selling the Nook	bob1xxx	News	12	04-27-2010 06:30 PM

04-02-2011, 02:11 PM	#2
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Not going to speak ill of a Nook because I like them, its just that I typically recommend a kindle for people such as you. The Kindle has a search function that makes finding a book on your book stacks easier.

04-02-2011, 02:25 PM	#3
bcarlson Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Nook	The issues isn't finding the book. The issue is not having access to the synopsis of the book once it is found.

04-02-2011, 02:46 PM	#4
spaze Addict Posts: 265 Karma: 512072 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Helsinki, Finland Device: Writing my first short story: Guardian Angel	Wow, you have to be a fast reader if you have to have 3000 books in your reader.

04-02-2011, 04:39 PM	#5
bcarlson Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Nook	lots of short stories

04-02-2011, 05:24 PM	#7
bcarlson Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Nook	While storing the books on the device itself would eliminate my issue with the sd card, it will not fix my problem of the lack of access to the metadata. Honestly, this upsets me more then the sd card issue. I hate the fact that I cannot lick on "info" and get access to the synopsis of the book or any other data I put on there.

04-04-2011, 11:30 AM	#10
dschoemaker Reading Fool Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: St. Louis Device: Nook, 2x Nook Color, NST, IPad 1 & 3	OK in partial defense of the nook... 32 gb card? 3000 books? Your looking for a computer, not a $100-250 ebook reader (refurb all way up to nook color). Sounds like trying to launch a rocket to the moon with a pocket calculator. Do their adds overpromise... YES; but its still one heck of an ebook reader for the average user. And for those who root them its a steal for an android touch tablet.

04-04-2011, 01:58 PM	#11
frugal Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 40 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: B&N Nook Color	Your discussion points out a couple of limitations of Barnes and Noble and the Nook Color. Your first problem was with product support. B&N are book sellers and do not seem to yet have the staff and systems to handle support issues related to the reader hardware and software. They are in the middle of trying to transition their business to electronic media while their revenue stream from their current core products sucks. Even with the best of intentions, it's hard to ramp up training and business systems while Amazon is eating your lunch on your core business. Fortunately, there are several online communities, like this one, with people who are willing and able to help you work through technical issues like these. Did you try to get help there? Some of the SD card problems could have been caused by formatting or partitioning issues. Second, you seem to be an ebook "power user" with needs a bit different from what I would consider normal. This does not mean they're unreasonable. The Nook Color is designed to be an ebook reader and incorporates the concept of a book shelf which represents a small to medium collection of books. It looks like what you want is an "elibrary" and that is probably outside the specs that the Nook Color was designed for. Please keep in mind that B&N's primary purpose for the Nook Color is to help them sell you ebooks. I doubt that they make much, if anything, on selling the hardware. Just for curiosity, how many of your 3000 ebooks were purchased from B&N? It could be that your best option today is to use Calibre to handle the library functions and to copy books, or small collections of them, to a reader like the Nook Color when you are ready to read them. It certainly should do fine for a month's worth of reading material. As an ebook READER, the Nook Color seems like a good deal to me. It's clearly not as good as a library management system. If someone else knows of a single product that does both well for a reasonable price, I hope they'll mention it here. To be honest, the Nook Color doesn't doesn't do everything I want either. It just seems to be the best solution for my needs at this time. After a couple of weeks of research, I'll finally go buy one today.

04-04-2011, 04:46 PM	#12
takayami Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Nook Color	I have 2 misfortunes when a bought the nook color. First was DOA. Next day I change it. The second does a funny stuff in store on 5thAv so after that i' am 3rd. which is beyond expectation. A have about 2500 books on MicroSD (mostly is Oracle standard documentation which come with product) and my target was to determine if i can have all technical document with me. And yes is working. Nnot on a direct attempt because 2500 pdf are too much to access with my file, but as stated above is not a pc. But with search is more than perfect. I do not like not having a function to remember where i read last time on pdf.

04-04-2011, 04:47 PM	#13
RAH Guru Posts: 615 Karma: 575652 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Hampton, NH Device: Kobo Aura H20; Kobo ClaraBW	Well said, Frugal!

04-05-2011, 07:04 AM	#14
WillRockwell Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Nook color	Why would anyone need more than 1000 books on their Nook? If this is your complaint, you'll find something you don't like with any E-reader.

04-05-2011, 10:32 PM	#15
chas0039 Sceptic Posts: 573 Karma: 73436 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: The Lake Device: rooted Nooks, retired. JetBook Lite, Kindle 3, 4, Kobo Nia, Libra H2O.	Why would an E Reader offer the capacity of a 32gb SD card and then not support any more than 7% of the capacity? I have collected ebooks for 10 or so years and have long been looking for a suitable reader (anyone remember the Rocket Ebook Reader?). The reasons many of us have more than 1000 books are wide and varied, I read 10-20 books at a time and I don't want to have to connect to a computer every time I want to swap books, and lose my place. I have spent too many years with my ebooks on my computer. The biggest gripes with the Nook are problems with storage and access and search and sort functions. Almost none of these are issues with other ebook readers, so essentially, the problem is just sloppy, incompetent, and arrogant programming of their firmware. This is especially annoying after the many, many suggestions are ignored with the 1.5 firmware. Those of you who can't see the reason to have more than a few books at a time will probably be content with the Nook. Those of us who can't see why Nook won't do what all the other readers already do will probably do what I did; but their next readers from someone else.