You Respond: E-volution

The question today for the Booking Through Thursday meme was do you own an e-reader? And if so, has it changed your reading patterns at all? But you guys already know M has a Nook and I have a Kindle. If you've read my post about how I became a blogger and what blogging has done for me, you'll know that it is because of owning my wonderful Kindle that I not only began reading again, but have The Ink Puddle.

So instead, I want to ask you guys a few questions:

-   Do you own an e-reader? 
-   If so, which e-reader do you have? / If not, why not? Do you plan on getting one?
-   Has it changed your reading habits at all?
-   And, how do you feel about paper books now that you've been using your e-reader?

We look forward to hearing your responses!
J&M

Let's Face It, Accidents Happen- Part 1

This has happened to me a few times, my Kindle is about to go dead so I put it on charge and pull it off an hour or so later and it won’t do anything, it’s just stuck on the sleep screen. I’ve tried quite a few things to fix this but the thing that has worked best for me the about 3xs I’ve had it happen in the past year has been to:

-          Plug your Kindle into the power source and wait 5 minutes.

-          Remove from power source and turn it back on.

-          No luck? Hard reset the device by holding the power key for about 30 seconds until your Kindle restarts itself. The page will refresh and take a little bit but slowly come back to life.

Now for the Nook:
Try the steps above used for the Kindle, it’s exactly the same process the Troubleshoot says. If that doesn’t work (as many people in forums are saying it doesn’t)…

-          Carefully remove the back cover.

-          Take out the battery and wait it out for about a minute.

-          Press and hold the power button for about a minute to have “Nook Final Shutdown”.

-          Put battery back in, replace cover.

-          Place Nook on charge.

TADA! Hopefully your e-reader will be back up in no time! Just be sure not to freak out and call customer service until after you’ve tried these steps. So you guys have anything else that has worked for you? Do your devices have this issue often?

-J

Kindle VS Nook

With the evolution of the e-reader came the opportunity for many writers to self-publish their books. Since we will be covering a lot of those independent or “indie” authors for reviews, I thought it would be best to make a basic post covering the two most commonly purchased e-readers: Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color. Both devices are fantastic, but have special features to offer that is different from the other. This way, if you don’t have an e-reader and decide in the future that we’ve won you over from the traditional way and you want one, hopefully this list can help you decide what’s best for you.

Amazon’s Kindle 3:

·         - Graphite display which means no color, but less glare

·         - 10 days battery life with wireless on, 3 weeks with Wifi on

·         - Free Wifi with browser to surf web

·         - Whispernet technology- Allows any book you purchase from Amazon.com to be downloaded to your Kindle without use of USB cord

·         - Kindle apps are available on Android and iPhone devices

·         - Built in dictionary

·         - Ability to make the font smaller or as large as you want it while reading

·         - Read to Me feature- Reads books aloud to you

·         - Audiobook and music compatibility

·         - Ability to trade books with other Kindle users (still in development)

·        -   Kindle apps are available, such as games, calendars, blogs, ect.

·         - Prices  begin at $139 for just Wifi, $189 for Wifi & 3G

·       -   Kindles with “Special Offers” are $114 with Wifi & $139 for Wifi & 3G, Special offers are ads that  show up on the front of the Kindle in the sleep screen, & a small bar at the bottom of your library page

Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color:

·         - Has backlight, color and touch screen

·         - Up to 10 days of battery life

·         -  Free Wifi with browser to surf web, check e-mail, upload music or pictures

·         - Built in dictionary

·         - Ability to make the font smaller or as large as you want it while reading

·         - Access to online bookstore to download books straight to the Nook

·         - Lendme Technology- allows you to share books with other nook users

·         - Enhanced books- Example, Reading a recipe, you can read it but also watch a video

·         - Loosely based Android system to provide what has become known as “The Readers Tablet”

·         - Apps such as Angry Birds and friendly kids apps

·         - Nook apps are available on Android and iPhone devices

·         - Price is $249

Economically speaking, e-readers are fantastic. Less gas to travel to a bookstore, more environmentally friendly with printing and you have thousands of books at your fingertips!

So what do you guys think of e-readers? How has it changed your reading experience? Which one do you have?

Until next time,
M&J