Nook Review

I had to post this after receiving a Nook Review from a dear friend of mine today...

 

I figured it was about time I posted about my Nook experience since posting in December that I had bought one with a bonus from work.  I've been reading on my Nook for seven months now, and my general synopsis -- it was worth every dollar.  I love it.  :)

 

Now for some explicit description of what I love... and don't love... about it.

 

(Chrissy, forgive me for stealing your format... ha!)

 

The Good:

1.  I agree with Chrissy here... the Nook is extremely portable.  It fits beautifully into my purse and I've been known to whip it out and read pretty much anywhere.

 

2.  Again with the agreement... it's light-weight and makes long-book reading a breeze.  No more 1200 pages of Diana Gabaldon making me wonder if I need carpal tunnel surgery.  Lately I've been reading some 500-pagers and I'm thankful that I have the Nook to assist in that.

 

3.  The Nook has an abundant amount of space.  I am amazed often by how many books I can fit onto my Nook.

 

4.  This is where I diverge from Chrissy's review.  I find downloading books from B&N extremely quick and easy.  Also, I love how the Nook acts like an external hard-drive and how easy it is to plug it into my laptop and either a.) charge it or b.) put books from my hard-drive right onto my Nook.  I hesitated buying one for so long partly because I didn't want to have to learn yet another new piece of technology... but I find this thing a snap.

 

5.  I think the battery-life is pretty darn amazing, myself.  I have yet to have the Nook "die" on me before I'm able to recharge it.  I found about two months ago that if I turn off the wireless/disable it while I'm reading, my Nook can last a good week to two weeks before it needs recharging (I should also note that I never shut off my Nook... I just let it go to sleep after I'm done reading).  And, the Nook almost always lasts 1 - 4 hours after the notice pops up saying that the battery is getting low. 

 

6.  Regarding selection, I have had no problem finding a plethora of books for my Nook.  One of the reasons I bought the Nook -- it took a large variety of formats... including PDF... ha, ha, who doesn't LOVE bringing her knitting patterns right along with her in digital format?  Because of the PDF format capabilities, I am able to load all sorts of things onto my Nook that I might not otherwise be able to view on an e-reader (read: Kindle).  (And with the program Calibre, I'm able to convert non-Nook formats to PDF or EPUB and my problem is eliminated that way.)  And, while I buy a few books through B&N, I don't buy them all.  Is the library cheaper?  For sure.  But for a recovering book-buying addict, the Nook has proved to be a good thing for me.

 

7.  I love not every losing my place in a book.  Ever.  It has always remembered the last page I was on, allowing me to pop between books.  Be gone, dastardly bookmark!  Ha!

 

The Bad:

1.  I should have listened when a friend who owns a Kindle suggested that I buy a protective cover for my Nook.  I should have listened.  I should have listened, because my Nook takes a beating -- between my purse and the kids, my Nook has been squished, dropped, scratched, and otherwise.  And while my Nook has never locked up and has no issues that way, I have about four vertical and four horizontal lines of pixel that have gone out.  It hasn't hindered my reading abilities yet, and it's not noticeable across the text, but it's a reminder that I need to take better care of my technology.

 

2.  I don't really need it.  Between my iPhone, which has Nook on it, my laptop, which again has Nook on it, and the fact that there is a plethora of libraries around me, I don't need the Nook.  But, in some respects it was free (unexpected bonus paid for it), and add to that, I own the non-backlit version, so I justify owning it by not reading books on my backlit phone and PC and say that it's better for my eyes.

 

3.  Did I mention yet that it's yet another piece of technology?  This really bothers me.  Yet another reason why I waited so long.  Thankfully it's one that doesn't need a lot of "work" or "maintenance" to keep it up.

 

4.  Granted, I've never had anything else to compare it to, but I feel like the paging buttons need some work.  I feel like they are slightly too sensitive for the location and button design.  I also think the touch screen needs some work -- it's obvious to me that the "home key" only works with enough light -- the home key isn't truly a touch screen.  The touch screen itself works well when it comes up, but especially at night when I'm reading, if I don't shine my book light directly on the little "n" before I cover it with my finger, it is hard to get the touch screen to activate.

 

Other notes:

 

I'm reckless.  I take that sucker in the bathtub.  Heh.  That being said, they do make a water-proof cover for it so you CAN take it in the bath, hot tub, pool, etc.

 

As mentioned above, my Nook has never locked up.

 

All in all, I'm really happy with my purchase.  I was *really* worried about buyer's remorse for the first couple of weeks that I had it and almost took it back.  But, after about a month, I decided I really enjoyed having it and I wouldn't wish it away.  Do I miss real books?  Not really.  My kids' books are still "real" and we look at those every day, and reference types of books or books where I want a lot of color pictures -- for example, my new obsession with wanting to raise chickens -- I simply buy the real book to put on my shelf.  We won't be ridding ourselves of a bookshelf any time soon.  But, for quickie reads like fiction, it's a great investment for me.

 

Erin

 

ps.  I have Harry Potter.  Just sayin'.  *grin*