Tag: nook

It’s Hard to Convince People

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gadgets, News, NookLeave a comment

Ever try to convince someone that some “thing” is better than the other? It’s very difficult especially when that person is adamant that they do not want this new thing. They give you an excuse and you have an answer but they give you another excuse and you have an answer for that too. They can’t win this argument lol.

I’m trying to convince Darrin that when I buy my Nook he might get some use out of it too. Not just books but newspapers and magazines as well.

He said that he likes to read a regular newspaper and magazine because he can find things easily but my response was that you can find things much quicker with a Nook. All you have to do is type in a keyword and it will find every instance of that word. Or you can highlight articles that you want to go back to and then go into your highlights to find them.

He said that he likes the feeling of a newspaper or magazine, yet he has trouble letting them go. When he buys a magazine he doesn’t like to toss them afterwards because he paid a lot of money for them. Have you seen the cost of magazines? My god, those things are expensive.

A LA Times newspaper is $1 a day and I think it’s $2+/- on Sundays. Well, if he got a subscription to the LA Times on the Nook, it’s only $10 per month. I don’t know if that includes Sundays though. I checked to see how much home delivery of the LA Times is and it’s about $11.96 per month. You are only saving $1.96 per month but that’s $23.52 per year and you are saving trees at the same time. If you were to recycle all those newspapers you probably wouldn’t get that $1.96 back for a month worth of newspapers since they are thinning out so much these days. Then again I don’t know that for sure, they pay you by weight, not by how many you have.

I was looking at the eMagazines they have and they really aren’t anything that I would be interested in and Darrin never reads what they have available. The only one that would interest me is PC Magazine but I wouldn’t read it that much. He likes magazines like Time, People and Architectural Digest. Those aren’t available for Nook. So since nothing really good is available I won’t even try to convince him on that aspect.

But the key points that I was trying to convince him on is that you can look up articles by keywords, highlighting and making notes. When you write a note in an article you can refer back to your notes and it will bring that particular article up.  He said he could look something up fast in a magazine or newspaper but I bet him anything that I could find it faster on a nook.

He goes to Church, not every Sunday but most Sundays and he loves to bring his own bible that he had his name engraved on. There is no way I can convince him with a Bible for Nook. He saw how one guys bible was weathered and falling apart and all this stuff was highlighted and he made a remark about how he couldn’t wait for his bible to be as used as his was. So that I won’t even try to convince him of. Besides, when he is at Church is the perfect time for me to read and I wouldn’t like it if he had my Nook during those times lol.

There are so many things that make me giddy about electronic toys that he could care less about. Although when I actually get it he might feel differently but until then he couldn’t care less despite how much I try to convince him.

He was impressed when I told him that you could make the text a lot bigger to make it easier to read and the fact that you could visit websites and write emails and I could even blog from the Nook.  Although I don’t know if I would want to because of the touchscreen keyboard but if we were visiting family it would be a lot easier than using the mobile dashboard with my PSP.  I could also type more than I can on the mobile version.

There are some things that you have to see for yourself and when we get to the Barnes & Noble next week he can see how cool they are with the display that they have.  He’ll realize they are a lot better than he wants to give them credit for.  He’ll see.

James Potter

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, NookLeave a comment

I accidentally found a book that J.K. Rowling wrote that was a prequel to the Harry Potter novels, it was called Chapter Zero. Apparently it was a prank that J.K. Rowling was playing on her fans but that’s quite alright, I can take a joke.

While searching for the name James Potter I stumbled onto this website which is a fan novel series called James Potter by G. Norman Lippert. These novels are based on J.K. Rowling’s novels but they are not hers. It’s a fan fiction novel(s) based on the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

So far there are 3 novels. James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing, James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper and James Potter and the Vault of Destinies.

I have not read them yet because they are in pdf format and I really don’t like reading pdf files on the computer screen. It’s too hard on my eyes and I’d much rather be able to lay down on my bed and read it. When I get my Nook I’ll be able to read them on that.

I am really excited about reading these books because 1 I’m a huge fan and 2 they are FREE! Who doesn’t like free?

The one thing about these books for those who are unaware, James Potter is not Harry’s father, he’s his first-born son.

“Your Father’s Battle is Over. Your’ Begins.”

If you are interested, they did some videos for YouTube to advertise the first book. You can click the big picture for “James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing the FULL FILM” I have to warn you though, the acting isn’t A grade but it’s something. And it’s not a full 90 minute or 3 hour movie, it’s 5 videos all under 10 minutes. Watching it will give you an idea of what’s coming in the story.

As soon as I get my Nook I will add it to it after I convert the pdf files to epub format then I will add it to my very long list of books to read. I’ll push it up near the top because I am very interested in it.

Writing eBooks

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBookLeave a comment

I spent the entire day yesterday writing ebooks. It’s a learning process that I never thought I would ever do in a million years but I am learning. First I started using Mobipocket Creator which is a free program. It turns your ebooks into .mobi files but then I would have to turn around and use Calibre to turn them into .epub files.

I had to create a text or html file for Mobipocket creator. In order for me to do that I had to go into an html editor program.

I was using Microsoft Frontpage to create the html files and at first I thought that in order for me to make a table of contents I had to type out all the chapter names then go to each chapter and create a bookmark then go to the table of contents and make a link to each bookmark. That didn’t work lol.

I didn’t know what I was doing wrong until I realized that it won’t find the chapters unless you make them Heading 2. Ok so I made the chapters all Heading 2. There was one book I was copying and pasting but all the chapters names were Lesson 1, 2 etc. The Heading 2 didn’t do me any good there because they weren’t called Chapter. So I had to go back and rename them to Chapter 1, 2 etc.

In Mobipocket Creator it ignored all my images in my html file, actually it gave me nothing but errors. So I went directly to Calibre, added my html file, edited the meta details, gave it a lovely cover, did the title all that bullcrap then created my .epub file and it did it! It gave me all my images and it gave me a table of contents without having an actual table of contents in the 2nd page. It even gave me a title page because my title had Heading 1.

Now I can create like a photo album with all the pictures that I want and with names and as long as I give each album a Chapter name with Heading 2, it will show up in the table of contents. I think that is so cool.

I think I’m going to do that, create my own photo albums for my Nook. I don’t know if links will actually work in the Nook though but I’m pretty sure if I added a link in the photo album e-bookit should be clickable since the Nook now has a web browser on it. That should be cool to test.

I have a couple of weeks until I get the Nook so I have plenty of time to create tons of ebooks for it lol.  There are tons of possibilities. Who knows, maybe this will inspire me to write my own e-book about my f’d up life that I can bore you all with lol.

My Final Decision – Nook

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Nook, Products I LikeLeave a comment

I’ve made my final decision about which e-book reader I want to buy. I said in my last post about waffling that I really wanted the Kindle because it’s the iPod of the e-book reader world but then last night I found out that Calibre will convert many e-book file formats to the .epub file format.

I’ve literally spent the entire day today trying to figure that program out and came to the conclusion that .epub is the best file for the Nook. When I tried converting my ebooks to .pdb file format (which is Nooks familiar format), the table of contents were always screwed up. It worked but it wouldn’t just say chapter 1, it would have the word Calibre with the chapter title.

The .epub file format works so much better and it’s the first choice in Calibre when you are converting a file so it makes it that much easier.

Of course Calibre probably won’t work with DRM books, the books I buy from Rainbow eBooks don’t have that restriction on them (yet). Although if a book I buy from them is already in the .epub file format then I won’t have to convert any of their books for the Nook. I can just buy,download, upload and read.

Although the book “Fell” did come in epub but it didn’t work on the Nook for PC program. So there is a good chance that I will still have to convert other file formats for the Nook.

And yes, I know, I can do the same thing with the Kindle but I think I’m going to get the Nook WiFi despite the fact that it’s $10 more than the Kindle and if I buy it at Barnes and Noble, chances are I’m gonna pay even more with taxes. The issue that I’m having with the Kindle is how it’s sold out lol. I don’t want to buy a Kindle if I can’t get it for another month. I also don’t want to buy something that I can’t return to the store.

There are a few features of the Nook that I like and don’t care for. For example you can replace the battery, it has an Expandable micro SD slot. I’ve seen in a video how slow the color screen is when sliding your finger to find a book, that is a bit irritating to me but I think I can get past that. The lend feature won’t do me any good but on the other hand who knows what might happen in the future. The very fact that we can walk into a B&N and I can bring a Nook with me and be able to read a book for free for 1 hour is appealing.

The main thing is that I can convert my existing e-books to the .epub format that I can read on a Nook and be able to use the dictionary, look up words, highlight and annotate. That’s all I wanted. That’s all I needed.

If I do get one, I’m going to buy 1 copy of the Los Angeles Times so that Darrin can see if he likes reading it on the Nook. If he does then I’ll get him the monthly subscription.  I’m tired of having to pick up his newspapers lol.  I don’t read so much that I will monopolize it from him, although I can’t say that he won’t monopolize it from me lol.  If that is the case I will suggest he buy himself one with his credit card.

I think I was wrong when I said that the Kindle is the iPod of the e-book world because it’s not sold in stores, it’s only online.  My Dell DJ was only online and they screwed me over on that because I can’t take it to any store to have it fixed but the Nook has a store.  So I think the Nook is really the iPod of e-books.

Leggo my ebook

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, NookLeave a comment

I feel so stupid for waffling so much on this issue. I want a Kindle real bad because it’s the iPod of the e-book reader world. When I got my mp3 player I bought the Dell DJ but I was stupid, I should’ve gotten an iPod. Now, Dell doesn’t support fixing the Dell DJ. Heck, they don’t support anything with that product anymore. They won’t give you software updates, firmware updates, nothing. Not even tech support. They won’t even help me get a battery that works. I’m on my own with that and I can’t even find a company that will send me one that fits. I bought one in July and it still hasn’t shown up. I did get a refund though.

I got a tweet from Sony when I asked someone on Twitter if I should get Kindle or Nook and Sony said to get Sony Reader. So I thought ok I’ll check out their website. I did look at the Sony Pocket reader and although they have a good e-book reader it’s not as good as the touch BUT I did see some video reviews on that and they say that you can barely read the screen because of the touch feature. Also I can just see the screen getting so marked up from using that stylus pen that I won’t be able to read anyway. You know I’m gonna be drawing on it all the time on the books and on the drawing screen.

The Sony touch is what I really want BUT I wish they had an online store that I can buy books wirelessly through the reader and not have to plug it in every time I want to buy a book. I don’t want to be visiting family and have to use their computer to buy a book and have to install the software on someone elses computer. Ya know?

In their tweet, Sony told me about being able to check out library books and so I downloaded their software to check it out and went to the library link and they said I can only check out library books if I have a library card which I do for the Kern County Library which unfortunately is not in their system. So that feature is 100% useless for me.

The review I watched, the e-book reader was flawless but then when I watched another video, the Sony touch was slow to turn the page. He would swipe the screen and the page didn’t turn at all. He had to swipe again and other times he swiped the screen and it took 10 seconds to turn the page. I am way too impatient to wait 10 seconds for the page to turn.

Also, they said that they do supply a USB for it but that’s it. No A/C adapter for charging. Hello? They said that is a $30 accessory. What? Seriously? Although I did read that it uses the PSP power cable which I do have but I find that ridiculous that they are charging so much money for an e-book reader and they won’t even supply you a freaking a/c adapter.

The Sony touch has some good and bad and the bad outweigh the good for me.

I really want a nook or kindle because of the wi-fi feature and online store. I don’t care about 3G, I really don’t. I just want to be able to connect with a WiFi connection at home or at a friend’s house using their WiFi or if we’re out and about then I can use the public WiFi at a Starbucks or McDonald’s.

The Nook has the lend feature which is totally useless to me as well. I don’t know anyone who has a Nook and I highly doubt that me buying a Nook is going to bring me Nook buddies. Also the little screen on the Nook is too slow for me.

Although, the good thing about the Nook is that if I have an issue with it I can just bring it to a Barnes and Noble and maybe they can help me with it. I do want to go to a Barnes and Noble to play with one to see how fast or slow it is. Not just the color screen but page turns and startup and all. I want to be convinced with a in store demonstration.

If I don’t like it then I will go Kindle. But, there are still 2-3 weeks to waffle er um I mean decide.

Money Saved for ebook Reader

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, NookLeave a comment

I officially have the money saved up for an e-book reader. Although I can’t really buy it yet because I have to make sure we have enough money for food for the next 2 weeks before I can spend the money I am saving. I have to get my priorities straight lol.

So I’m leaning towards the Amazon Kindle. I wanted to get the Nook because of its color screen but heard how slow it is and it’s not worth my time. I don’t need little icon book covers to make me happy.

I didn’t want a Kindle because most of my e-books are in pdf, .prc, .lit, .mobi and .epub format. I know you can read pdf files on a Kindle and I’m ok with not being able to use the dictionary I guess. I probably won’t have that feature with a Nook with pdf files anyway. I don’t really care for a Sony because I don’t really care about library books, oh and I don’t care about lending books with Nook as I have no friends with a Nook anyway lol.  And the Nook, Sony and Kindle stores all have pretty much the same prices for e-books anyway so store options don’t matter.

So, Kindle it is. But, again, I have to wait until I get my next check to make sure I have the money and then some.

Although I still have a lot of regular books in paperback and a hardcover book coming that I won from GetGlue.com. No not the zombie one, they offered me another one. But when I do get the Kindle the first e-book I will buy will be the first Sookie Stackhouse novels books 1-8 despite it’s hefty $55 price tag. I say hefty because it’s paperback version is only $35 so I’m over spending on it. Although, who knows what I will do. I’m unpredictable lol.

Oh and I’m going to also buy the Kathy Griffin book “Official Book Club Selection” and her moms book Tip It. Although, those 2 in e-book format are expensive so not right away.

After those then I will start buying the charmed novels and maybe more buffy novels. I have a few in paperback but not in order. Also there are star wars novels and star trek novels, let’s see, supernatural, smallville, roswell… too many to list. Let’s just say I’m going to be pretty busy. Oh and that’s not including all the books I plan on buying from Rainbow ebooks too lol.

Will I have enough time to read all these books that I plan on reading?

I do have a LOT of e-books on my computer right now so I’m not exactly sure how much money I will be spending on e-books right off the bat because I will be converting all of them to Kindle format so I can finally read them. Yes, I have a lot of unread e-books waiting for me. So the only money I’ll need to spend right away is on the Kindle then I won’t have to spend any money for quite a while until all of my current books have been read.

Ah the life of a book-worm.

Update: Ok so I was wrong, check this out.  The new kindle has this –  Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights.  That’s perfect!  That’s all I wanted to know lol.  Now the Kindle IS my choice to buy.  Cool, now I can buy all .pdf files anywhere and transfer them over to my Kindle.  This way if one store has an e-book cheaper than Amazon then I can buy it’s pdf file.  And I can buy Rainbow ebooks in all pdf file formats and not worry that I can’t read them.  Awesome!

Shopping for an eBook Reader

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Gadgets, Kindle, Nook, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

Someone I follow on tweeted this link today. Engadget’s back to school guide: E-readers. Naturally I had to look because I too want to buy an e-book reader. I have wanted one ever since they first came out but never could afford one because they were in the $400 – $600 range (around 2006).

In November 2009 I started blogging for pay (via PayPerPost and Blogsvertise) with the intention of saving money for buying an e-book reader, Kindle or Nook. Preferably a Nook because of the color screen at the bottom but it didn’t really make any difference. They were both around $265 or so back then.

I had a lot of trouble saving the money for one because my monthly income is so low that when I run out of grocery money I ended up taking the blogging money from PayPal to buy food. Since I have a PayPal debit card it makes it so much easier to spend the money.

9 months has gone by since I made the commitment to save the money and I still don’t have an e-book reader. However, the thing that I wanted the most out of an e-book reader was a lower price to justify my purchase.

eBook readers such as the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and Sony Reader have all gone dramatically down in price, down to a price that I can finally afford.

Unfortunately, they still don’t fit my needs. What I want is an e-book reader that will accept a lot of formats like .lit, .prc, .pdf, .mobi and .epub. What I want is for an e-book reader that would allow me to read those formats and still be able to use their dictionary. I don’t know if they all let you to use the dictionary with just a .pdf file which is what makes my decision so difficult.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6″ Display, Graphite – Latest Generation:

Pros: The new Amazon Kindle is stylish. I love the graphite color. I like the keypad on the bottom, it’s small enough that I’m ok with it considering I would probably be typing on it occasionally when searching for keywords, making notes and searching for books in the Kindle store. They have games on it, which I don’t really care about, I just want it to read but it is good to know. The price dropped down to $139 and has free 2-day free shipping which is awesome. The battery works for a full month without charging with the wi-fi turned off which is great.

Cons: It does allow me to view my .pdf books but that’s it and I can’t use the dictionary for definitions which is a big negative for me. I mean sure I can’t do that with a paper book but this is electronic and I want that ability. Also, it does not have an SD card for adding more books.

NOOK Wi-Fi, eReader, eBook Reader – Barnes & Noble:

Pros: The B&N Nook is also very stylish with its cool color touchscreen at the bottom which also has a keyboard. The screen goes black while you are reading to keep you from being distracted. It does allow me to add a .pdf, .epub and .pdb file and has a MicroSD slot. The cool thing about the Nook is that you can lend books to your friends and if I had any that had a Nook then we could lend each other books. If you are in the B&N store you can browse through a book for free for 1 hour per day. The price dropped down to $149 and although it’s $10 more than Amazon it is still a good price.

Cons: The Nooks battery is only 10 days unlike the Kindle which is 30 days. The color touchscreen on the bottom is too slow for impatient people like me. Although as I said it allows .pdf, .epub and .pdb files it doesn’t allow the others. All my ebooks are in all the other formats I mentioned above.

Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition – Dark Blue:

The price of this is different at the Sony site as opposed to the Amazon site. Amazon charges $136.99 with free shipping but according to the Sony site it’s $149.99. I would buy it from Amazon.

Pros: Although it is a little bit stylish in the dark blue color, it isn’t as stylish as the Kindle or Nook. The Sony Pocket Edition does allow multiple formats such as .pdf, .epub, MS Word, BBeB Book (?) and other text file formats. It doesn’t say the others. The ebook store Sony uses is the Reader store which I assume is from Sony, check out books from public libraries and access over one million free public domain titles from Google Books, sharing sites and other online stores and publishers websites.

I don’t know if that means I can access the Rainbow eBooks website or not, I hope it does because that is what I want.

Cons: One of the things I don’t like about this is that it doesn’t have a keyboard for typing and I don’t know how you type anything when looking up a book to buy.

I don’t know if this should go in pro or con, it’s charge only lasts 2 weeks but I mean seriously, I can charge it every 2 weeks.

This is a tough and huge decision, one that I can think about until the first week of September when I will finally have the money saved up to buy one. I’m leaning more toward the Sony reader though but I would like it if people would leave a comment telling me what they think of each of these readers to give me more to think about. Keeping in mind that I buy a lot of books from Rainbow eBooks and ebooks.com.