Today was completely nuts.

So, yeah. There's this hurricane coming? You might have heard? O.o

Anyway, I had the most absurd thought today. It was, "OMG WHAT WILL I DO IF MY NOOK RUNS OUT OF BATTERY DURING THE HURRICANE????" Just like that, all caps lock and panic ridden.

People, I have a TBR shelf a mile long of actual, physical, paper books. Books that don't require batteries or a computer or a device in order to access their precious words. You know, books. As in, the only way I ever read up until a year ago?

I mean, really. What was I thinking? Apparently I have fully embraced the digital age of publishing.

Stay safe, everyone.

A quick nook update

The fourth nook has arrived (also refurbished) and seems to be working fine. Hallelujah. I'm sending the other two back tomorrow. Thanks for all the good wishes! They seem to have worked! :D

nook Updated (or: How B&N Disappoints Me Again)

I thought I might give you an update on my nook, in case any of you are interested.

I've read several (a dozen?) books on it so far and I really enjoy using it. I find now that I prefer to read a book in e-format than in paper, which is definitely something I never thought I'd say. I'm still buying paper books when the e-format isn't available because I do still like reading in that format, too. But if it's available digitally, that's my preference now.

However.

You'll recall that the first nook I received was defective. I was able to exchange it for a brand new unit with relatively little hassle and things have been smooth since then. Until about a week ago, when I noticed two cracks on the forward page turn button on the right side (the one I use more often when I read). The button still works but, dammit, it shouldn't be cracked with how much I've used it and how long I've owned it--I've never dropped it, it's kept in a protective case when it's not in my hand, etc.--and I didn't want to take the chance that the crack would turn into something more serious (and non-functioning) while I'm in Japan.

A quick phone call to B&N had a new nook on its way to me with no questions asked. Wonderful! I got a pre-paid shipping label emailed to me for the broken unit. Easy, peasy.

Mmmyeah. Not so much. The "new" unit arrived last night, accompanied with an invoice announcing that it's actually a "refurbished" unit. Grrrrrr. But okay, fine, whatever. As long as it works, right?

Well it freaking doesn't. One of the page turning buttons doesn't work. Another call to B&N, during which I talk to the sweetest, most sympathetic woman who totally gets that this is now my third defective nook and I AM NOT HAPPY. They're sending another unit out to me, but this will also be a refurbished one since that's (allegedly) all they have in stock right now.

*sigh*

This has been a pattern in my life. I routinely choose to support the non-mainstream manufacturer on a matter of principle and I get hosed for it. I hate to say it. I really do. But... maybe I should've bought a Kindle. :(

Updates to follow as the saga continues.

I bought a nook.

First, let me say how much I loved MAGIC BLEEDS by Ilona Andrews. It's an excellent read, in keeping with the first three books in the series. Choices were made in this book that the whole series had been building up to, and the writing didn't disappoint. I'm sorry that I can't take more time to write a proper review, but I'm spread a little thin right now. The point? Go. Buy. Love. B&N | Indiebound | Amazon

Now, then. I believe I once posted here about how I wasn't an e-book kind of girl and how I didn't even like to buy used books because the experience of reading the book was so intensely personal to me and yadda yadda. I couldn't find the post, but I'm almost certain it's out there in the blogosphere someplace, waiting for this precise moment to bite me in the ass. I'm not saying those things aren't still true, because they are. However, I also believe e-books are the future of publishing in one way or another and, frankly, I like gadgets.

Hence, I bought an e-reader.

I researched the nook, the Kindle and the Sony. Despite the advantage of the price difference and the fact that my friend has one and loves it, I ruled out the Sony almost immediately because their website sucks and I found it difficult to really research the device's features online. That left the Kindle and the nook. The features are pretty similar. I went to B&N and played around with a nook and I liked it fine. We could also get one essentially for free, using reward points we'd accumulated on a credit card. Ultimately, though, the deciding factor was that I feel like Amazon's business practices have been a little hinky lately and I just didn't feel right about tying myself to them for the long term.

So! My nook! I took it home, charged it up, downloaded some books--DEAD IN THE FAMILY by Charlaine Harris and BLACK MAGIC SANCTION by Kim Harrison, to be exact--and started reading. Four hours later? The nook broke. *facepalm*

I'd apparently received a defective unit with some sort of screen-refresh problem that everyone in the store found "very interesting." I didn't find it interesting at all. O.o But the exchange process was relatively harmless and I now have my new nook at home. I was able to finish reading DEAD IN THE FAMILY with no further problems. (Good read, btw. Charlaine does it again!)

My thoughts: The e-reader did not revolutionize my reading experience. It's neat. I like it fine. I don't think I like it better than reading a paperback book but I do like it better than reading a hardcover.

I can't comfortably read in as many positions as I could with a paperback book--or at least, not that I found in the few hours I've spent with the nook so far. Also, the blink that happens during the page-turning-slash-screen-refresh does take some getting used to. Theoretically, it's no different than having to wait to turn the page of a paper book, but the darkening of the screen (what I call the "blink") is a little jarring. I'm working on timing it so that I'm not just sitting there and waiting for the next word.

I do love having an entire library of books at my fingertips. I love that when I go to Japan in the fall, I won't have to worry about how many books to bring or about running out of books. I also love that it automatically bookmarks my page. I can stop reading at any moment and simply put the nook down--whenever I come back to it, hours or days later, it will know right where I left off.

As I use the nook more, I'm sure I'll post more thoughts about it here. In the meantime, if you have any burning nook-related questions, feel free to ask.

Oh, incidentally, I've named it Beatrice.

Put on your flak jackets

This column at the NY Times (via Publishers Marketplace) got me in a bit of a mood today. In summary, a reader wrote in to a column called "The Ethicist" (which I find ironic, considering his response) and asked if it was okay that she'd illegally downloaded an e-book version of Stephen King's UNDER THE DOME since she'd bought the hardcover.

Here, for your reading pleasure, is The Ethicist's response:

"An illegal download is — to use an ugly word — illegal. But in this case, it is not unethical. Author and publisher are entitled to be paid for their work, and by purchasing the hardcover, you did so. Your subsequent downloading is akin to buying a CD, then copying it to your iPod."

The article goes on for several paragraphs justifying his answer based on the idea that "Buying a book or a piece of music should be regarded as a license to enjoy it on any platform."

Right. Fine. "Should be." I'm not here to discuss whether or not I agree with the idea that books, music, movies, etc. should be available for free or for a nominal cost on additional platforms.

The point is, they're not free on additional platforms today. Want the hardcover? You buy it. Decide you want the e-book? Then you buy that, too. Like the cover of the paperback when it comes out? Guess what? Gotta buy that one, also. That's how the world works right now, whether or not we agree with it.

Let me give you an analogy of my own: I love movies. I like to watch my favorites over and over. Back in the day, I had quite an extensive collection of VHS tapes*. Cue the choir of angels, along come DVDs! And later--HD DVDs! BluRay! Lo, what will I watch next? So, since I'd bought those VHS tapes way back when, should I have been able to go into Best Buy and just steal the DVDs of those movies? Just put that DVD right in my pocket and walk out? And then again with the HD DVD? And again with the BluRay?

Of course not. That's absurd. My God, that's...that's stealing.

How about if I buy a CD and then I don't feel like digitizing it. Can I just go onto the internet and download an illegal version for free? Because I think that's a more accurate analogy than what The Ethicist has offered up. The book equivalent of digitizing a CD so you can listen to it on your iPod is scanning every page of your hardcover yourself to create your own PDF or typing all the words in yourself. Not just grabbing a version where someone else has already done all the work for you.

At the end of the day, e-books are not the scraps from the print market's table. They are a product and a market unto themselves and should be treated as such.

ETA: Nathan Bransford posted very similar thoughts on his superfantastic blog here. I swear was not communicating psychically with him (nor had I read his post yet, as I get them late in the day via email).


*For those of you too young to know what I'm talking about, these were magical black plastic boxes that you put into another magical box called a VCR and then a movie appeared on your TV. At the end, you had to rewind them or you got in trouble with Blockbuster.