Another EReader Review: My Nook

I am a bibliophile.  I love everything about books.  I love the feel, the smell, the hunt.  New books with their shiny white pages and stiff binding, old books with leather bindings, all of them.  That having been said, I am also a bit of a tech freak.  I love gadgets.  So when e-readers came out, I wanted one, badly.

There was no way I could afford one, but I could dream and drool and research for someday. 

I spent a very long time researching what I wanted. We had already bought my daughter an Astak EZ Reader for her birthday, I reviewed it here.   And then I wanted mine even more.

I wanted something else for myself. There were two main places I spent a great deal of time on, the Mobile Read Forums and the Good Ereader Blog.
The Nook was not originally on my list for two reasons, no web browser and too expensive. Then the firmware update added the browser and the price came down and they added a $50 gift card. And I was gone within the hour to the closest Barnes and Noble. (Honestly, my Mom bought it for me but I am still frugal.  Thanks Mom, I love you)

I have customized it with wallpapers and screen savers from some of my favorite books as well as some of my own photographs.  Because I can't leave anything the way it is.   Here is the breakdown.

Pros:
lightweight
6" screen
e-ink display and touch screen navigation make it the best of both worlds.
huge capacity
you can page turn on the left, the right or swiping the touch screen in the middle
battery replaceable by user

chess and suduko, if it matters to you, it doesn't to me
outside mono speaker as well as a stereo headphone jack
mp3 player
dictionary
ability to annotate and bookmark
Android OS
supported formats:
* EPUB
* PDB
* PDF
* PDB (Non DRM)
* PDF
* Graphics: JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP
* Audio: MP3

Cons:
There is only one and it's a doozy but I expect it to change in the next firmware upgrade. There is no ability to organize your books in My Documents other than title, author and most recent. This absolutely blows at the moment because I wanted to put my dd's Ambleside books in a folder never mind my series and stuff. So I only have a few (hundred) on it until they amend that issue. Same issue with the mp3 player but hey, it's an ereader. I loaded up my Gregorian Chants and Howard Shore scores and I am happy as a clam.

Here is where I get all my free stuff..
Site for Free Ebooks
http://manybooks.net/categories/CHI/77
this is my favorite, it has a huge listing of public domain books in a very friendly format

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.free-ebooks.net/
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/freebooks.htm
http://www.baen.com/library/
http://www.suvudu.com/freelibrary/
http://www.homeofheroes.com/books/index.html
http://freehomeschoolinglibrar.blogspot.com/

Great homeschool ebooks, specifically, textbooks  
California Free Textbook Initiative

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