Classic Finally used a nook....

[tautologico]

Originally Posted by Musicman

I also think that strong competition will be beneficial to all of us e-book readers no matter what device we use.

Indeed. A good proof of this is that Amazon rushed to get updates to the Kindle with features that people kept requesting for a long time in order to compete with the nook (PDF support for example), and it already promised to add support to organize your ebooks in some fashion next year.

I also think the nook has the potential to introduce a lot of people to e-readers, people who wouldn't go after them online but may buy one after seeing a demo unit. This means the whole market for e-readers grow, which good for everyone as well.

B&N just has to get it right, it didn't start well but let's see how it manages from now on.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Musicman

I got Dracula the Undead in Epub format from my library and the f ormat on my EZ-Reader is horrible (Huge Margins of white). I downloaded the book at B&N on the demo nook and ran into the 15 seconds or so of formatting message at the largest font; however once it came up it was excellent.

The Windows B&N Reader now handles ePub, and it does so by ignoring most CSS (e.g. margins, fonts, etcetera). It sounds like the Nook may be doing the same. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the ePub in question.

[PaulGuy]

Originally Posted by Musicman

The lock up you had, did it only happen that once or has it been a continual problem?

Since I did the re-boot I've only had one freeze-up when trying to open a free book, Crime and Punishment. I did not try to open that book since. Other than that no issues.

[stangri]

Originally Posted by PaulGuy

Since I did the re-boot I've only had one freeze-up when trying to open a free book, Crime and Punishment.

Ironic, isn't it?

[SanAntone]

I stopped by the local B&N last night to try the Nook. They had two out on display and had 3 people standing by to explain them. (by the way, I think it's great that some competition is out there for the kindle...we'll all win because of this)

Here's my observation:

1. The first lady was demonstrating it to a couple that were interested. As I leaned in to listen, the B&N employee was frustrated because she couldn't get the nook to go back to the first page of the book. She literally tried for 3-4 minutes, then the couple walked away shaking their heads. She looked at me, smiled, and said she couldn't figure out how to do it!

2. The second lady let me look at the other nook. I like the way it looks. The back of the nook is really neat and feels good in the hands. She couldn't get back to the main menu. She pushed the "n" button and stated that she never knows for sure where that button will take her. She actually told me it was still buggy, but nice and small and I could put it in a purse. I'm a guy (and don't look anything like a girl).

At least at the local store, the employees had enthusiasm, but they can permanently lose customers if people saw what I saw. I hope they improve the demo because we all want these readers to succeed.

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

The Windows B&N Reader now handles ePub, and it does so by ignoring most CSS (e.g. margins, fonts, etcetera). It sounds like the Nook may be doing the same. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the ePub in question.

The nook should be using Adobe's ePub rendering, and be pretty similar to the PRS-505. The PC app doesn't seem to be using Adobe's rendering yet.

[Musicman]

PaulGuy,

I received my nook yesterday and had a chance to put it through its paces, and so far I like what I see...

The page turns are not, imo, slow (then I am comparing it to my EZ-Reader). The swipe to turn the pages works flawless (once you know how to do it - I read someones post somewhere on how to swipe).

I installed a MicroSD card (4 gig) and sideloaded books I bought at fictionwise. I had to enter that credit card number once (it is different than my B&N account) and after that all my books opened without being prompted for the cc number.

I did have a problem with four books on my B&N bookshelf opening. The reader would not get passed the formatting message. I archived, unarchived, rebooted and still no go. I sideloaded these four and they opened with no problems (again I did NOT have to reenter my cc number).

I order a magazine subscription and found that it did not completely download to my nook. The cover art was there and it allowed you to view or archive but not read it. I downloaded it to my PC (it opened there) and then sideloaded that and it loaded with no problem. I checked my account and saw that the magazine stated no shipped on my billing.... I will see what happens on the next issue (this one was the last published).

I downloaded a sample of a book and it worked with no problems...

I use their 3g network and it worked (even from my basement where I do not get a signal on my cell phone). I then used my wireless network and it worked flawlessly (was also much faster).

So far, a small sped bump on some content, but nothing as bad as some have stated.

I think it is an excellent reader.....

One other thing I forgot on my first post...
I have two library books I have out and activated my nook on Adobe ADE and transferred the two books without a hitch.

They display better than on my EZ-reader.....

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Musicman

Thanks for your review.


I got Dracula the Undead in Epub format from my library and the f ormat on my EZ-Reader is horrible (Huge Margins of white). I downloaded the book at B&N on the demo nook and ran into the 15 seconds or so of formatting message at the largest font; however once it came up it was excellent.

Frankly, it may be a blessing that you are having problems reading Dracula the Undead. It starts out interesting enough, with nice historical detail, but quickly degenerates into a horribly disrespectful, everything-you-know-is-wrong take on the world of Dracula, ultimately degenerating into Dracula-as-Edward-Cullen. It trashes the best parts of original novel, dismissing them as "lies!" I'm really glad I got a good deal on it at fictionwise; otherwise I would be annoyed at having paid a lot for schlock.

Luqman


Luqman

[jaxx6166]

I can't find my original thread, so I figured that I would bump this one to update you all on my second time playing with it.

As a positive, it still seems to be garnering an awful lot of attention. When I was at the store today, there were half a dozen people oohing and aahing at the new shiny technology. While I was there, one of the customer service girls (bad place for the display - IMO) asked if I had any questions. There weren't any that I asked her that she could answer.

Instead, I ended up fielding some of the more basic questions from other people that were gawking. I gave them my honest opinion after owning four Sony's and a K2.

Anyway.

The nook in store was running 1.1.1. The first thing I noticed was the speed increase. It really is a viable ebook reader now. The speed seemed to be on par with my K2, but still slower than the 700. The touch screen seemed more responsive this time too, which was awesome. It actually worked like it should. Though some of their wonky interface options still made things confusing. I didn't have to push super hard anymore to get the screen to respond to my commands. It pretty much did what was asked.

Then after about 20 minutes of fiddling with it, I started to notice some slowdown. But it only appeared on certain texts, which makes me wonder if it's a nook issue or whoever is formatting their ebooks.

I also remember reading on the board that a user was experiencing problems with series books. I downloaded samples of the Gunslinger and the Drawing of the Three, which were labeled on the "store" as "The Dark Tower I" and "The Dark Tower II"

Maybe I didn't hit the alphanumeric cutoff with the name, but I couldn't see any real problem with it storing the two of them. They were both displayed on my library as "Dark Tower I" and "Dark Tower II"

Loading them up loaded the respective files. The subtitles in the upper right and left hand corners of the screen showed the proper name. But the excerpts seemed to be the exact same content. I don't know if that's a fault of the sample, or the nook. It's been forever since I looked at my paper copies. The ones the files seemed based on were the newest batches of re-release. The TPB editions with the full color illustrations. I couldn't see any of the illustrations though, but that's because they're not in the first 20 pages

I am assuming that it loaded both files seperatly because the first few pages listed different illustrations and page numbers.

Switching between the two samples though did leave me reformatting after each switch. Total time between changing books (Tapping interface - waiting for response - watching screen refresh - change to formatting screen... text finally appearing) was somewhere in the ballpark of 10 - 15 seconds. Still way too slow, IMO. I don't know what caused the difference in the load times. I did the test 4x.

While in store, I had several network and library issues. Downloaded samples of "Under the Dome" "Sunshine Lady" and one or two other random samples did not appear. Period.

I got the "Downloading..." screen and it told me they were added to my library. Couldn't find them. I looked under "My B/N Library" and "My Documents." They were nowhere to be found. So I tried redownloading them again. The system told me the files were already downloaded and in my library. So, I went back to my library. Checked for new content. Checked a second time. Nothing.

Weird.

I'm hoping that it's an issue with the demo models only and their attempts to filter or limit the amount of crap on their displays. I did notice that I had spotty network reception, even though I had 3 bars on the WiFi and it showed the little B/N icon.

I got several "Could not connect to network." and "Network not found." error messages.


With the few samples I did try (They had "Dracula", "Little Women", and "The Great Gatsby" on for sampling) I noticed very sporadic speed responses. Dracula was downright sluggish. Taking the good ol 3-4 second for the next page to show up on the screen. Little Women was a little better at around 2 seconds, but Gatsby was blazing fast. Roughly averaged about 1 - 1.5 seconds for a page turn. THat was going front and back. And flipping several at once.

I was impressed with the fast books, disappointed with the slow books. So, I'm hoping it may have something to do with the formatting. The slow books included extras like timelines and bios that I had to flip through. They were displayed almost in newspaper columns.

In summary - it seems that B/N has made very good strides towards fixing the initial complaints. They still have some work to go. I'm hoping that by the time they're on the shelf all the problems will be solved, or at least covered with bandaids.

Then I plan on being a proud Nook owner

[dwallbaum]

I asked this in another thread: does the nook have justification options, such as ragged right / full justification?

The Kindle 2 inexplicably has just full forced justification, which irks me,and one reason I am also looking at a nook.

Thx!

Don

[binkman71]

No justification options that I've discovered.

The first lady was demonstrating it to a couple...

I just have images of Michelle Obama getting all techy in a bookstore.

K.

[EricNYC646]

Originally Posted by SanAntone

I stopped by the local B&N last night to try the Nook. They had two out on display and had 3 people standing by to explain them. (by the way, I think it's great that some competition is out there for the kindle...we'll all win because of this)

Here's my observation:

1. The first lady was demonstrating it to a couple that were interested. As I leaned in to listen, the B&N employee was frustrated because she couldn't get the nook to go back to the first page of the book. She literally tried for 3-4 minutes, then the couple walked away shaking their heads. She looked at me, smiled, and said she couldn't figure out how to do it!

2. The second lady let me look at the other nook. I like the way it looks. The back of the nook is really neat and feels good in the hands. She couldn't get back to the main menu. She pushed the "n" button and stated that she never knows for sure where that button will take her. She actually told me it was still buggy, but nice and small and I could put it in a purse. I'm a guy (and don't look anything like a girl).

At least at the local store, the employees had enthusiasm, but they can permanently lose customers if people saw what I saw. I hope they improve the demo because we all want these readers to succeed.

I had one employee tell me that no other readers have touch in the e-ink screen, I stared at him. Sony does. True its a layer over the e-ink, but it is a touch screen for sure. I have one.

When I tried to change the font and it gave me an error. He stared me down like I was ruining his day. I was in shock. My friend told me that I should stick with my Sony reader that B&N is definitely out of their element. Hope this changes, its a pretty sexy device.

[dwallbaum]

Originally Posted by binkman71

No justification options that I've discovered.

K.

Sooo...does this mean default left justification, default full justification?

Thx!

[Madam Broshkina]

Originally Posted by dwallbaum

Sooo...does this mean default left justification, default full justification?

Thx!

I think it depends on how the book was put together. I have not tried any of the Barnes and Noble books yet but I have put some ePubs from Sony on the nook and some are full justified and some are not.