Look Who Got A Nook!

Nope, not me.  {sad face}  It’s your “guest blogger” of the day…TheSister!   Because I'm insanely jealous of The Sister's Nook, I asked her to review it here for all of you.*  Here's what she has to say:

When our Mom asked what I wanted for Christmas I told her, “Nothing, I’m good.” I guess this wasn’t an acceptable answer because she then said she needed some sort of list. As someone who is fond of the philosophy “If I want it, I buy it” I had a hard time coming up with stuff to tell her. So, I Googled “ideas for Christmas gifts 2009” and came across the “best new tech item of 2009” -  the Nook.

For those of you who don’t know what a Nook is, it's the new e-Reader from Barnes & Noble. (It’s like a Kindle. Or if you don’t know what a Kindle is think of an iPod, but for books instead of music). When I first thought of getting an e-Reader, I was skeptical. If I stopped buying books, what in the world would I put on my shelves? But the more I researched the Nook the more I realized that this little thing was pretty awesome. There was just one problem: due to its popularity the Nook was backordered until January 15th. Mom and Dad ordered it for me for Christmas and I waited patiently (kinda) for it to arrive. Alas on Friday it finally arrived! After hours of playing with it and checking out all the features my review is in: It’s awesome!

Here are some of the things that make the Nook great:

1. The Nook is the only e-Reader that has a color touch screen for navigation.

2. Travel: With 2GB of memory, nook stores up to 1,500 books, newspapers and magazines. Need even more space? Just add a memory card. It's an entire library light enough to take with you everywhere, so you'll never be without your favorites. Do you subscribe to a newspaper? Now you can get it on your Nook instead and every morning when you wake up the newspaper is automatically sent to your device. This way you always get your paper, even if you are out of town. Since the airlines are charging an arm and a leg for you to check a bag these days, this makes it much easier to remove the 5 books from your suitcase and make more room for the shoes. Need to save even more room in your bag? Leave your iPod at home. The Nook features a music player. Just load your songs to your Nook and have all your entertainment on one device. And the battery lasts about 10 days on a single charge.

3. Save Money: I know the Nook is sort of pricey ($259), but hear me out: I really think this will save you money over time. How many times have you wanted a new release but didn’t want to pay the hardback price of $22.50?  Now you don’t have to wait 4 months for the paperback. Most of the new release books are only $9.99. Plus, no paper and printing - you’re saving the environment! You’re welcome Al Gore!

4. Options: It is like having a Barnes & Noble in your house (Minus the Starbucks. Well Mom and Dad did also get me the Mr. Coffee Frappe Maker for Christmas so I am pretty close to living at Barnes & Noble). There are over 1 million books to chose from (including thousands of free ones), and they are all at the touch of a button. Just click the "store" button and search for titles. Not sure what you want to read? Sample any eBook for free. If you don’t like it, just put it back.

5. Share: Do you have a large group of girlfriends that like to pass around books? No worries, the Nook has a “lend” option. You can lend your book to a friend and for 2 weeks the title is removed from your library and put into theirs…just like lending someone an actual book.

6. The eBook is better than a paper book: Can you change the font size or style on your paper books? Can your book tell you what sesquipedalian means? The Nook can. Just highlight a word and hit “look up”. It is like having a dictionary at the tip of your fingers. You can also highlight and bookmark passages that you want to come back to later. The “Reading Now” feature allows you to return to the last thing you were reading. No need to flip through and try to remember where you left off.

These are all great reasons to buy a Nook, but there was one selling point for me that out weighed all the rest. Better than the convenience and better than the portability. Secrecy. I sometimes have to travel with my boss and not having to carry a book so that everyone (he) can see what I'm reading might just be the best thing that ever happened to me.

“No sir, of course I am not reading Twilight - I’m 27 years old. I am reading the January issue of the Economist.” SUCKERS!

So there you have it, straight from The Sister's mouth - the Nook is a hit!  Anyone else lucky enough to get a Nook this Christmas?  Anyone else really, really want one now?  {me! me!} Good thing my birthday's just around the corner.  Hint, hint Mister.   Better get on that waiting list now...

*Neither I, nor Barnes & Noble, paid The Sister for her glowing review of the Nook.  She did it out of sheer boredom at work the goodness of her own heart.