Nook!

[Midwife]

I am a proud new owner of a colour Nook (a christmas pressie), I have so many new books on there, I can hardly stand it!! I love the fact that right now I have 19 books on it, and I can carry it around in my purse and not need a chiropractic adjustment!!!
Anyone else have an electronic reader, and how much do you like it??

[Nella]

Got the same eReader for Christmas too! I'm not e-gadget savvy, so I've no clue how to hook it up and get it started. I've heard that the Nook can be used to download books from the library as well. Do you know if this is true?

[loosechickens]

I have a Kindle, from Amazon.com and am MADLY in love with it.

If your library has books available for download, Nella, and uses Epub, yes you will be able to download library books onto your Nook.

To me, that feature is one feature where I think the Nook is superior to Amazon's Kindle. Amazon chose to have the Kindle use only proprietary software, so it does not support Epub which is what most libraries use for downloadable books.

Since we can still get "dead tree books" from the library at no cost, that feature was not enough for us to choose a Nook over the Kindle, as we felt the Kindle offered many technical and use features better than the Nook, but the ability to download from the library, (at least so far) is not available on the Kindle, nor is a color model.

[Anne Lee]

Midwife, I like my Kindle. Not that I have much time for reading these days. Hopefully this summer...

DH uses his Kindle a lot.

DS has a nook and at Christmas was using it a lot. Since he's back at school now I don't know how much time he has to use it.

[herisf]

I've had a Nook for over the past year and love it. I have 50+ books on it, have read lots from the library, and am slowly converting my dead tree books over to the electronic versions (the ones that I can and know that I will re-read, that is).

For all of you who have e-readers of whatever brand, take a look at Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/). It's a library management software that enables you to edit/convert books from one type of reader to another. I often buy books from the publisher, and use this software to convert it to Nook format. Calibre is free, and it's fabulous. I use it to put in the series # into the title, stuff like that. If you ever switch to another ereader, you can use Calibre to convert the format and never lose your books.

[AmeliaJane]

Also a Nook user--found mine refurbished online for $50 off. I preferred a Kindle for the design (my sis has one and I am envious) but I am a big library user and because I had relocated to an area with very limited library hours, I was racking up the overdue fines. Downloading library books takes just a little work to get set up but then is pretty easy. Your library website will have instructions. Also, if you Google Project Gutenberg, you will find lots of pre-1923 books available for free download, all formatted for the e-readers...everything from the Major Classics like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to Anne of Green Gables and the Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse.

One thing...for those considering a Nook for the library access, I would spend some time with the e-book catalogue..I have cards for two libraries. One has a terrific selection of e-books (and for things on reserve, the reserves come up much quicker), and the other has almost nothing to choose from.

[Midwife]

Thanks for the information herisf! I will look into this software. One of the things that I like about the colour Nook, is that I can get some magazines on it. I have a weakness for glossy publications, and the clutter they create This does cut down on that with some of the ones that I like to get....

[AmeliaJane]

I do have one question...how long does the battery charge on the Color Nook last? I was looking over the options before I bought, and at least on the website it seemed like the color Nook had much shorter battery life. I went for the older version for that reason (have had a couple of issues with reading on my iPhone and running down the battery)--I only have to charge it every few days.

[bae]

I use the Kindle software, but don't have a Kindle. I use the software on Windows, Apples, and iThings, so I can read my books pretty much anywhere.

[Midwife]

I charge mine every few days... But I keep the backlight fairly low, and find that when the processor is working harder, like when on bn.com it tends to drain more quickly. I have been more irritated with my droid battery I am planning on an iphone in a week or so when verizon's version comes out