The Barnes & Noble Nook
While the Amazon Kindle is the most popular e-book reader, the Nook is a close second. The Nook app also has the distinct advantage of being an Android app first. Nook e-readers are actually modified Android tablets, and the Nook Color even runs apps.
You don’t need a Nook Color to read Nook books, magazines, and newspapers. You can download the Nook app from the Android Market; and because it supports the ePUB format, you can use it to sideload books you’ve downloaded directly from the book publisher’s website.
Nook books are purchased through the Barnes & Noble Nook Shop, as shown to the left. You can register for an account at www.barnesandnoble.com. You need to provide credit card information in order to purchase books through the store; however, once you’ve registered for an account, you can purchase books directly through the Nook app on your tablet.
The Nook app’s Library view is shown in Figure 17–13.
Figure 17–13. The Nook app’s Library view
NOTE: The Nook app is one of the few e-readers that uses the Back button on the bottom to navigate back to Library view.
Reading Nook Books
Tap a book in the Nook’s Library view to open it. You’ll immediately see the Settings menu at the bottom of the screen, as shown in Figure 17–14. You can use the Settings menu to navigate, adjust the font size and screen contrast, or view the book’s Details page. If you don’t want to adjust any settings, then do nothing or tap in the center of the book. This will cause the screen to fade in a few seconds.
Figure 17–14. Reading a Nook book
Saving Bookmarks, Taking Notes, and Researching Words
You can save bookmarks and notes on Nook books, just as you can with Kindle books. You bookmark a page by tapping the upper-right corner of the page; this is a visual metaphor that signifies bending down the corner of a book to mark a page.
You can also save notes; highlight selections; and look up words by long-pressing a word or phrase, and then selecting the appropriate option (see Figure 17–15).
Figure 17–15. Working with book text on a Nook
Follow these steps to review your notes (see Figure 17–16):
- Open a Nook book.
- Tap the Details button.
- Tap the Notes, Highlights, Bookmarks tab.
Figure 17–16. The Nook app’s Details page
LendMe Books
You can lend most Nook books to other users for two weeks using the LendMe option. In order to use this option, you need to register on the Barnes & Noble website and use the Manage My Nook area to add friends, as shown in Figure 17–17. Once your friends have confirmed, both you and your contacts have the option to lend each other books that can be read on each other’s tablets.
Figure 17–17. The Nook Friends area on the Barnes & Noble website
There are a few things to keep in mind about the LendMe option:
- Only books in your library labeled with the LendMe logo are eligible for lending.
- You can only lend a book once.
- You can’t read the book yourself while it’s being borrowed.
- LendMe books return to the owner in 14 days.
Once you’ve registered for an account and confirmed friendship with other Barnes & Noble customers, you can use the LendMe option from your tablet by long-pressing any eligible book in your library and selecting LendMe.
Sideloading Nook Books
If you own an ePUB book that you didn’t purchase through Barnes & Noble, you can still use the Nook app to read it by sideloading the file:
- Mount your tablet’s SD card to your computer by using the USB cable or an app like ES File Explorer.
- Open the Nook folder on your card.
- Open the My Documents folder.
- Place your ePUB file inside this folder.
Your books will be listed as “My Documents” rather than books in the library; however, you can read them just like any other book. Books you’ve sideloaded can’t be used with the LendMe option.