# Len Edgerly compares reading experience on Kindle vs. nook



## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

This just popped up on my Facebook.



> I purchased four e-book copies of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel-one each for Sony Reader, Kobo, nook, and Kindle-in order to compare the reading experience for the same book on four leading e-readers. After eliminating the devices that do not offer dictionary, notes, and highlights, the tournament ends with a nook v. Kindle battle through five tests. You'll learn which device was the victor, as well as many details about the reading experience on competing e-readers. Recorded in Cambridge, Mass., on August 15, 2010, before release of the Kindle 3 and nook 2.


http://thereadingedge.com/2010/08/16/tre-30-the-wolf-hall-tournament-of-e-readers/


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Note it's a nearly 30 minute video. . . .so you might want to wait to start it until you have the time to sit and watch. . . . .


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## love2read (Nov 23, 2008)

I saw this 2 days ago on my Facebook. Very interesting review and worth the time to watch it.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Watching it right now... it's just too bad it'll already be dated in a couple of weeks.  He needs to redo it with the next gen Kindle coming out.  It's good that he does make mention of it though.

I had no idea it was such a pain to look up words and highlight text on the Nook...  And what's the point of the highlight if you can't automatically look it up again?  I'm hoping that's a feature he overlooked, but unlike most people who do these things it sounds like he actually practiced and did his homework on all the devices and even called Nook support for help in one instance.  That's even worse than highlighting in a book.  At least I can thumb through a book and look for the bright colored text.  Why would B&N release a device so long after the Kindle and not address those basic issues?  The search sounds horrid too...  Soooo glad I got a Kindle before there was a chance of me having to make the wrong decision between the two.

I never even knew about the highlight, space bar, search function on the Kindle ><  That's handy.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

The playback isn't very good on my computer. . . . . .it keeps pausing to grab more video. . . . .I'm going to pause it for a while and see if it gets more and then set it to go and catch up. .  . . .


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

What is making me crazy is the high-pitched noise on the audio.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

pidgeon92 said:


> What is making me crazy is the high-pitched noise on the audio.


and dogs barking in the background


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

scarlet said:


> and dogs barking in the background


I haven't noticed that.... Of course, Firefox crashed when I was about 7 minutes in and I haven't started watching it again yet. I'm sure he probably hates the nook dictionary as much as I do. I use my iPhone to look up words instead when I am reading on my nook.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

He's done word look up and highlight on nook and Kindle. . . he's not keen on the controller and many steps required to do either on the nook. . . .I'm letting it buffer a little more. . . .and then he's going to show the Amazon page where your highlights are stored. . . .


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## Tom Diego (Jun 30, 2010)

Scheherazade said:


> I had no idea it was such a pain to look up words and highlight text on the Nook... And what's the point of the highlight if you can't automatically look it up again?
> 
> I never even knew about the highlight, space bar, search function on the Nook >< That's handy.


I like that he was straightforward and had specific criteria and demonstrated how easy/hard it was to do on each device. Of course he could have tried some criteria that would favor the nook, like "loaning" a book, or trying to read an Amazon book for free for an hour.

How about not being able to highlight across multiple pages on the nook? It seems like highlighting was not implemented very well on the nook at all.

Ditto on the space bar to search (did you mean Kindle instead of nook?). But I only had my K2i for four weeks!


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## southerntype (Aug 17, 2010)

scarlet said:


> and dogs barking in the background


Yes. That noise is killing me.


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## Gerund (Aug 8, 2010)

Tom Diego said:


> I like that he was straightforward and had specific criteria and demonstrated how easy/hard it was to do on each device. Of course he could have tried some criteria that would favor the nook, like "loaning" a book, or trying to read an Amazon book for free for an hour.
> 
> How about not being able to highlight across multiple pages on the nook? It seems like highlighting was not implemented very well on the nook at all.
> 
> Ditto on the space bar to search (did you mean Kindle instead of nook?). But I only had my K2i for four weeks!


Yeah, this bothered me as well.

"Let's compare these four readers by assessing how well they do things that only one of them actually does!"

I mean, if they had a Pocket-Fitting-Into Test, or a Colour-Touchscreen-Display Test, or a Quilted-Textured-Back Test, the Kindle would have lost. It makes sense that he'd compare them based on the criteria that matter to him, but for someone who doesn't really use the dictionary feature or plan on using the web browsers, the information is neither here nor there, and there are more universal criteria that might have been explored instead: screen contrast, comfort in hand, battery life, speed of page turn, availability of books, etc.


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## Varin (May 12, 2009)

I was more annoyed by the camera work... Loved the review, but for the love of god, get a tripod!


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## stormmaster (Jun 12, 2010)

Gerund said:


> I mean, if they had a Pocket-Fitting-Into Test, or a Colour-Touchscreen-Display Test, or a Quilted-Textured-Back Test, the Kindle would have lost. It makes sense that he'd compare them based on the criteria that matter to him, but for someone who doesn't really use the dictionary feature or plan on using the web browsers, the information is neither here nor there, and there are more universal criteria that might have been explored instead: screen contrast, comfort in hand, battery life, speed of page turn, availability of books, etc.


Sadly though, those things are bit hard to test for or quantify. Screen contrast? They all use the same 6" screen. Comfort in hand? That is subjective to each person. You could go by weight, but that's a straight forward numbers game that you cannot really call a test. Battery life? This would be a good test, since he already had identical books and four different readers, but it would be difficult to implement. Not to mention boring to watch. Speed of page turn? While the screens are identical, the software driving each screen is not. Even so, the difference would be fractions of a second at most, which would be difficult for the casual layperson to measure. Availability of books? Straight up numbers game.



Tom Diego said:


> I like that he was straightforward and had specific criteria and demonstrated how easy/hard it was to do on each device. Of course he could have tried some criteria that would favor the nook, like "loaning" a book, or trying to read an Amazon book for free for an hour.


I could be mistaken, and nook users please chime in if I am, but the 'read a book free for an hour' thing is not actually what the name implies. It is more 'here is the first few chapters of the book which should take you an hour to read' than a 'here is the entire book and you may read as much as you can in one hour'. If it is the former, the Kindle has that feature in the form of samples, which users can keep for far longer than one hour. If it is the latter, I will be buying a nook very, very soon, because I read fast.

Overall, the video was quite informative on how you would use each reader.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

will note this vlog the next time some ask me about what ereader they should get


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## Tom Diego (Jun 30, 2010)

stormmaster said:


> I could be mistaken, and nook users please chime in if I am, but the 'read a book free for an hour' thing is not actually what the name implies. It is more 'here is the first few chapters of the book which should take you an hour to read' than a 'here is the entire book and you may read as much as you can in one hour'. If it is the former, the Kindle has that feature in the form of samples, which users can keep for far longer than one hour. If it is the latter, I will be buying a nook very, very soon, because I read fast.


From the Barnes & Noble website:

"Visit the store, turn on your NOOK, and see what pops up on your screen. You will get exclusive content, special discounts, and more. Plus, shop the BN eBookstore and read complete eBooks FREE while in store."

From what nook owners have posted, you can read any e-book while in any B&N store but only for about one hour. This is more extensive than Amazon's download a free sample feature, which the nook also has:

"Try before you buy. Download a free sample of any eBook we sell to discover new authors and check out today's most talked about books for free. Find something you like? It's easy to buy and download the titles you want in seconds."

I don't know how long it takes you to read an Amazon free sample, but it takes me significantly less than an hour. Amazon free samples are also reported to vary from being just the title page, up to so many pages, a certain percentage of the book, or the first chapter or two.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Sounds like a nice review if it had come out last Christmas. Why he'd release it now baffles me!


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Tom Diego said:


> Ditto on the space bar to search (did you mean Kindle instead of nook?). But I only had my K2i for four weeks!


I did... had Nook on the brain. Fixed it! Thanks 

And yeah, he could have chosen things that would have gone in the Nook's favor but I can't really think of many. Book loaning, the Android Screen, the reading "for free" in the store... those are all gimmicks and don't deliver on everything the advertising blurbs they were created to fill seem to promise potential customers once they buy it and read the fine print. I'd say the only real thing that the Nook does right and the Kindle can't is library books. I guess color websites on that tiny screen too if you have a wifi connection... None of that would make up for that clunky virtual navigating arrow though... at least not for me.

It was a bit skewed in terms of what he chose to test, but I think folks can agree they are very basic things that pretty much any eReader on the market should be able to do if they hope to be competitive. The TTS maybe not so much, but I think it's a nice feature and use it all the time... not to mention how much that opens it up for the vision impaired. Wikipedia might be a throw away too... but highlighting, searching and dictionary should be a given.



The Hooded Claw said:


> Sounds like a nice review if it had come out last Christmas. Why he'd release it now baffles me!


Seriously. Like I said, this is pretty much all going to change in a matter of weeks? Days? I'm not keeping up with the release date because it'll make me want to buy one and I can't! It does seem kind of silly though. Maybe he was giving the Nook a handicap.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

That's a very interesting video.  Thanks to the OP for posting the link.

As a complete newbie to Kindles (still waiting for my K3), one of my unanswered questions was how the dictionary, highlighting, look-ups, and note-taking work.  He didn't go into the note-taking, but the rest of my questions have now been answered, so I'm thankful for that.

The ease of use for the dictionary, the search, and the wiki look-up, are things that I see will encourage me to read more.  A friend who reads DTBs a lot is often asking me what certain words mean, and I can see now that the Kindle addresses this very human curiosity.

The Nook isn't available here in the UK but, when checking out ebook readers, the gimmick of the colour touch screen really intrigued the techie side of me.  Now I see from the video that it is really little more than just a gimmick.  In operation, I can see that the Kindle is going to be the ideal device for me.

It seems to my naive eyes that B&N are into adding gimmicks to their device/service while Amazon just ask what a reader actually wants to do while reading a book.

It's also interesting that he started the test by saying that, although the other three devices are supposedly "open" formats, when it comes to buying a book they're all as closed as each other due to DRM.  I read many reviews saying "don't get the Kindle because it's not open" but this test suggests that this isn't the biggest issue in the world anyway.  He still had to buy the book four times for four devices.

If the K3 wasn't about to be released, that test would have convinced me to get a K2 (because, before this, I didn't know the K2 was that good).  The K3 should be even better.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I also noticed that he seemed to be using as 'tests' things that the nook didn't do well. . . .but, he did admit to being a fan of Kindle. . . .I do think he gave all the devices a fair shot:  he just prefers the Kindle and the video reflected that for the reasons he mentioned.  I don't recall anywhere that he said he was trying to be impartial.

He did mention the rubberized back on a couple of the devices and that it was better for holding than the slippery back of the Kindle -- and then noted that the K3 would have the rubberized back.

I do think he should have mentioned the "lend me" feature . . . . as contrasted with the Amazon 'account sharing' -- which I've still never heard anyone say that the Nook does. . .  .and do they allow you to sync devices if you have a nook and a nook app?

But, again, he picked the things that were important to him. . . .except TTS, which was a bit disingenuos. . . .but it is important to a lot of folks.  He probably should have addressed library books but, again, that's obviously not something that's important to him.

I was happy to see a real display of how to do things on the nook. . . . .though I agree the camera work was poor. . . .


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I do think he should have mentioned the "lend me" feature . . . . as contrasted with the Amazon 'account sharing' -- which I've still never heard anyone say that the Nook does. . . .


Do people find the "lend me" feature useful? From what I've read you can lend books if and only if (i) the publisher allows it, (ii) if you haven't loaned the book before, and (iii) for only 14 days.

With those restrictions, I'm having a tough time seeing how it's a good thing. You can't lend it to a second friend and, if the first friend didn't finish it in 14 days that's tough, he can't read to the end.

I was reading on a Nook forum that sales people in the B&N stores don't often mention the "lend me" feature themselves. I get the feeling that B&N had big plans for "lend me", but that the publishers put too many restrictions in place to make it viable.


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## gadgetgirl003 (Mar 22, 2009)

I enjoyed the video. Thank you Heather for posting it.  I learned some things about my Kindle that I had not discovered even though I've had it since Feb 2009.  Also, his video made me realize how much I take for granted with the Kindle. I have come to EXPECT an e-book reader to have search, the ability to highlight, bookmark and take notes. I use the search function often for the very thing that he was describing>(Looking up a character that had been previously mentioned in the book.) My daughter has a Kindle that she uses for school along with a http://www.amazon.com/SolidTek-DigiMemo-692-Digital-Notepad/dp/B0009OD4CS/ref=pd_cp_e_3 and http://www.amazon.com/SolidTek-DigiMemo-692-Digital-Notepad/dp/B0009OD4CS/ref=pd_cp_e_3 that she uses to take notes and then transfer to her Kindle to study. I realize now that the Kindle is probably the only e-book reader that makes this so such a fantastic study help.
I liked that he used the Kindle 2 and then just mentioned that the Kindle 3 would be even better. Even though I have had my Kindle 2 for a year and a half it still feels new to me and this review made me love it even more.


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

Personally, this was a stupid test. Not one of his five parameters has any relevance to me. I'm not in school, so why would I even need to highlight, look up, take notes, or have it talk to me in a book being read for pleasure? I never did it with DTBs, so why would I want to do it with eBooks?


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

Gerund said:


> "Let's compare these four readers by assessing how well they do things that only one of them actually does!"
> 
> I mean, if they had a Pocket-Fitting-Into Test, or a Colour-Touchscreen-Display Test, or a Quilted-Textured-Back Test, the Kindle would have lost. It makes sense that he'd compare them based on the criteria that matter to him, but for someone who doesn't really use the dictionary feature or plan on using the web browsers, the information is neither here nor there, and there are more universal criteria that might have been explored instead: screen contrast, comfort in hand, battery life, speed of page turn, availability of books, etc.


Agreed. How about library books? Kindle would've lost there also.


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

tubemonkey said:


> Personally, this was a stupid test. Not one of his five parameters has any relevance to me. I'm not in school, so why would I even need to highlight, look up, take notes, or have it talk to me in a book being read for pleasure? I never did it with DTBs, so why would I want to do it with eBooks?


I'm not in school either, but I highlight and take notes ALL THE TIME. I do think that the "tournament" was biased, in that the 5 tests he chose were all tests on which the K2 outshne the Nook. However, if those 5 features (or any subset of them) are important to you, then it's certainly a helpful comparison. Two of my most favorite things about my K2 are the ability to highlight and _find my highlighting again_, and the ability to search through the book for other occurences of a particular term or character name. Before seeing this video, I had no idea that the Nook wouldn't allow either -- so I'm glad I was concerned enough about battery life to choose the K2 when I made my choice!


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

dpinmd said:


> I'm not in school either, but I highlight and take notes ALL THE TIME.


You do, I don't. That's why the test was stupid.

Do you do library books? I do. Why wasn't that one of his parameters?

A real test would've measured important parameters - battery life, page turns, size, weight, ease of getting books onto the device, book availability, etc.


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

tubemonkey said:


> You do, I don't. That's why the test was stupid.


Ouch. Maybe rather than calling the test "stupid," you could say that it wasn't particularly relevant to your needs. I personally found it very helpful, and plan to forward it to others with the caveat that it doesn't cover all of the differences between the two devices.


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## Tom Diego (Jun 30, 2010)

tubemonkey said:


> You do, I don't. That's why the test was stupid.
> 
> Do you do library books? I do. Why wasn't that one of his parameters?
> 
> A real test would've measured important parameters - battery life, page turns, size, weight, ease of getting books onto the device, book availability, etc.


It looks like there's a good opportunity for you to create and post a rebuttal video. I look forward to it. But there's always the chance that others may find your tests "stupid" too.


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

Tom Diego said:


> It looks like there's a good opportunity for you to create and post a rebuttal video. I look forward to it. But there's always the chance that others may find your tests "stupid" too.


You're right, battery life would be a stupid parameter.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

tubemonkey,

MANY people use the look-up and highlight feature whether they're in school or not.

I do have a question for you since you're knowledgeable about the nook.

If I have 2 nooks on my account, and decide to delete content off of one, does that remove the content off the other nook on my account as well? Because I've read that it does and the only work around is to sideload the content at that point.


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

luvmy4brats said:


> MANY people use the look-up and highlight feature whether they're in school or not.
> 
> I do have a question for you since you're knowledgeable about the nook.
> 
> If I have 2 nooks on my account, and decide to delete content off of one, does that remove the content off the other nook on my account as well? Because I've read that it does and the only work around is to sideload the content at that point.


I know they do. Just wish he'd have said the video was primarily a test about search and highlight. Then I wouldn't have bothered watching it.

As to the Nook, I don't the answer to your question for a couple of reasons: 1) I don't have a Nook yet. In light of the K3, I'm waiting for either Nook 2 or a price drop. 2) It's not a feature I would use, because I don't know anyone with a Nook. I'm getting my son a K3 for a birthday present, so that's no help either.


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## Tom Diego (Jun 30, 2010)

tubemonkey said:


> You're right, battery life would be a stupid parameter.


I didn't say that. But as I did say, feel free to post a rebuttal video. I'm looking forward to seeing it.


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## tubemonkey (Aug 10, 2010)

Tom Diego said:


> I didn't say that. But as I did say, feel free to post a rebuttal video. I'm looking forward to seeing it.


It'll never happen. I don't do challenges or dares or "rebuttals".


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## woodNUFC (Aug 12, 2010)

Thanks to the OP for posting this! I'm really excited about using my future K3 for my history courses. The highlight/notes thing is something that I would not be able to live without, and the Kindle makes it look easy!


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## masquedbunny (Jul 18, 2010)

Wow, the Nook dictionary function looks like a pain after using the Kindle 2 for only a few weeks.

I think the only improvement I'd like on the Kindle's dictionary function would be an encyclopaedic reference to access while reading. I've been reading a lot of texts that allude to places and persons that I feel I ought to know, but don't. I generally end up doing a wiki search on my iPhone, since it takes a little too much time (and disrupts the flow of reading) to close out of the book on the Kindle, open up Wikipedia, figure it out, close out, and go back to the book. Granted, that's still easier than it would be with physical encyclopaedias ...


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

masquedbunny said:


> I generally end up doing a wiki search on my iPhone, since it takes a little too much time (and disrupts the flow of reading) to close out of the book on the Kindle, open up Wikipedia, figure it out, close out, and go back to the book. Granted, that's still easier than it would be with physical encyclopaedias ...


Actually, you don't need to close out of the book. Just use your cursor to highlight the thing you want to look up and then hit the space bar (like others, I didn't know about the space bar short cut before seeing this video), and then scroll to the right until you see "wikipedia" highlighted. It will take you right to the wikipedia entry; and then you can just hit "back" to get back to your place in your book. (If you want to look something up that's not easily highlighted, you can also just start typing on the keyboard from wherever you are in your book, and it will bring up the search box. Then just scroll to the right to select wikipedia.)

I use the dictionary and the "find" (in book) function all the time; I don't use wikipedia often, but when I do, I've found it to be fairly easy and I don't think it really disrupts the flow of reading much.


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## amafan (Aug 11, 2010)

I did like the comparison.  As a K1 user I was unaware of the new features that appeared on the K2 that he demonstrated.  The dictionary feature and the use of the 5-way controller to find and highlight was especially good to know.  the K1 has these features but are so hard to use in comparison I rarely used them.  I didn't even know the highlights could be found on-line.  WoW!  Now I'm really anxious to get my K3.  For instance the dictionary on the K1 besides being next to useless only allows look up of certain words on any given line through a multi-step process.  I use the dictionary a lot (being semi-literate).  

I do recognise that the NOOK has some advantages.  I will probably buy a Sony reader just for library check-outs.  I really wish Amazon would just support ePub and make the KINDLE choice a complete no brainer.  I did get to try the Nook in the store at B&N.  I found the interface to be awkward.  The store expert showed me some easier ways to do things but even he got hung up in places.  The two screen approach looks good but splitting actions across two different screens, one touch screen, the other not would take me awhile to get used to. 

One comparison he didn't do was battery life and page turn speed.  Both are critical to the reading experience.

Anyway only a short wait now for the K3.  Off to read Jack London's "The Sea Wolf".


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## masquedbunny (Jul 18, 2010)

dpinmd said:


> Actually, you don't need to close out of the book. Just use your cursor to highlight the thing you want to look up and then hit the space bar (like others, I didn't know about the space bar short cut before seeing this video), and then scroll to the right until you see "wikipedia" highlighted. It will take you right to the wikipedia entry; and then you can just hit "back" to get back to your place in your book. (If you want to look something up that's not easily highlighted, you can also just start typing on the keyboard from wherever you are in your book, and it will bring up the search box. Then just scroll to the right to select wikipedia.)
> 
> I use the dictionary and the "find" (in book) function all the time; I don't use wikipedia often, but when I do, I've found it to be fairly easy and I don't think it really disrupts the flow of reading much.


Ah, I see. I'd paused the video before he demonstrated the space bar trick (the high-pitched ringing in the background was starting to give me a headache). Awesome! I'm going to try this... when my K3 gets here. Aw.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I listen to Len Edgerly's weekly podcasts.  He does use the Nook for library books.  But the Sony  and Kobo are also good for that.  I use my Cybook Opus for library books.  Have considered buying a Nook for that since they started offering the $149 model, but I don't really need it.

I started watching this video as soon as he put it up, but I didn't stick with it.  I left it on but opened another tab in my browser and did other things.  I didn't think it was "stupid" at all but it did require some patience.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

I had no idea the dictionary feature on the Nook was so troublesome to use.... it would probably be quicker to use an actual dictionary! The dictionary is one on my favorite features on the Kindle & I use it often since it's so fast & easy.

Thanks for posting the link luvmy4brats!


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

The dictionary feature is horrid. I keep my iPhone nearby so I can look up words in the dictionary app I have.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

cagnes said:


> I had no idea the dictionary feature on the Nook was so troublesome to use.... it would probably be quicker to use an actual dictionary! The dictionary is one on my favorite features on the Kindle & I use it often since it's so fast & easy.
> 
> Thanks for posting the link luvmy4brats!


For me, that was one of the good things that the video demonstrated. The idea of having the dictionary on-call without having to click through various options and without having to navigate away from the page just makes me think that they thought about what the person reading would want, rather than just bolting-on a dictionary for reference purposes.

I think that's the difference between a device that's designed to enhance your reading and one that's just an electronic paper book.


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## Xopher (May 14, 2009)

Even on my KK/K1, the dictionary is easier to use than the Nook. I do find that I use the dictionary on occasion, and really like that feature.

I hadn't used the search option much, since you can't do it from within an ebook (on the K1) and only from the home screen. One of the things the video did get me to do was test the search feature more. I found it interesting that searching from the home page means it finds the search across multiple ebooks. So, if I search for a character from a book series, it pulls up all instances across the entire book series. I may find I will actually use that feature more now.

Seeing how the features are used on the K2 also made me think about updating to the K3. Once our daughter's K3 arrives, it may mean a K3 at least going on my Christmas list.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

JSRinUK said:


> It's also interesting that he started the test by saying that, although the other three devices are supposedly "open" formats, when it comes to buying a book they're all as closed as each other due to DRM. I read many reviews saying "don't get the Kindle because it's not open" but this test suggests that this isn't the biggest issue in the world anyway. He still had to buy the book four times for four devices.


I imagine that he didn't even try 'cause ePub formatted ebooks purchased from any place other than B&N should work on any ePub capable device as they use Adobe's DRM, but I think that you have to use Adobe Digital Editions rather than reader specific software. The reason why B&N's ePub formatted ebooks won't work on the others is because they didn't want to use the already established DRM that Adobe had so they created their own. That new DRM can be used on the other ePub readers but they need to be updated first. I haven't paid much attention to that update so I do not know what the status is, but that is all that is needed.


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## JSRinUK (Aug 3, 2010)

Selcien said:


> I imagine that he didn't even try 'cause ePub formatted ebooks purchased from any place other than B&N should work on any ePub capable device as they use Adobe's DRM, but I think that you have to use Adobe Digital Editions rather than reader specific software. The reason why B&N's ePub formatted ebooks won't work on the others is because they didn't want to use the already established DRM that Adobe had so they created their own. That new DRM can be used on the other ePub readers but they need to be updated first. I haven't paid much attention to that update so I do not know what the status is, but that is all that is needed.


Thanks for the explanation. I didn't realise it was so complicated. All I'd read before this was from people saying "all readers except Kindle are open".

In expectation of my K3, I've browsed and downloaded a bunch of free books for my Kindle from both Amazon and other websites (they seem to be either mobi or prc, whatever that means) and I haven't yet run into the situation of only having epub versions available. It's difficult for a newbie like me to see what all the fuss is about.


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## tessa (Nov 1, 2008)

I have both the Kindle and the Nook.  The Kindle is far more superior. The only thing the Nook has going for it is the library, but the bigger the e-book library, the more e-book readers, the longer the wait for books. 

tessa


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## CharlaBrady (Aug 19, 2010)

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

JSRinUK said:


> It's difficult for a newbie like me to see what all the fuss is about.


It's because the Adobe DRM for ePub offers the potential of having a single standard ebook format for books whose publishers require the use of DRM (it opens up your choices of e-readers, and the stores you can shop at). Unfortunately, I think DRM'd ePubs are rubbish as there are forced indents on *both* sides of the text. This would be great for large e-readers with touch screens as you can write in the empty space, but bad for smaller e-readers as you lose a lot of screen space because of it, and it's exacerbated if you have to increase the font size (to give an example, my copy of Stephen King's Gunslinger came with a half inch indent on both sides of the text for a total of an inch of wasted screen).

The only reason that I can tolerate ePub is because I break the DRM (which, btw, we're not allowed to explain how) and can adjust the indents to my taste, but even then I cannot completely get rid of the right indent since the ePub format puts page numbers on the right side of the screen, and no indent creates overlap, bloody annoying. I only use ePub because my current e-reader (Sony Touch) is not compatible with mobi/prc (they're essentially the same thing, just different extensions, and the metadata is different as well, but really, works with Kindle is all you really need to know).

The Kindle is a locked device in that the only DRM'd content you can use on it is what you buy from Amazon, but if I didn't break DRM I wouldn't even think about using any other e-reader. As it is I'm still going back to a Kindle (have a K3 on pre-order).

If there was no DRM, if Amazon allowed other companies to use prc in their e-readers, I think it would be the most desired format, not ePub.


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

Selcien said:


> The reason why B&N's ePub formatted ebooks won't work on the others is because they didn't want to use the already established DRM that Adobe had so they created their own. That new DRM can be used on the other ePub readers but they need to be updated first. I haven't paid much attention to that update so I do not know what the status is, but that is all that is needed.


Hasn't the Nook been out for almost a year? The DRM still has not been updated and anybody that bought a Nook and B&N books that decided to go to another ePub eReader still wouldn't be able to move their books to their new eReader.


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## FSkornia (Feb 22, 2009)

In my opinion it was a great video. The main flaw is the camera work, at times I felt I was watching a Paul Greengrass film.  Although I have to give him credit for handling the camera while doing all the other stuff.

As for the tests, I've noticed several people have mentioned that they were biased in favor of the Kindle.  I humbly disagree, each of those tests are basic features of the ereaders.  Some of the advantages of ebooks are being able to interact with the text of the book in an easier fashion than you would on paper. This includes searching the text, looking up definitions, and linking out to the internet for more information.  He just showed the process needed to do these tasks on the two devices.  In addition, being able to highlight (and find those highlights) are another trait of paper books that has been transferred to ebooks and he showed the process for that.

I think more revealing than the tests themselves was the interactions with the different devices.  Unfortunately he did not manipulate the Sony very much, so we weren't able to see much there, but it was good to see an almost side-by-side comparison of device interface and usability.  We saw on the Kobo that it did not respond conveniently when he was trying to do page turns. He hit the button several times in a couple directions and I did not see much change on the Kobo's screen.  We saw the technical difficulties with the nook in addition to its hesitancy to respond to his touches.  There were also mistouches on the nook's screen, forcing him to have to go back and try again.  The Kindle though proved itself to be responsive and straightforward in its operations, with few places for errors or mistakes.  I think this shows that Amazon has put some more consideration into its device's interface and is not "wowed" by new technology like touch screens.  I think this is also shown by some of changes on the new Kindle model, where they've simplified even the 5-way controller into something that will have less user error in its control.


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## Selcien (Oct 31, 2008)

Cardinal said:


> Hasn't the Nook been out for almost a year? The DRM still has not been updated and anybody that bought a Nook and B&N books that decided to go to another ePub eReader still wouldn't be able to move their books to their new eReader.


I was going off of an old faq which I managed to find again. https://www.adobe.com/devnet/digitalpublishing/barnes_noble_faq.html

I've visited http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/ and didn't find anything helpful 'cause while there is a list of devices that are compatible with Adobe Digital Editions, there's nothing at all indicating compatibility with the different stores like B&N.

My visit to B&N's store and Sony's is a bit more telling. For example, Sony's faq had this.

"Q: What are some other eReader devices that can read eBooks downloaded from the Reader Store?

A: eBooks offered at the Reader Store are provided in the industry standard EPUB format and are protected by a licensable Digital Rights Management technology created by Adobe called ACS4. Any device that supports both the EPUB format and ACS4 DRM can be used to read eBooks purchased from the Reader Store. These devices can also be used to read unprotected eBooks in the EPUB format (i.e., unprotected eBooks).

Some devices that are reported to support EPUB and Adobe's ACS4 are:

• Barnes & Noble nook™ device
• iRex devices

Other devices may also support EPUB and ACS4 format. Please check with the manufacturer of the device for specifications."

And there are instructions on how to get the ebooks onto the other ereaders which involves Adobe Digital Editions. B&N does not mention Adobe Digital Editions and all of the other devices are ones that use B&N's app.

I can only guess as to what might have happened but it does look like B&N's store is locked up just as tightly as Amazon's.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

FSkornia said:


> As for the tests, I've noticed several people have mentioned that they were biased in favor of the Kindle. I humbly disagree, each of those tests are basic features of the ereaders.


I agree. . . .except for the Text to Speech. . . .it was rather silly to have that as a 'test' when he knew, going in, that it wasn't a function any of the others even had. And I wouldn't consider it a 'basic feature' of an ereader. He could have done, for example, _buying_ a book which would have been HUGELY helpful. Now there's something that pretty much everyone will want or need to do at some point. 

But, again, this is just one guy's thing. . . .not meant to be a scientific study or anything. . . .and I do think it's fair to say, and he even admitted, that he really IS partial to the Kindle.

So: decent for what it is. . . .but not the be-all and end-all. . . . . .


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## FSkornia (Feb 22, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I agree. . . .except for the Text to Speech. . . .it was rather silly to have that as a 'test' when he knew, going in, that it wasn't a function any of the others even had. And I wouldn't consider it a 'basic feature' of an ereader. He could have done, for example, _buying_ a book which would have been HUGELY helpful. Now there's something that pretty much everyone will want or need to do at some point.


I agree with you on these. The TTS test was an unfair one from the beginning. Since it was the same book on all 4 devices showing how he purchased them would have been a good addition to the comparison.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Honestly, I wish I'd seen this while I was still looking for an eReader.  While I ultimately chose a Kindle, this video would have saved me time.  And it's not really that I use the features he demonstrated (aside from dictionary) - it was just seeing someone use the controls / keyboards.  And really, that's the reason I ended up choosing the Kindle - I couldn't abide Nook's keyboard, even though I wanted to like the Nook.


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## Jason in MA (Apr 28, 2009)

Interesting review, and all the points are valid and true. I too, however, think that he may have skewed the test a bit in the Kindle's favor.


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