{"id":1632,"date":"2010-10-06T17:35:56","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T08:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-10-06\/1632"},"modified":"2010-10-06T21:18:18","modified_gmt":"2010-10-06T12:18:18","slug":"reading-with-the-ipad-ibooks-kindel-and-nook-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-10-06\/1632","title":{"rendered":"Reading with the iPad: iBooks, Kindle, and Nook, oh my!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<div class='resize_warning' id='arw1632'>\n<b>NOTE<\/b>: Images with an <img class='raw' width='19' height='18' src='\/i\/s\/red_zoomup.gif'\/> icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Having my time at the computer limited by some <a\nhref=\"\/blog\/2010-09-04\/1618\">nagging arm pain<\/a>, I've\nbeen able to enjoy more of what has always been <span class='nobr'>a guilty<\/span> pleasure: reading\nfor pleasure. <span class='nobr'>And to my<\/span> great surprise, reading on the iPad has really\nenhanced the experience.<\/p>\n\n<p>Overall, I've found that eReaders like those on the iPad (and Kindle and Nook, <span class='nobr'>I would<\/span> assume)\nhave some clear pluses and minuses:<\/p>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n  #p1632 li li { margin-top: 5px }\n  #q1632 li { margin-top: 4px }\n  #post1632 p.h { font-weight: bold; font-size: 120%; margin-top:40px  }\n<\/style>\n\n<ul id='p1632'>\n  <li><b>General eReader Cons<\/b>\n       <ol>\n         <li>Needs electricity<\/li>\n         <li>Subject to eBook availability<\/li>\n         <li>Difficulty to see screen in some situations<\/li>\n         <li>Size: reader may be larger\/heaver than the physical book<\/li>\n         <li>Loanability: can't necessarily loan books to others<\/li>\n         <li>Style factor: might feel geeky whipping out an electronic reader in the doctor's waiting room<\/li>\n         <li>Non-physicalness: electronic &#8220;assets&#8221; can be lost more easily than physical ones<\/li>\n       <\/ol>\n   <\/li>\n  <li style='margin-top:30px'><b>General eReader Pros<\/b>\n       <ol>\n         <li>Has electricity: can read in darkness without additional light<\/li>\n         <li>eBook availability: many very old books, which would otherwise be almost impossible to acquire, are now easily accessible<\/li>\n         <li>Size: eReaders smaller than many hardcover books, and smaller than all bookshelves (but can contain <span class='nobr'>a bookshelf<\/span> full of material)<\/li>\n         <li><b>Immediate dictionary access<\/b>: just touch <span class='nobr'>a word<\/span> to look up its meaning. This is surprisingly beneficial<\/li>\n         <li>Better reading posture: don't have to work to keep <span class='nobr'>a physical<\/span> book cracked open<\/li>\n         <li>Intra-book searching<\/li>\n         <li>Easy on the eyes: pick your own text size &amp; font<\/li>\n         <li>Non-destructive highlighting, marking, notes, etc.<\/li>\n         <li>Immediate access to new material without regard to physical location<\/li>\n         <li>Other electronic\/online\/socal tie-ins, such as character lists and other metadata via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shelfari.com\/\">Shelfari<\/a><\/li>\n       <\/ol>\n    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>I've never used Amazon's Kindle or Barnes &amp; Noble's Nook <i>devices<\/i>, but\nI've used their <i>apps<\/i> on my iPad, along with Apple's own <b>iBooks<\/b> app, and\nhave decided that one &mdash; the Kindle app &mdash; stands out as best for\nmy particular set of needs and preferences, so it's my preferred reader\nwhen the content <span class='nobr'>I want<\/span> is available for it.<\/p>\n\n<p style='color:#888'><strike>Update: As <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> composing this post, Amazon updated their Kindle iPad app\nto version 2.3, and it includes <span class='nobr'>a change<\/span> in how the page is shown in landscape mode that makes the reader <b>absolutely useless to me<\/b>, as I'll describe below.<\/strike><\/p>\n\n<p style='color:red'>Update #2: To their credit, Amazon quickly pushed out version 2.3.1 which fixed the issue <span class='nobr'>I was<\/span> worried about, and again the app is top notch all around.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>Of course, the first question that matters when speaking of an eReader\nis &#8220;<i>is the book <span class='nobr'>I want<\/span> to read available for it<\/i>?&#8221;; if not, the reader will be of no help. <span class='nobr'>The next question<\/span> is: &#8220;<i>is reading enjoyable with the\napp?<\/i>&#8221;, and the answer to that is very dependent on the person doing the\nreading.<\/p>\n\n<p>This post details the features I've found important...<\/p>\n\n<p class='h'>Easy on the Eyes: White Text on Black &#8220;Paper&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<p>I tend to prefer reading in subdued lighting. Despite Amazon's\nadvertising claims that the iPad is not usable in direct sunlight, I've\nfound that <span class='nobr'>I can<\/span> read with it just fine in direct sunlight, except that <span class='nobr'>I\ndon't<\/span> like reading anything (&#8220;e&#8221; or otherwise) in direct sunlight.<\/p>\n\n<p>So at night, a white background is just too bright for me. <span class='nobr'>I can dial<\/span>\ndown the brightness of the whole screen (and all readers make it very easy\nto do this), but then the text loses contrast. Apple's <b>iBooks<\/b> reader\nallows only white and sepia backgrounds, and <span class='nobr'>I used<\/span> the iBooks\/sepia until\n<span class='nobr'>I tried<\/span> the Kindle app, and found its night mode:<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic tight'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPad-IMG_0023.PNG\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nid=\"iiPad_IMG_0023\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption' style='font-size:125%'>Kindle on iPad &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;My Preferred Night Mode<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>This is a passage from Jimmy Carter's <i>White House Diary<\/i>\n(e-version <a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/White-House-Diary-ebook\/dp\/B003X27I3O\/ref=tmm_kin_title_0\">at\nAmazon<\/a>) where the non-italic portions are verbatim from his diary 30+ years ago,\nand the italic portions are his modern annotations that add context or clarification.<\/p>\n\n<p>Barnes &amp; Noble's <b>Nook<\/b> app has even more ways to customize the look and feel and style\nof the presentation....<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPad-IMG_0025.PNG\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nid=\"iiPad_IMG_0025\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption'>Nook on iPad: Lots of Customization<\/span>\n<br\/>but at what cost!?\n<\/div>\n\n<p>At first I was really impressed with Nook's customizations, but eventually <span class='nobr'>I realized<\/span> that it comes at <span class='nobr'>a huge<\/span> cost.\nConsider the same passage from <i>White House Diary<\/i> (e-version <a href=\"http:\/\/search.barnesandnoble.com\/White-House-Diary\/Jimmy-Carter\/e\/9781429990653\/\">at Barnes &amp; Noble<\/a>) on the Nook app.... the formatting (italic <i>vs.<\/i> non) is lost:<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPad-IMG_0024.PNG\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nid=\"iiPad_IMG_0024\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption' style='font-size:125%'>Nook on iPad &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;<span class='nobr'>A Useless<\/span> Night Mode<\/span>\n<br\/>italic formatting has been lost!\n<\/div>\n\n<p>I had started to read this book on the Nook, and was having <span class='nobr'>a horrible<\/span>\ntime figuring out what text was from 30 years ago and what was modern, and\nwas shocked to find the italic formatting when <span class='nobr'>I eventually<\/span> checked the\nsame book in the Kindle app.<\/p>\n\n<p>It turns out that if you &#8220;use publisher settings&#8221; in the Nook app, it'll\nrevert to exactly the way the publisher specifies (which for this book is\nblack text on <span class='nobr'>a white<\/span> background, of some specific font and specific size),\nand in this situation, the italic formatting is not lost.<\/p>\n\n<p>This is an absolute deal-breaker for me. <span class='nobr'>If you always<\/span> like black text\non <span class='nobr'>a white<\/span> background, of the size and font that the publisher picks, this\nwould be <span class='nobr'>a non<\/span>-issue for you.<\/p>\n\n<p>For reference, the Kindle app's customizations are fewer, but at least\nusing them doesn't dork the formatting:<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPad-IMG_0026.PNG\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nid=\"iiPad_IMG_0026\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption'>Kindle App's Formatting Options<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>Also for reference, Apple's <b>iBooks<\/b> customizations are down right paltry. <i>White House Diary<\/i> isn't available\non iBooks, so here's <span class='nobr'>a screenshot<\/span> showing the options with <span class='nobr'>a different<\/span> book:<\/p>\n\n<div class='ic'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/i\/iPad-IMG_0027.PNG\" width=\"690\" height=\"518\"\nid=\"iiPad_IMG_0027\"\/>\n<br\/>\n<span class='caption'>iBooks App's Formatting Options<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class='h'>Easy on the Eyes: One Wide Column<\/p>\n\n<p>I've found, for whatever reason, that <span class='nobr'>I very<\/span> strongly prefer to read\nwith the iPad in landscape mode (more wide than tall, like the screenshots above), with just one column\nof text across the page, as shown in all the screenshots above but the\nlast. <b>iBooks<\/b> doesn't offer the option, and in <b>Nook<\/b> you can\nget it only by tricking the app (by setting the font size to be huge, then\nsetting it back to <span class='nobr'>a reasonable<\/span> size).<\/p>\n\n<p>In Kindel, as of version 2.3.1, you can choose between <span class='nobr'>a one<\/span>- and two-column display.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h'>Dictionary<\/p>\n\n<p>The black background and one-column landscape view are the big items\nthat make reading <span class='nobr'>a pleasure<\/span> for me, but another important add-on is the\nbuilt-in dictionary... just touch <span class='nobr'>a word<\/span> and get the definition. With\n<b>iBooks<\/b> or the <b>Nook<\/b> app, you touch the word, then select &#8220;view\ndefinition&#8221; to get the definition, but in <b>Kindle<\/b> the definition\nshows up immediately at the bottom of the screen, without requiring another\nclick. <span class='nobr'>The font is<\/span> small and it goofs up if the definition has certain\nkinds of formatting, but in those cases you can click again for &#8220;full\ndefinition&#8221;, so it's certainly no worse than the others. <span class='nobr'>The Kindle<\/span> app\nincludes <span class='nobr'>a huge<\/span> English dictionary as <span class='nobr'>a separate<\/span> item in your Kindle\nbookshelf, for free, that can be used as <span class='nobr'>a stand<\/span>-alone dictionary. This is\n<span class='nobr'>a big<\/span> plus not included with <b>iBooks<\/b> or <b>Nook<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n<p>In any case, one click or two, having <span class='nobr'>a dicationary<\/span> handy is just\namazing. I've been reading Clavel's <i><a\nhref=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Shogun-ebook\/dp\/B002UBRFDC\/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&amp;qid=1286351691&amp;sr=8-1\">Shogun<\/a><\/i>\n(an amazing novel <span class='nobr'>I first<\/span> read 20 years ago) and find myself looking up on\naverage one word per page. <span class='nobr'>I don't<\/span> <i>need<\/i> to look up any of the words... <span class='nobr'>I understand<\/span> enough to enjoy the book, but when it mentions &#8220;<span class='nobr'>a brace<\/span> of\nquail&#8221;, for example, <span class='nobr'>I completely<\/span> get the gist, but <span class='nobr'>I also<\/span> wonder what\n<i>exactly<\/i> &#8220;brace&#8221; means in this case (answer: exactly two). <span class='nobr'>A built<\/span>-in\ndictionary makes this kind of learning effortless and enjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>The <b>Nook<\/b> reader's dictionary seems to be much less developed than the\nKindle's.... it doesn't have entries for <span class='nobr'>a lot<\/span> of words.<\/p>\n\n<p class='h'>Other Stuff<\/p>\n\n<p>The <b>Nook<\/b> reader would be much better if they fixed the formatting issue, but it also has\nthe annoying habit of phoning home when you launch it, resulting in <span class='nobr'>a five<\/span>-to-ten second delay before\nthe book comes up. Annoying.<\/p>\n\n<p>Also annoying with Nook is that, while you <i>can<\/i> download book samples immediately after creating\n<span class='nobr'>a free<\/span> account, you <i>can't<\/i> download free books without providing <span class='nobr'>a credit<\/span> card. (I'm not sure how\nit is with Amazon, since I've had <span class='nobr'>a credit<\/span> card associated with my Amazon account for years; <b>iBooks<\/b> needs nothing extra.)<\/p>\n\n<p>All three apps have a lot of old free books, but it's <span class='nobr'>a mixed<\/span> bag about what's available where.\nSome books that are free elsewhere cost <span class='nobr'>a dollar<\/span> on Nook, for example.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having my time at the computer limited by some nagging arm pain, I've been able to enjoy more of what has always been a guilty pleasure: reading for pleasure. And to my great surprise, reading on the iPad has really enhanced the experience.<\/p> <p>Overall, I've found that eReaders like those on the iPad (and Kindle and Nook, I would assume) have some clear pluses and minuses:<\/p> <b>General eReader Cons<\/b> Needs electricity Subject to eBook availability Difficulty to see screen in some situations Size: reader may be larger\/heaver than the physical book Loanability: can't necessarily loan books to others Style factor: [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}