How to add books to Nook for PC/iThing

[starrigger]

This is probably simple, and I'm just not seeing it. But other than downloads from the store, I can't seem to get books into either Nook for PC, or into the Nook app on an iTouch. I don't see an Add button, and when I drag and drop, nothing seems to happen.

Can someone give me a clue on this? I don't have an actual Nook, but I want to be able to test my own books on as many platforms as possible.

Thanks.

[starrigger]

Oh, for crying out loud. I just found it, in Nook for PC. Under My Stuff, there's an Add button. Why this isn't under ebooks, I don't know, but there you have it.

I still don't know how to view it in the iThing app, though. Does anyone?

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by starrigger

I still don't know how to view it in the iThing app, though. Does anyone?

I was never able to figure out how to add my own ePubs to the Nook app. However, Bluefire uses the same rendering engine, if you're trying to see how a book of yours will look in the program.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by ATimson

I was never able to figure out how to add my own ePubs to the Nook app. However, Bluefire uses the same rendering engine, if you're trying to see how a book of yours will look in the program.

Aha. I guess I should try Bluefire, then. Thanks.

[Ubermensch]

Well, Barnes & Noble are using Adobe's technology for epubs, so Adobe Digital Editions is probably your best bet. Plus, you can add files and synchronize them automatically to your Nook. (Though the cleanest way to add non-B&N epubs to your Nook is by doing it manually, in my opinion.)

Adding a file to the NOOK application is really simple in my opinion, especially on Mac where you can simply drag&drop it. You can probably do that on Windows too. However the application is still in beta (or at least, the Mac version) and I can't read books from it anymore.

[starrigger]

I don't have a Nook, I just have the apps. Drag and drop doesn't work in Windows, but now that I found the Add button, I'm good on the PC.

The iTouch, though, is different. I installed Bluefire, but I can't see how you add books to that.

BTW, testing with ADE is one of the first things I do. But it's no guarantee of what something will look like on a device. It's amazing how many ways a display can get fouled up.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by starrigger

The iTouch, though, is different. I installed Bluefire, but I can't see how you add books to that.

You need to use iTunes - while the device is connected, go to the Applications tab on it (where you select programs to add/remove from the device), and scroll to the bottom; you should see a File Sharing area. Select Bluefire in the box on the left, and drop the book onto the box on the right.

[Ubermensch]

Originally Posted by ATimson

You need to use iTunes - while the device is connected, go to the Applications tab on it (where you select programs to add/remove from the device), and scroll to the bottom; you should see a File Sharing area. Select Bluefire in the box on the left, and drop the book onto the box on the right.

Wow, that's a bit of an overkill for a simple book...

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by Ubermensch

Wow, that's a bit of an overkill for a simple book...

It's not a unique process to Bluefire; it's the standard process for adding any file to a program on an iOS device. (And it's probably less complicated than trying to setup up the SD card on something like a Nook...)

Well, I just remembered that if you e-mail the file to yourself and open the attachment, it should let you open it in Bluefire. Might be easier, but probably not quicker.

[starrigger]

Voila! It works! Looks like I could do the same thing with Stanza, if I don't want to mess with the Calibre server. Thanks.

[Ubermensch]

Originally Posted by ATimson

It's not a unique process to Bluefire; it's the standard process for adding any file to a program on an iOS device. (And it's probably less complicated than trying to setup up the SD card on something like a Nook...)

Well, I just remembered that if you e-mail the file to yourself and open the attachment, it should let you open it in Bluefire. Might be easier, but probably not quicker.

What I had in mind was DropBox support. But I guess this is another topic...

[bulleye]

never thought this kind of thing, because I prefer read on my nook than PC.

Thanks

[tomsem]

Keep in mind that there are many ePub reading systems out there and that you can't necessarily make something that works perfectly on all of them. Some ebook designers prepare slightly different ePub source depending on the target platform (iBooks/webkit, Adobe RMSDK, etc.)

It's even worse than that because even within the Nook (or Kobo) platform there are at least two rendering systems in play (Adobe's SDK is only used on Nook devices, not in the mobile and desktop apps). It's very similar to web development in that what works well on one browser doesn't necessarily work well on another one.

[ATimson]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It's even worse than that because even within the Nook (or Kobo) platform there are at least two rendering systems in play (Adobe's SDK is only used on Nook devices, not in the mobile and desktop apps).

If true, then I compliment them on their faithful replication of RMSDK bugs in their iOS app.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Oh, for crying out loud. I just found it, in Nook for PC. Under My Stuff, there's an Add button. Why this isn't under ebooks, I don't know, but there you have it.

I still don't know how to view it in the iThing app, though. Does anyone?

FYI, please note that Nook for PC and the actual device do NOT render the same--not even close. I have both, and they are worlds apart. Dropcaps that work on one will not on the other, and ADE no longer synchs to how NookColor renders. Worse, you can't delete ANY book you sideload to Nook for PC (go ahead--try it), EVER, unless you delete it from the directory and then completely UNinstall and REinstall the Nook for PC app. No, I'm not making this up; I even spoke to B&N about it.

The days when you could make a book with anything other than the most basic, vanilla text and have it render "mostly" across devices are over; we're repeatedly having to make "Nook version" epubs versus "iPad version" epubs, and it's going to get worse with ePUB3.

In short: don't believe what you see on any rendering engine other than the device itself.

@ATimson: you can add epubs to the iBook app via Dropbox, on the iPad, ditto Kindle books on the Kindle reading app on the iPad. Just open in your dropbox app, and when it says you can't read it in dropbox, you can select an alternate reader via the arrow in the upper-right-hand-corner of the DB app.

Hitch