The Nook for me so fr has been great. I do wonder why I see comments about not being able to write a document on the Nook. It is an ereader, not an ewriter. Use a laptop.

Some of them allow you to take notes using graphics but are not convenient in the same way writing a document on the iPhone is fine for notes (ok I know some of you are writing novels on your iPhones, but you have to admit that it would be time consuming). You can go into the Barnes and Noble stores to demo a Nook if you would like to do so.

Personally, when I demoed the Nook it seemed “not ready for primetime” at this point (slow…and the Android operating system was “cranky”), but should eventually get there as an ebook reader. AT&T reception was very spotty in the two locations where I tried Nooks despite AT&Ts current TV ads and in one case wouldn’t allow us to download a newspaper subscription.

There are going to be some incredible strides next year in ebook readers, so I would wait to see what will happen. The Que will be announced in days and is supposed to be a “business-oriented” ebook reader. Who knows what else will be announced.

If you really feel the need to have one and have some computer skills (being able to use a USB device), I suggest the light version Jetbook ebook reader. The “lite” version just came out and being sold by Barnes and Noble for $150 with a $50 coupon for books. It uses a lcd screen which I prefer over a e-ink screen because of the refresh rate. It will read B&E DRM books (I’ve read reviews that note that the reader can actually do this) and is supposed to be able to read library DRM books (I say supposedly because I have not read any reviews of someone actually doing it yet).

Good luck. Welcome to the bleeding – rather than the leading – edge of a technology. :-)

At this point I’m thinking I may be buying ePub for the nook from someone other than BN.com… I’m really not very happy with their back end systems at this point.

If you pick out a $0.01 title and purchase it the receipt page that comes up says they charged you $0.00! I’m interested to see if I get charged $0.01, or if I get charged $0.01 + WA sales tax, or if their systems managed to bundle up all the transactions and make one single charge.

You can borrow Adobe DRMed ePub eBooks from a public library.

It’s done via Adobe Digital Editions download to a desktop and then transfered via USB cable. Like the Sony Reader.

But still. If you do a lot of library reading, it can pay for itself that way in less than a year.

When I got up this morning:

They didn’t fix the holds. The bank says I’ll have my several thousand dollars back some time next week.

They didn’t fix the pre-order that was listed to be canceled due to them not being able to get another pre-authorization out of the bank (and whom could reasonably blame the bank at this point).

After I spent an hour on the phone with them:

They still can’t expedite the holds. (which I’ve seen done but for whatever reason B&N is incapable of doing.)

They were surprised at how much money was on hold. Oh, gee, they didn’t even realize how many nooks worth of money they had on hold (slaps forehead).

They swear that I have a nook on pre-order now, for sure, even though when I call in the phone bot tells me the order is set to be canceled due to inability to obtain a pre-authorization (you can ignore that message sir, really!).

Maybe they’ll throw in a 2 year extended warranty, maybe.

The important 14th item I’d add to James’ list: they take your money and you won’t have it while you wait for the nook to ship. When Amazon says they won’t charge your card until your Kindle ships: they don’t take your money in *any fashion* until your Kindle ships! In this case they confirm the nook won’t ship until the end of November.

That last one worked except it turns out they hadn’t been giving all the money back. Yes, they charge your card upon shipping but they grab the money during the pre-order process (and don’t give it back right away when they cancel it.)

So not only have I got a hold for something like 8 nook’s worth of money, they managed to trigger a security lock down on my card at the bank. So now I have to call the bank to get my card turned back on. B & N now has to FAX the bank to cancel all the holds and try to get one more authorization run through on my card so that they won’t cancel my order one more time!

This is where I stand quietly knocking my shoe heels together and recite “There is no place like Amazon.com, there is no place like Amazon.com”…

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse I mention that I really deserved something for my troubles. I thought throwing in a 2 year plan was a spiff idea but alas they thought a $5 gift card was more in line.

At this point they’ve wasted enough of my time to have paid for the nook!

Anyway, the nice young lady and I have a date to compare notes about our mutual efforts to get my card back together and hopefully she will then later report my pre-order is now shiny.

With a morning like this I’m glad I have actual cash in my pocket to buy lunch with. :-)

give up. It can’t be worth the hassle.