I am looking at the Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight .
I have some books I bought from Amazon to read on my laptop that are in the Kindle format.
I understand there are some programs (Calibre) that will convert from that format to one that the Nook can handle.
Is that a fairly easy thing to do?
What do you think about the Nook?
I realize that B&N is having problems with having enough sales of Nooks. If they quit making them I figure lack of support won’t be a big deal since if it breaks it can be replaced with another brand (Kindle?) and books I have can be converted to the Kindle format.
I have a Kindle, Princess Pepperwinkle has a Nook. Calibre has no trouble translating books to or from epub/mobi, in my experience. PDF files have problems occasionally. It’s very simple and user friendly. Both the Kindle and the Nook work very well for us.
B&N has stopped making the Color Nook. Their market share of ebook readers continues to decline. The B&N CEO responsible for the Nook abruptly resigned last month. There is talk of spinning off the Nook into its own subsidiary with Microsoft being a partner. B&N and the Nook may survive. However, with the warning bells sounding of late, caveat emptor.
Amazon just cut their Kindle prices, some say in anticipation of a new version making its debut later this month. Tech specialists in China say Amazon ordered a million newly designed Kindle cases from the same company that produced the earlier versions of Fire.
Yes you can use Calibre to convert ebook formats. However, the conversion isn’t perfect. And if you bought an ebook with DRM security, conversion to a different format may be difficult, if not impossible.
I’ve had no trouble using calibre to convert mobi formatted files into epub files to read on my Nooks. I’d say 95% of the the conversions are fine. Of the ones that are off, it’s usually minor stuff like apostrophes. They’re all very readable.
I don’t have any experience with a Nook but I love my Kindle Keyboard. Is there some reason you don’t want to get a Kindle?
You can convert the books, but why do it if you don’t have to? I do it all the time and it’s no big deal, but it’s just a few at a time. It would be a pain to do all of the couple hundred books I have.
My wife I’d a “turn the pages” addict but has come to the realization that e books are the way to go. I bought her a Nook when they dropped the price (but after they added the Google App Store). I have an iPad and a Samsung Tab 2. It’s only an opinion, but having a small (7") tablet won’t cost that much more and will give you the option of email and simple web browsing. The Nexus 7 will be out soon and the new Asus (who builds the Nexus) comes out next week. Another advantage of a small tablet is that you can use it for music and movies as well. Also, a color Nook or Kindle HD gives you access to magazines in full color, at a very good price and the screen quality is great.
WiFi is available at more and more places giving you all kinds of options at prices for tablets are only $50.00 more than the straight readers.
I went down to BestBuy and looked at both. The Nook display brighter and easier to read in the sunlight. As I recall the battery life was somewhat longer but I could be wrong about that. I only have a few books to convert so that won’t be a big deal.
I am not completely set on the Nook though and could go for the Kindle depending on the info I get here.
I think (but have never had occasion to check) that if you get a Nook tablet, you can install a Kindle reader app on it and be able to read Kindle ebooks that way, without worrying about conversions.
As for the e-ink vs. tablet issue, FWIW I have both an e-ink (Kindle keyboard) and tablet (Kindle Fire HD) Kindle, and I use both of them quite a bit (plus still reading quite a few dead-tree books), so both types of device have their advantages.