How do books get into the Nook?

[LDB]

I'm brand new here (the Nook area) and previously only a Kindle person with a hint of Kobo. Don't shoot me. Anyway, the Kindle connects to my home wifi and the books just load moments after buying them. Does the Nook do the same and if not how do books get from the computer screen "buy" click into it? Thanks.

[Deskisamess]

In a word, yes, a nook uses WiFi like a Kindle.

[Calenorn]

Of course the NOOK also enables you to side-load books, such as the many available at this site.

[barryem]

I have Kindles, Kobos and Nooks. I buy all my books from Amazon and convert the ones I want to read in the Kobos and Nooks using Calibre.

I don't know if I've ever actually bought a Kobo or Nook book using the Nook. I may have and don't remember. The vast majority of the books I've read have been sideloaded.

Barry

[LDB]

Ha, I'm barely non-Luddite enough to click and have books sent to my device. I'm not sure I'd make it with conversions and loading etc..

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by LDB

Ha, I'm barely non-Luddite enough to click and have books sent to my device. I'm not sure I'd make it with conversions and loading etc..

That's perfectly fine if all you care about is reading. But if you're a book hoarder and like to re-read your books, then backing up your collection and having a good library management program are essential. Too many bookstores have gone under and people without back-ups have lost their purchased books. Of course, if you're more of a read-once-and-discard type, then that's probably not very important to you.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by LDB

Ha, I'm barely non-Luddite enough to click and have books sent to my device. I'm not sure I'd make it with conversions and loading etc..

Why keep switching brands? For someone who is self-admitted non-techie, IMO sticking with Amazon makes the most sense. Jumping around from one store to another just confuses the issue, and complicates it because you end up with books from several sources that are not cross-compatible without a certain amount of technical skill.

[LDB]

I'm considering the new Nook for the much larger screen. A photo of the same page of the same book on it and an Oasis 2 shows the new Nook with about twice as much text. So about half as many page turns for the same amount of reading. That's a big appeal to me.

[LDB]

So is BN not like Amazon, when you buy a Nook book it isn't yours forever and you can download it again later if you need/want to?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by LDB

So is BN not like Amazon, when you buy a Nook book it isn't yours forever and you can download it again later if you need/want to?

Nothing is for ever. If BN goes bankrupt or simply decides to get out of ebook business, then bye-bye Nook books. The same goes for any other bookstore, even Amazon. It's happened before. Best not to rely on anyone else to keep your library safe, but do it yourself. If it's important for you, of course.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by LDB

So is BN not like Amazon, when you buy a Nook book it isn't yours forever and you can download it again later if you need/want to?

Yep. I've got books I bought in 2011 still happily residing on Barnes & Noble's site. I can read them online if I want (just like Amazon). I've also backed them up to Calibre (with the help of Apprentice Alf).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by LDB

I'm considering the new Nook for the much larger screen. A photo of the same page of the same book on it and an Oasis 2 shows the new Nook with about twice as much text. So about half as many page turns for the same amount of reading. That's a big appeal to me.

i'm not really in the market for a larger eReader, but I am impressed with this one's screen. Fonts (what I've seen of them) are dark and sharp.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by LDB

I'm considering the new Nook for the much larger screen. A photo of the same page of the same book on it and an Oasis 2 shows the new Nook with about twice as much text. So about half as many page turns for the same amount of reading. That's a big appeal to me.

I'd like to see this picture. Where did you see it? The screen is 7.8" compared to 7" on the Oasis. There's no way it could have twice the amount of the same size text. 4-5 lines maybe.

[barryem]

The problem with the Nook, and I have one and like it, is that Barnes and Noble is a company at risk now. They're losing money very rapidly and that's been getting worse each year. A lot of pundits are saying this could be their last year. Of course the pundits said that last year but who knows.

In either England or Europe, I forget which, maybe both, B&N pulled out a couple of years ago and left their customers with Nooks either with no access to books or limited access. I don't recall the details now.

A bunch of years ago B&N went into the ebook business in the days before cell phones and tablets and ereaders. You downloaded their app to your PC and you could use that to buy and download books. I installed their program and bought half dozen or so books. I read them all and they weren't books I was likely to read again so when, after 2 or 3 years, they announced they were getting out of that business and we had 30 days to download our books, I wasn't too worried. I downloaded my books and a few months later I got a new PC. The app was no longer available so even though I had the books I couldn't read them. No big deal. There weren't many and I'd already read them. But there was an important lesson there.

A lot of people lost a lot of books. I was one of the lucky ones.

Probably today Amazon is the safest source of books. They're big and stable and not likely to go away any time soon. But things change. Just in case I make safe copies of all my books.

You don't have to be a tech wizard to use Calibre to make backups of your books. Anyone who does it can easily show you how. There are videos on youtube that will show you how. There are several steps but nothing difficult. If you can follow directions to Walmart you can handle it. You just do the things the videos tell you to do to set it up. After that doing the actual conversion is trivial. It's as easy as eating a hamburger and a heck of a lot faster.

Barry

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by barryem

The problem with the Nook, and I have one and like it, is that Barnes and Noble is a company at risk now. They're losing money very rapidly and that's been getting worse each year. A lot of pundits are saying this could be their last year. Of course the pundits said that last year but who knows.

Yeah, but "they've" been saying that for three or four years now. They could shut down tomorrow, but releasing new eReaders and tablets seems to indicate that they're not planning on giving up (at least not soon).