Nook Review

I’ve been playing with my Barnes & Noble Nook eReader for a week now, and I’ve written a little review of the experience.

First, on eReaders in general, I’ve decided eBooks (in their current form) cannot replace books. Real books still have a place. You can’t “thumb through” an eBook, or scribble in it, or loan it out indefinitely. It’s a very cold, linear experience. And by that I mean, unlike a real book you can’t flip forward or backward easily without getting stuck in a quagmire of menu options or jumpy digital screen dramatics. Real books don’t run out of batteries, or crash on you and forget where you bookmarked. As I said in my previous book post on this topic, books have character.

That said, I think eBooks are great, and I’m glad I bought the Nook. I think you should use them along with, not in lieu of, real books. I love that I can cram my Nook with over a thousand books, take it on a vacation, and never have to worry about running out of reading material (or lugging several paperbacks). It’s great for portability because it’s so light – take it on the morning train commute and read the Times (newspaper and magazine subscriptions are available on it instantly via AT&T wireless). The eInk display is a pleasure to read. Very easy on the eyes in low or bright light environment. The eReader is also more private. If you want to read something like a kids book or a trashy novel, you don’t have to worry about hiding the telling cover (publishers are noting higher sales in these genres due to eReaders’ discretion).

The bottom line is, I think having both real books and eBooks is great, but for different purposes. Personally, I’ve decided to use the eReader for only disposable items – things I’d normally buy in paperback. Like pop science/social issues, crap novels, political/current events books, or anything that is hot today but will be in the $1 bin at the B&N store next year. It’s much cheaper to buy an eBook too, and you aren’t making planet mess by encouraging the tacky “mass market paperback”. My eReader is replacing my paperback collection, all of which are being sold off this month. I’m converting every book I love (and wish to keep and re-read) into hardcover. This means my home book collection will be fewer but higher quality books, and all the other junk I read will be neatly contained on the eTrash eDisposal eBook eReader.

As for the B&N Nook itself, I chose it over all the others based on the touchscreen function alone. I won’t lie, it’s glitchy and has already crashed a few times on me. But after using the iPhone I can’t help but need the touch function. My brain won’t think for buttons anymore. The Nook’s touchscreen is not nearly as intuitive as the iPhone’s, but I think it’s the best option out there, and I couldn’t imagine using that clunky Kindle device.

Speaking of Kindle, another reason I’m glad I chose the Nook is because it reads several different formats, whereas the Kindle only reads Amazon’s format so you can ONLY buy books from them. With my Nook I can buy eBooks from anyone – very democratic. I also played around with Google’s free eBook service, and it worked great, all loading onto Nook with no problems. I haven’t tried Nook’s lending feature or borrowing from libraries feature yet. I’ve read that there is a 14 day limit on how long you can lend to others, and from what I’ve researched there’s not much available to borrow from libraries yet (but that’s not Nook’s fault).

Basically, I’m glad I bought the Nook and recommend it. It does have problems, it’s not perfect, but I think it’s the best currently available and does the job good enough. If a new cooler device comes out, I’ll simply transfer my files to the new device. I expect I’ll replace the thing every 2-3 years (this probably makes it as eco-unfriendly a paperbacks, so don’t kid yourself about saving the planet). The Nook is on the AT&T 3G network and getting books and newspapers, anytime, anywhere, is instant and so beautifully simple. It’s tied to your B&N web account so your bills just go there (No tinkering with clunky checkouts on your device. One click and it’s yours.). Also I think the B&N website is infinitely prettier and easier to use than Amazon.com’s.

As for the Nook’s cons – It’s glitchy! I’ve never used a Kindle or Sony or any others so I can’t compare, but the Nook has crashed and gone back to the homescreen at least 3 times on me in one week. The upside is that it recovers fast, and you can just go back to the eBook and skip ahead to where you were reading. I know I sound too forgiving, but I think the touchscreen is that worth the trouble (plus, I think it’s kind of like when you drop a real book you’re reading and have to flip around to find the page you were on. It takes about that long). I suppose if you like buttons you might prefer another device. But I HATE buttons. If you’re patient you could wait for a more advanced model to arrive, but that could take a year or two. I hear they’re experimenting with color models, full touchscreen models, larger models, etc. Plus, Apple is rumored to be entering the competition soon. But I didn’t feel like waiting, so I bought Nook. And overall, I love it, and I’m happy with the choice.