I bought a refurbished Nook about three months ago, but I didn't use it until the beginning of June when there was no way I would have been able to pack 2 or 3 books for my 11 day trip. I quickly figured out how to buy a book on the nook from the Barnes & Noble website. Opening a book was easy, as was changing the font, book marking, all of that.
Unfortunately, I am not rich, so I needed to also take advantage of my library's e-book collection where you can borrow a book for 7 or 14 days. I used OverDrive and took their tutorial, which seemed straightforward. I was quickly able to browse, download the adobe software, and rent a book using my library card. My problem was to figure out how to sync the nook. I tried a few different things, but I couldn't find the file on my nook, even though I knew it was there somewhere. My co-worker was the one who solved my problem the day before my trip...talk about cutting it close. If you download a book that is not from Barnes & Noble, it is kept in the "My Documents" folder, not in "My B&N Library". Which totally makes sense, but I didn't realize that there was a my documents folder. Anyway, hopefully that will help all of you.
I was excited to finally try my nook. Unfortunately on the plane, you can not use it for the first and last twenty minutes for take off and landing. When I was able to power up, I liked that my 'book' was light and easy to hold. I bought a cover that folded over easily. At first I didn't think I would use the buttons on the left side - since I am a righty....but I realized depending on how I was sitting it was just as easy to flip the page with my left hand. I also was initially distracted by the flashing screen when the page turned. It would 'blink' black before the background turned white...but after a while you get used to that too and it wasn't much of a distraction.
Having borrowed books, I was confused by the page numbering system since it seemed like the page numbers changed every 2-3 pages, but I think that is just because the file was to be read on a computer, so with the smaller screen, it didn't adjust the page number based on the screen size. Even though that was odd, it didn't throw me off too much, they have a line at the bottom with your reading progress and does it really matter what page you are on? I haven't read a B&N book yet, but I am sure that the page number issue will not be there.
The hardest thing was at times when I was getting tired of reading, I would have liked to know when the chapter ended. I like to finish a chapter when I can instead just randomly on any page. I could have pushed the button a few times to see what was ahead, but I didn't, something like that is just easier with a real book. My friend has the Kindle and she said that the bottom bar did mark chapters...the Nook might too on a B&N bought book, but again, since I haven't opened one of those yet...I am not sure. I didn't have that on the last two books I read on the Nook.
I finished my book and I had another loaded...so I was able to jump right into another one without having to find it or if I realized one book was too boring to read, there were other options. Very convenient.
My Nook also has 3G wireless. I didn't really think I would use that for anything other than buying books, but I was wrong. While I travelled, and I had Internet access in my hotel room, I was able to log into my FaceBook account, my email, or to read other websites. Sure, surfing the web is not ideal on a small device and at times I found that the keyboard was difficult to use when buttons I pushed didn't get recognized or the space button didn't leave a space, but I am sure it just takes time to get used to using a flat touchscreen. I loved that it allowed me to connect to the world in small doses.
Overall I actually like the Nook a lot more than I thought I would. I love that it is small and light...taking up less room in my bag. I love that the cover I selected has a pocket. For my book club, the book selected is not available on OverDrive..and I am not about to spend $15 on a book I might not enjoy...so borrowing from the library is still an option, but if I can do 80% of my reading on the Nook, then I would be very happy.
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