Just got my NOOK - not impressed

[Nvidiaguy07]

So I've been on the fence about buying an e-reader for the past few months so I finally gave in and bought a nook today.

I went with the Nook over the kindle because it seemed more open, and handles pdf's better than the kindle. Once I saw the 50 dollar gift card I decided to jump on it.

My first problem with the nook is that I cant register it for some reason. I got a message saying to call B&N and all I got was a message saying that were experiencing problems and that’s why you cant view your content. In my case - why I cant register. No option to talk to anyone, just disconnected immediately after the message.

from there I went to try it out, and for the most part it wasn't terrible. The software update from 1.2 to 1.3 did make a big difference in performance, but I could really care less about the games and shitty web browsing.

My biggest gripe is that you cant just go to a page #. Probably the most basic fucking feature that youd expect in an ereader and this thing cant do it. Any PDF I have downloaded doesn’t have chapters (according to nook) so I cant view anything past the first few pages. Also what if im halfway through a book and nook doesn’t know it? How do I get to where im at?

Looks like im going to return this and wait another year or two for something better to come out.

 

[gsaldivar]

I try to make it a personal rule to avoid 1.x products out of general principle.

Personally, I think the e-reader platform will be folded into tablets, or smartphones, or both.

 

[Bateluer]

Personally, I think the e-reader platform will be folded into tablets, or smartphones, or both.

Not likely. Smart phones are great devices, but ever try read on a 3-4.5in screen? Its not fun. Plus, the LCD/AMOLED screens in these devices both suck power and gouge the eyes. My nook's battery will last for a solid 10 days reading for a few hours a day, without any eye strain either. Tablets? Also not likely, for some of the same reasons, battery life and screen technology. No LCD type screen will ever be able to touch a eInk screen for simple readability.

OP, I haven't researched it, but there's likely a way to add chapters to your PDFs, likely through Calibre. Also, since the nook remembers what page you were on, I'm not sure why you think it would suddenly forget what page you were on. However, you can simply manually insert a bookmark into your place and problem solved. This also mitigates the need to jump to a specific page, but that's a feature I'd like to have myself. Very minor gripe, in the big picture though.

My major complaints against the nook are with the quantity and cost of B&N's content. Lots of books in B&N's catalog don't have nook versions, and often, those that do, are priced higher than they should be. B&N does offer free books nearly ever week though, though personally, I haven't liked any of those titles.

 

[Spoooon]

As Bateleur said, it remembers what page you were on (even for multiple books).

I just tried a .pdf on mine and could go to selected chapters. I imagine it depends on the .pdf.

 

[Bateluer]

Actually, here's a question I just thought of, haven't done any research on it yet nor have I asked on any nook forums. When I copy books over to the nook, they show up in the My Documents Library. No big deal, pretty straight forward. Simple right? Well, what if I copy over a dozen books in a series? They all show up, but in a list format. The list is sortable by author, title, and recent, but what happens when you've added hundreds of books across many different series? You end up with several dozen pages, or more, worth of listed books. Is there any way to organize these into groups or folders?

For example, if I wanted to keep all my Star Wars books and my Star Trek books in different folders, is it possible? Instead of a hundred page list to scrolls through, I'd select the Star Wars folder to just see all my Star Wars books.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

As Bateleur said, it remembers what page you were on (even for multiple books).

I just tried a .pdf on mine and could go to selected chapters. I imagine it depends on the .pdf.

Yea but for example I've been reading this pdf on my computer for a few days, now that its on my nook I cant get back to page 200 without it taking 10-20mins.

This is absolutely ridiculous. I guess for books you only read on the nook it wont be that annoying, i just think for a 260 dollar device i should be able to flip to whatever page i want....

I have some books in epub format and there is no chapter option in that either, is the only way to get chapters to actually buy it from the B&N store?

For now this is going back, once they get this crap straightened out i may give it another shot.

 

[Bateluer]

I have some books in epub format and there is no chapter option in that either, is the only way to get chapters to actually buy it from the B&N store?

Keep in mind PDFs aren't a very 'light' format, the nook has to do some work and effort to load them. Even on a decent PC, jumping directly to a specific page on a large PDF can take a several seconds. Longer if you're using Adobe Reader.

Not sure about your epub books, every epub book I have has chapter settings, including those I converted from txt, pdf, or mobi. Most of those are from Gutenberg though. Maybe their volunteers did something with the meta data?

edit - There is a section for chapter detection in Calibre when converting files. Not sure what the string means exactly though.

 

[TheWart]

Yea but for example I've been reading this pdf on my computer for a few days, now that its on my nook I cant get back to page 200 without it taking 10-20mins.

This is absolutely ridiculous. I guess for books you only read on the nook it wont be that annoying, i just think for a 260 dollar device i should be able to flip to whatever page i want....

I have some books in epub format and there is no chapter option in that either, is the only way to get chapters to actually buy it from the B&N store?

For now this is going back, once they get this crap straightened out i may give it another shot.

Not being able to jump to a specific page does seem egregiously bad, and I can't believe the Nook cannot do that. It shouldn't matter if the doc has no page number, the Nook could still just count what it displays as a page and jump to the corresponding number.

Pretty laughable imo.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Keep in mind PDFs aren't a very 'light' format, the nook has to do some work and effort to load them. Even on a decent PC, jumping directly to a specific page on a large PDF can take a several seconds. Longer if you're using Adobe Reader.

Not sure about your epub books, every epub book I have has chapter settings, including those I converted from txt, pdf, or mobi. Most of those are from Gutenberg though. Maybe their volunteers did something with the meta data?

edit - There is a section for chapter detection in Calibre when converting files. Not sure what the string means exactly though.

Even if it takes long i wouldnt care, it knows how many pages are in the doc and while im reading it shows what page im on (for example 11 of 139) Just to pick a number shouldnt be a big deal.

If i can get chapter detection to work then that would help a bit, but for the money this thing costs i should be able to pick the page.

Im not in school anymore, but i can already see how bad this would be if i were using this in a lit class and my professor asked everyone to turn to page xxx, I'd be screwed!!!!!!

Not being able to jump to a specific page does seem egregiously bad, and I can't believe the Nook cannot do that. It shouldn't matter if the doc has no page number, the Nook could still just count what it displays as a page and jump to the corresponding number.

Pretty laughable imo.

Thankyou!!! Youd think having an ereader youd have an advantage over books when turning pages. Its sad that regular book>nook in this area. B&N has a lot of work to do.

I may give it a shot again if they fix this nonsense and maybe drop the price a little. I heard a wifi only nook is coming out, which is more than fine for me. Well see what happens

 

[Bateluer]

Im not in school anymore, but i can already see how bad this would be if i were using this in a lit class and my professor asked everyone to turn to page xxx, I'd be screwed!!!!!!

An extremely valid point, but it would only take you a few seconds longer to get there. Just go directly to the nearest chapter and page turn to get there.

I've been clamoring more for some sort of organization of books on the B&N nook boards though. I don't want to start buying tons of ebooks and only be able to realistically keep a dozen or so on the nook at at time. The inclusion of an SD slot kinda means they want you to load the sucker up with books, but yet their organization of it blows.

 

[LongTimePCUser]

For example, if I wanted to keep all my Star Wars books and my Star Trek books in different folders, is it possible? Instead of a hundred page list to scrolls through, I'd select the Star Wars folder to just see all my Star Wars books.

For what it is worth, the Kindle II used to have the same problem.
Amazon just pushed a 2.5.2 software upgrade to Kindle users that introduced "collections" that are essentially folders that you can use to organize all your books.

I suspect that B&N will copy this feature in a future software upgrade.

 

[Patranus]

Just got a Kindle for my father for fathers day.
You want to talk about something that is unimpressive.

If I am this unimpressed with the Kindle I can't imagine how terrible a NOOK is to use.

 

[Spoooon]

Just got a Kindle for my father for fathers day.
You want to talk about something that is unimpressive.

If I am this unimpressed with the Kindle I can't imagine how terrible a NOOK is to use.

What is unimpressive about it? To me, the nook works fine as an ereader.

 

[Bateluer]

What is unimpressive about it? To me, the nook works fine as an ereader.

I know two people with Kindle IIs and two people with nooks, all avid book lovers, and all love their respective devices. Despite their flaws.

 

[theeedude]

Not likely. Smart phones are great devices, but ever try read on a 3-4.5in screen? Its not fun. Plus, the LCD/AMOLED screens in these devices both suck power and gouge the eyes. My nook's battery will last for a solid 10 days reading for a few hours a day, without any eye strain either. Tablets? Also not likely, for some of the same reasons, battery life and screen technology. No LCD type screen will ever be able to touch a eInk screen for simple readability.

Pixel Qi dual mode (LCD and E-ink display) tablet like Notion Ink Adam will do the trick once they finally come out.
http://gizmodo.com/5471559/notion-ink-adam-tablet-caught-on-video-specs-finalized

 

[Bateluer]

Pixel Qi dual mode (LCD and E-ink display) tablet like Notion Ink Adam will do the trick once they finally come out.
http://gizmodo.com/5471559/notion-ink-adam-tablet-caught-on-video-specs-finalized

Doesn't look like a bad tablet, but a 16hr battery life and a weight of 1.7lbs make it kind weak and heavy. Its also kinda overkill for an ebook reader, dual 1Ghz CPUs, Tegra 2, HDMI, a camera, the nooks, Kindles, and Kobo's should easily be able to beat it.