Ebook Readers
Battle of the Ebook Readers – Now 6 Different Readers!
The WJ Niederkorn Library now offers 6 different ebook readers for checkout!
The library is offering our customers the ability to test drive six different ebook readers. The readers include three from Barnes & Noble (Nook WiFi. Nook Simple Touch and NookColor) two from Amazon.com (Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard) and one from Sony (Reader Daily Edition). The six readers each have unique features that merit a true test drive. All six ebook readers work with our online library’s collection of digital ebooks (Overdrive). Give it a try to access free ebooks.
Whether you want the best of e-ink technology, a plain ebook reader, a backlit LCD screen, the ability to run apps, or the ability to surf the web and check email one of these readers will fit the bill. Or maybe, for you, it all comes down to how to turn the electronic digital page. Do you want to press a mechanical button, turn the page by swiping your finger across the screen, use a stylus or have a combination of choices? Either way these six ebook readers will allow you to test out whatever your key feature is in order to fine tune what you really want in an ebook reader.
Please stop by the library, or call, to sign up for the specific reader you would like to test drive. All units will need to be checked out and returned inside the WJ Niederkorn Library (no book drop returns please). 262-284-5031.
We will try our best to make sure that we have a book on the reader that want to read so that you will really be drawn into the story and not just playing with a new device.
Please provide us with your comments on each ebook reader you checkout. We will take it in writing or in the online comments section below. Thanks! It will help others make decisions on what they like best.
You must be 18 and over to check out a ebook reader as well as sign a borrower agreement.
Nook Simple Touch
The Nook Simple Touch features the latest e-ink technology and a touch screen all in a small form factor. It is light and easy to use
B&N Nook Simple Touch – Quick Start Guide
B&N Nook Simple Touch – Tour
B&N Nook Simple Touch – User’s Guide
Nook WiFi B&W
The Nook WiFi features an e-ink reader screen coupled with a color touch screen for input and a little more flash and style.
B&N Nook WiFi – Quick Start Guide
B&N Nook WiFi – Tour
B&N Nook WiFi – User’s Guide
NookColor
The NOOKColor features a touch backlit LCD color screen for a more pad/tablet type of experience. You can runs apps, surf the web in a meaningful way, check and send emails, and read and interact with color picture books, graphic novels and magazines.
B&N NookColor – Quick Start Guide
B&N NookColor – Quick Guide
B&N NookColor – User’s Guide
Kindle Keyboard
The Kindle Keyboard offers a e-ink pearl reader in a very light form factor and it connects with your existing Amazon.com account.
Amazon.com Kindle – Quick Start Guide
Amazon.com Kindle – User’s Guide
New! – Kindle Touch
The Kindle Keyboard offers a e-ink pearl touch screen reader in a very light form factor with no mechanical page turning buttons. And it connects with your existing Amazon.com account.
Amazon.com Kindle Touch – Quick Start Guide
Amazon.com Kindle Touch – User’s Guide
Sony Reader Daily Edition
The Reader Daily Edition offers an e-ink experience with both a touch screen and mechanical interaction (you can even use a stylus). This reader really does offer the user a variety of ways to interact with the device.
Sony Reader Daily Edition – Quick Start Guide
Sony Reader Daily Edition – User’s Guide
Please submit comments below which includes the name of the ebook reader your are commenting on (something like “Kindle Review”), and the municipality in which you reside (to help us identify legitimate comments). Thanks!
See also these Reviews at Patch.com
Review 1 Drum Roll Please: And the Winning E-Reader is …?
Review 2 How Many E-Readers Does It Take?
Themocracy
Kindle: Latest Generation.
This is a great dedicated ebook reader.
While I did enjoy this very directed ebook reader, I found that even this device had some glare issues and needed more light to make it readable than a regular book. It also looked very dull when read in a room with bright sunlight streaming in on the other side of the room. I kept wanting to turn up the screen. I also found myself accidentally turning pages as I shifted the reader and myself around. That was a bother.
But overall it was a very good reader and I did enjoy reading 1/2 of a book on it.
I even talked to someone one day who was using her Kindle while walking her dog (at least until she had to carry another package). She loved its ease of use, clear screen for reading outside, and light weight.
I had mixed feelings about the % progress indicator at the bottom of the screen. On one hand I liked the indicator better than a page number (it even indicated chapters), but on the other hand, those of us who are used to scrollable screens may see it as more text that needs to be scrolled up. It took me quite a while to get over the urge to scroll up to see more text.
Summary: very light, easy to use, dedicated to reading books, has some glare issues, more light is needed to see the text clearly than is needed for a book, and I accidentally turned to the next page on a regular basis.
David, Library Director
Nook Color
I found the Nook Color a lot of fun to use. While you certainly can read a book on it, it has many other features to entice you.
The first is the ability to surf the web with ease. The touch screen makes it very easy to get to and view web pages. Want to send a quick email, no problem! The Nook Color also has Adobe Flash Player allowing you to watch videos, which my teenage daughter thought was the best feature. The Apps are also a lot of fun but watch out you may find yourself playing Angry Birds instead of reading!
Now with all that said reading on the Nook Color is enjoyable. With a tap of your finger you can turn the page or adjust the font size. It is wonderful for reading in a dark room since it is backlit and you can adjust the brightness of the screen.
The problems I had with it were; reading outside and accidently turning pages. Even with the antiglare screen it is very hard to read in the sunlight. I gave up trying and switched to a “real” book. Also while reading if I would move to a different position or get up to see why the dogs were barking, the pages would start turning because of where I was gripping the device. I would then have to figure out where I was in the book which was annoying.
Aside from that I found I enjoyed my reading experience on the Nook Color. Now if they could only make it smell like a new book!
Nook Blk & White
If you want to only read books on your Ebook reader the Nook Blk & White is for you.
The thing I love most about reading on the Nook Blk & White is the Eink. Eink is like reading a page in a book, it is not backlit. To me it is more pleasing to the eye and cuts down considerably on glare. You can definitely bring this one to the beach! The other feature I love is the page turning buttons. There are buttons on both sides of the device so you can turn pages forward or backward whether you are holding it with your left hand or right hand. Since you have to push down the button there is no accidental page turning!
The feature I have big issues with is the web browser. Since the touch screen is only a small bottom portion of the screen getting to any web page is grueling. It can be done but you need a lot of patience, which I found I do not!
So if you are someone who just wants to read where ever you go, the Nook Blk & White is an excellent choice.
Nook color
Technology is leaving me in the dust. When the director asked the staff to try an Ebook reader I groaned and thought what now.
Well, after a few minutes with the device in my hands I was hooked. My sons are experts at Angry Birds. Even I am giving the game a run for its money. Reading in bed at night with the backlit screen was a real bonus and the clock on the bottom told me when I had to give up and go to sleep. If you travel and sit in an airport, or ride in the car for a great distance, you can have some many forms of entertainment in one spot without the clutter. Magazines, books, games, internet etc… all at your fingertips. So, join the future and give technology a whirl, you will be glad you did.
Nook Black and White
I tried the Nook B&W and had my opionion fixed before I even tried it. I knew I wouldn’t like it. It’s not for me. I did read an entire book. Reading the book on the Nook was OK. This is a good device if you do a lot of traveling. I like books cluttering my bookshelves in every room of my house. A friend said if you have one of these new readers you can fill it with books and have it sit alone on your bookshelf. Not the same.
Kindle
Ditto to what Mary P. says. I, too, had the preconceived idea
that I would not like it and I didn’t. I can see the convenience
and practicality of using these if one travels a lot. However, I like having a book in hand and don’t mind the “extra baggage.”
Sony Reader Daily Edition
I tried the Sony Reader Daily Edition. I liked the e-ink, which did resemble a real book. I also liked the built in dictionary, the ability to highlight, and bookmark pages. The Sony Reader was also lightweight.
One feature of the Sony Reader that I didn’t like was the delay when changing pages. It went black for a split second when advancing to the next page. Also, the magazine selection for the Sony Reader isn’t that great.
Overall, if you want an Ebook Reader, the Sony Reader Daily Edition would be a good choice.
The Sony Daily Edition
After having tried all 3 different readers (Kindle Nook B&W, and Sony). I have found that I liked the Sony reader the best. I enjoy the touch screen and find it more user friendly for the electronically inept such as myself. With the Nook B&W and the Kindle you need to press buttons on the side to advance to the next page, I found myself accidentally pressing these buttons just trying to hold it. Whereas with the touch screen you can hold it comfortable wherever you like without the worry of turning pages. There are a few font styles and sizes to choose from if you like a larger font like me. Unfortunately it does not offer a backlit screen for low light reading. Although I can see some advantages to having an ereader it just doesn’t compare to an actual book. Hands real books win.
Nook Black&White
I was a bit intimidated about trying any ebook reader. I feel like an old dog having to learn new tricks. I thought I wouldn’t understand how to use this new gadget. To my surprise, I caught on and actually got a kick out of being able to maneuver around the reader. I am pretty amazed at what new technology has to offer. I do have to say that, although I am impressed, I still prefer an actual book in my hands. I can understand how having an ebook reader would be helpful on a trip, but I wouldn’t want to forget it on a plane!
I have been an Amazon fan for a long time. My first attempt at owning a Kindle resulted in two failing devices for which I eventually obtained a refund.
My birthday is today; my brother asked me what I wanted two weeks ago and I told him the Kindle. Unfortunately at that precise moment Amazon was right in the middle of rolling out the new Wi-Fi only Kindle and all models were unavailable. So, I went for the barnes & noble nook Wi-Fi only.
Considering my previous experience with the Kindle, I tried not to get too excited. I went on the net to read reviews of the nook and was fearful. I read that it was buggy, that it lagged when you changed pages, that the touch interface was not all that responsive.
All of this was wrong; the page turns are quick and do not interrupt the flow of reading. The touch interface is very nice and I like seeing my book covers in color. When you choose the Cover Flow, your books slide by with the touch of a finger and you simply tap on the book you want to read at that moment. This was surprisingly helpful when I went to make purchases on the B&N Store. I know you don’t judge a book by its cover, but how many times has a nice colorful packaging led me to a book I wanted to read, uhm; many times. I was really intrigued with the “swipe” page turn that you used the touch screen for, however this did not seem to function correctly on the store model or on my own nook. Strangely, after a period of time, it now works perfectly. A representative told me it simply had to adapt to my touch…I don’t know how much I trust that statement, however when she turned a page on the display nook it responded to her very well. (Perhaps it was a learning curve?)
Side-loading documents: Wow, if you have any epub or pdf documents all you have to do is side load them and voila. I do recommend a free program called Calibre, which organizes your books, helps you edit the tags, add a color cover, or convert to epub. Pdf is not very easy to read on the nook, but if you convert to epub it goes smoothly, unless there are alot of photos or images, which lessens the accuracy of the conversion. Calibre has even converted files like, Word-Doc, Html, Palm, etc. Calibre will let you pick and choose books to upload to the nook directly from the program; in other words it ‘sees’ the nook.
Drawbacks to the nook: The battery life, that nifty little color touch screen eats the battery power like mad. B&N claim that you get 10 days, cut that in half. I do not know if this is because I use the touch screen to do my page turns or not,(the other option being the side buttons) but I am leaning toward, maybe? LCD screens notoriously use power; but using the page turn function does not require the back-light to be on, so I am not sure how it is eating up the battery so badly. It is honestly not that much of a problem for me. I am around my computer so much that it is unlikely a day will go by without it being attached to the CPU or an outlet next to my bed. I have gone almost four days with not re-charging; and I could see that little power icon decrease at least to slightly more than half in that time.
Oh – and that nifty little cover flow on the color screen. Don’t expect it to work for Your Documents. (There are two libraries, the B&N purchased books and your side-loaded books or documents.) Also there is no way to sort your documents to your specification so you either sort by author, title, or the date you loaded them, very annoying if you build up a nice library; which is highly likely considering you can add an SD card to your nook and increase memory to 16 maybe 32 gigabytes. Speaking of which with that ability to increase memory, it would have been nice if the MP3 Player interface were a little more sophisticated. An interesting ability is to play an unabridged audio-book and read the book at the same time. I am not sure who would do that, but then again I understand spoken Spanish more than I am capable of reading it. This might be useful to me in that area, if I can find the matching audio-book/ Spanish-book. (Nuance in foreign language is often lost in English translation.)
Never having owned a functioning 3G eBook-reader, I never really missed it with my home Wi-Fi. I have discovered several places close to where I “haunt” which have AT&T free to my nook. I already have a huge collection of books lined up for me to read… so feeling a “need” for the 3G seems unlikely. I have always done this, collected books that line up, ready for me to read. (By the way… the in store B&N Wi-Fi connection has s*cked at every B&N store I have been to. Amazingly Border’s free Wi-fi worked better, I just couldn’t buy through the B&N store. I had to go to my smart phone, buy the book, and it uploaded.)
So how do I feel about my nook; I absolutely love it! To be fair however, had I received a functioning Kindle, I would have felt the same way about it, I am certain. I think the Kindle has deficiencies with the lack of a touch/color interface and the side loading documents ability. However, that screen kills the battery as I stated. The reason for liking the separate touch interface is that you don’t want to touch your e-ink screen; I don’t see how Sony’s all touch interface e-reader is going to be popular when you are smudging your read screen all the time, though I must admit I would like to try one out.
The nook is comfortable in all sorts of positions, laying in bed, on the couch, holding it next to you; even laying it away from you and increasing the font so that you could read without holding it. I highly recommend a reading light, especially if you had grown accustomed to reading LCD screens in the dark (my kindle program on my Android phone.)
It is rather frustrating, I would have preferred a Kindle simply because I was impressed with Amazon customer service when my Kindle malfunctioned.
I do recommend the nook. It would be nice if they would lessen DRM restrictions so I could buy books from Amazon or any other place for that matter.
Sincerly
R