My Nook Has Arrived!!

my Nook arrived!!

I have been interested in the idea of a dedicated ebook reader for some time. The first ebook I bought was to read on my old Palm. That worked great for my Dad, but I didn’t really enjoy that particular reading experience. I also thought the book was way too expensive (I think it was hardcover price at the time).

Then the Kindle came out. I was really excited about the device; it seemed like it would have the features the Palm lacked as a reader, and the library of available books was huge and more reasonably priced. But there were still drawbacks: who knew if the Kindle would stick around or not (in those first days), so investing in an Amazon library of ebooks seemed risky. You couldn’t loan books or share among family members. There were a few design flaws everyone pointed to. Then there was the 1984 fiasco. Amazon swore that wouldn’t happen again, but the fact that it ever happened really bothered me.  I was happy to wait and see what would happen next.

Somewhere in this time I downloaded a few books to my iPhone. First some in the public domain for the brilliant Stanza reader. Then I tried a few Kindle books on the iPhone. I was impressed that I could get nearly any book, but not at all impressed with the software. Then I tried the Barnes and Noble app. It’s a better platform than the Kindle iphone app, and had a pretty good selection of inexpensive books as well.

And then I heard about the Nook. And, as the announcement was made, it was clear that many of the rumors were true. The design was more aesthetically pleasing and functional. It would have a touch screen that could provide a number of ways of interacting with the computer end of things, you could loan some books once (which, though still not great, is at least a step further than the Kindle lending policy), the ebooks themselves were in a more widely used format. I also began to hear rumors that the Nook could be used with Overdrive ebooks, which my state consortium uses. (This was almost too good to be true.)  Finally, I also really liked the idea that you could take the Nook into a Barnes and Noble store and access additional content/features. I’m a fan of using tech to enhance physical spaces, so it seemed like a really good idea.

But I still had a hard time justifying the purchase.

John said something about getting it for me for Christmas, and I said that it wasn’t necessary. But then, later, he went ahead and ordered it anyway. And what a fun present it is!!

Because of the large interest in the beginning, mine just showed up today. It’s actually been kindof fun to spend time on the B&N message boards with other Nook devotees. People sharing rumors they heard, letting people know the timing of their shipping, a general enthusiasm for the device… it’s a lot like what I image it to be like to wait in long lines for game tickets of some sort. This crowd is just geeky readers instead.

And it came today. I unboxed with a camera… here are the photos:

A few things I noted right away:

• The packaging is pretty, but very hard to get into. There are unboxing instructions in the envelope with the packing slip.
• It is really easy to enter information. Having been an iphone user for some time, the ability to use the touchscreen keyboard was immediate. The response is a little slow, but it catches up with what you’ve typed.
• It seamlessly pulled over all the content I had bought or samples I had downloaded.
• It appears (at least so far) that there is only one book behind the “currently reading” button, which will take some getting used to since  I typically read several at a time.
• It’s awesome. I really think it is. I didn’t expect to be blown away. It is a single feature device, after all. But I can already tell it’s going to be my gadget of choice for some time. As a reader, it immediately felt like a book rather than a tool. But as a techy person, I was also impressed with the UI and general functionality. Good stuff!

So, after checking on a few books I had downloaded, I wanted to try it with Overdrive right away. Luckily, someone had posted some basic steps to the help board. Here they are, with a bit more detail, stripped of specific library references. I’m using a Mac, so they might be slightly different for folks on a PC or Linux machine.

Steps for setting up Adobe Digital Editions (for use with Overdrive and the Nook):

1. Download the Adobe Digital Editions software if you don’t already have it.
2. Drag it to your applications folder.
3. Open, register, and login.
4. Plug in your Nook and wait for Adobe Digital Editions to recognize the device. You might need to restart Adobe Digital Editions. You will have to authorize your Nook the first time.

Steps for getting ebooks from Overdrive:

Overdrive

1. Go to your Overdrive site. Some libraries have a digital library/resources section and it might be there.
2. Find books you’re interested in.
3. Determine if you can get a book you’re interested in now, or if you need to put a hold on it. (See picture to the right for more information on how you can figure this out.)
4. If it is available for check out, follow the steps for downloading it. I found the step-by-step instructions to be pretty instructive.
5. Mine automatically showed up in Adobe Digital Editions (which was open at the time). If this doesn’t happen to you, you might need to find the downloaded file (probably in the downloads folder) and double click it to get it to open Adobe Digital Editions.

Steps for getting the ebook onto your Nook:

Adobe Digital Editions

1. With the ebook in ADE and the Nook plugged in, drag the book from the main screen to the picture of the nook on the left. (See the image on the right.)
2. Eject your Nook.
3. The ebook will not be in the regular library. Instead of browsing B&N covers, use the library to navigate to your documents folder, and select the book from there.

Yay! So anyway, I’m super excited. I know the Apple tablet will be cool, and there’s serious potential to redefine publishing, books, and periodicals with that. But for what the Nook does, it’s a great device. The battery life looks to be incredible (which is a major reason I don’t do a lot of reading on my iphone unless I’m around an outlet). The screen is really easy to read (the iphone sometimes strains my 30 year old eyes ). And just over all, I’m really excited about it. w00t! Now, if only I can stay away from it while I have work to do this evening….