There's been some discussion here on and off about e-readers, and not long ago I broke down and bought a
Nook Simple Touch. I chose the Nook for after playing around with my daughter's a bit, and for the fact that the equivalent Amazon Kindle was, at the time, cheaper unless you agreed to having ads built in. Even at the current prices the no-ads Kindle is still $10 more than the Nook. Another reason for my choice was the the Kindle won't do
EPUB books without some hacking, and there are a lot of free public-domain books in that format.
I haven't found anything yet that I don't like about the thing. It's battery life is excellent, the e-ink Pearl display is very easy on the eyes (but not backlit, which means that the Nook can be easily read in bright sunlight) and navigation is very simple. Because the Nook is Wi-Fi connected (and can't be used without Wi-Fi) it's possible to endlessly browse Barnes and Noble's extensive library, and for most books it's possible to download a sample of 30 pages or so without cost.
I've got about twenty books on mine at present, including the complete works of Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe and O Henry (all three of which were either free or less than US$5.00) without putting a significant dent in its strorage capacity.
For my own purposes, I don't see the Nook being replaced by a tablet (which is also available from B&N in the form of the Nook Color), mainly because I like the display of the Simple Touch, and don't want or need for it to do additional things. The Simple Touch is Android-based and through a process called "rooting"
Rooting (Android OS) it's possible to extend the capability to web browsing and app-running, but I think I'll leave well enough alone.
I'm interested to see how many other Covers have e-readers, and what they like and dislike about them.
Nook Simple Touch. I chose the Nook for after playing around with my daughter's a bit, and for the fact that the equivalent Amazon Kindle was, at the time, cheaper unless you agreed to having ads built in. Even at the current prices the no-ads Kindle is still $10 more than the Nook. Another reason for my choice was the the Kindle won't do
EPUB books without some hacking, and there are a lot of free public-domain books in that format. I haven't found anything yet that I don't like about the thing. It's battery life is excellent, the e-ink Pearl display is very easy on the eyes (but not backlit, which means that the Nook can be easily read in bright sunlight) and navigation is very simple. Because the Nook is Wi-Fi connected (and can't be used without Wi-Fi) it's possible to endlessly browse Barnes and Noble's extensive library, and for most books it's possible to download a sample of 30 pages or so without cost.
I've got about twenty books on mine at present, including the complete works of Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe and O Henry (all three of which were either free or less than US$5.00) without putting a significant dent in its strorage capacity.
For my own purposes, I don't see the Nook being replaced by a tablet (which is also available from B&N in the form of the Nook Color), mainly because I like the display of the Simple Touch, and don't want or need for it to do additional things. The Simple Touch is Android-based and through a process called "rooting"
Rooting (Android OS) it's possible to extend the capability to web browsing and app-running, but I think I'll leave well enough alone.I'm interested to see how many other Covers have e-readers, and what they like and dislike about them.