I don’t really forget about this blog, I just have a hard time updating any of them. Posterous has really made it more convenient by adding posts by email. I use to tweet once in a while from my phone, but once I could post pictures and short notes to my blog with an email from my phone, then it made it so much easier. This was especially true when I got my Android phone. I posted a few times from my Windows Mobile phone, but the camera was enough better on my new phone to make a difference. I have a huge post on Android and its apps that I haven’t posted, yet. I’ll have to clean it up and do that before it’s too old, but back to the happenings from the last couple weeks…
Today at work, I had a question come up that I have looked into some, but really wish I knew more about. The question was what was the best way to get Google Books on to an eReader and how much would it cost? I recently bought my wife a Barnes & Noble Nook ebook reader – so I was leaning that way, but the Kindle is the name most people recognize right away. I did a little research before buying the Nook, but each one has its own strengths. I’m a big fan of Amazon and had always bought books for her from there, among everything else in the world I’ve bought from there. It’s off topic, but Amazon Prime is awesome. But the Barnes & Noble reader runs Android, of which I’m also a huge fan. The Barnes & Noble book store offers the same books at similar prices, but has a little more flexibility with adding your own books, and I thought getting books from Google was one of the options. I’ll have to look into that to see how easy it is. The newest Nook software has an internet browser and other fun things included. The Nook also has the color touch screen for browsing books. These are the things that pushed me to chose the Nook – and so far she has been happy with the decision. We got her the 3g version, but she is recommending the WiFi version to her mom – you can’t beat the $150 price tag now. I wish it was that cheap when I bought hers. I’m also wanting to see how hard it is to log on as her to my iPod or Android phone to read the same books. I don’t read much – ok, I don’t read at all – but it would be nice to know that i could if I wanted to, or she could use my iPod or phone if she forgot her Nook.
As for other features, we thought it was really cool that you could lend books with the Nook, this isn’t possible on the Kindle. But then again, 14 days isn’t very long and the only person she’s really going to lend books to is her mom, so they could just trade Nooks. (That sounds funny, I may have to change what I’m calling it.) I’d like to see how the future of e-Book readers changes with the size and color print. I think they need to advance a little in the technology to be really useful in schools as text books, or to be known as reference books. It would be cool to have the Nook sitting next to me and be able to pull up an article from Wikipedia to read about something on I saw TV, or maybe to look up a word in the dictionary or thesaurus. I’m sure some of this is possible, but I think it should be quicker to do and quicker to change pages and scan a technology book for an answer.
So as for ebooks, I guess overall I’d recommend the Barnes & Noble Nook, but the Amazon Kindle would be a very close #2. As for other options, I think the Sony would be cheapest and most flexible if you didn’t need 3g and were converting and loading your own books. And I know Borders is coming out with one soon, but I don’t know much about it. Then, of course, there’s always the iPad – if you can afford it. It uses a different technology for the screen, but I’ve heard its still pretty easy to read. The iPad also has a world of other stuff to offer besides just reading from the iBook store, including reading your Kindle or Nook books. I’m surprised Apple is finally letting people decide how they want to get their media, kinda.