Kindle vs. Nook

[Laura Gardner]

I need some quick assistance if possible! My district is considering purchasing me some ereaders for use with a book club at my middle school. At first they were thinking Kindle, but apparently Amazon won't accept a purchase order as payment? Now they're thinking Nook. Here's my questions:

*I know it's possible to purchase an ebook and put it on 6 Kindles. Is it possible to share an ebook between multiple Nooks? (the sharing option on the Nook expires after 2 weeks, I believe).

*Also, how many of you have students who regularly use the Text to Speech option on the Kindle? I know it's not available on the Nook.

Thank you!! I really appreciate quick answers on this. The district is looking to spend the $$ very soon.

Laura

[Michelle Burns Jurkiewicz]

A library friend asked me, is it possible to lock a Kindle or Nook? Say if you wanted to let people download a copy to read, and notice they already have the hardback too. Does anyone have issues with things like that? Taking the digital copy and the hardback at the same time on one person's library account.

[Kathy M Burnette]

I know this is too late but you can put the books on six Nooks just like on the Kindle if they have the same account. I've used the text to speech when I'm doing the dishes. It's not the best but it works for the short term. I wish more books offered it!

[Laurie Aldern]

Each account can link to 6 NOOKs, and you can share 1 book with all 6.

Kathy M Burnette said:

I know this is too late but you can put the books on six Nooks just like on the Kindle if they have the same account. I've used the text to speech when I'm doing the dishes. It's not the best but it works for the short term. I wish more books offered it!

[Tina M. Glatz]

Laurie,
Is it true that the new Nook software will allow schools to password protect their account so that students cannot download books? Also thanks for your post about allowing 1 book on 6 Nooks under the same account. This is great info for me as I am meeting with my district heads next week about a plan to purchase either Nooks or Kindles. Any other info or help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Tina
New Mexico


Laurie Aldern said:

Hi Linn,

You can share 1 book with 6 NOOKs. It's the Lending feature that expires after 2 weeks...you can loan a book to a friend with a NOOK, (or with the NOOK app - say on their iPhone or computer-) they can read it for 2 weeks and then it returns to you. But as far as books you've purchased, you can have 6 NOOKs on every account, and each of the 6 can share a single title forever.

You've already read my post on using MP3 audio books in conjunction with eBooks, but for the good of the masses, here it is again:

I wanted to add a thought about using NOOK as a text reader... You can load both the eBook and the MP3 version of a book onto your NOOK for read-along capability. The great thing about the MP3 versions is that they're read by humans rather than computer generated, so you get inflection and emotion.

If you'd like to test it out, start by loading a free eBook and audio book. I recently added Dickens' The Christmas Carol to my NOOK and found it was quite easy to follow along and turn pages in sync with the recording.

You can access free books on your NOOK, or there are public domain books here:
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/genre/Children

It's also possible to create your own audio books if you have the right recording software. A Google search turned up quite a few results for free MP3 recording software. Imagine younger kids following the text while their mom's voice reads the book!

[Laurie Aldern]

Hi Tina,
We'll know specifics about the new upgrade next Tuesday. In the meantime, you can protect NOOKs from unwanted downloads by clicking off the default credit card on your account. Here's a list of features that may be helpful:


NOOK provides lightning-fast access to more than 1 million titles from the Barnes & Noble eBookstore - bestsellers, literary classics, MP3 audio and music files, newspapers and magazines.
NOOK's gorgeous color touch-screen allows easy navigation of its library, features and settings.
NOOK holds 1,500 eBooks, is fully expandable with the use of a memory card, and provides the ability to share eBooks with the Lend-Me Program.
NOOK is as easy to use as it is to read. Just a touch of the screen and an eBook appears on the E Ink® display, crisp as a printed page, whether indoors or out in the sun.
Free access to books while you're in any Barnes & Noble store, and thousands of free books to download
Available in WiFi and 3G with WiFi, with no monthly fees. WiFi: $149 3G with WiFi: $199
Most eBooks start at $9.99 or less
Free in-store support every day in over 700 stores, plus online and phone support centers.
Teachers and students love NOOK for many reasons:
Share one book with up to 6 NOOKs
Technology is a great incentive to encourage reading. Reluctant readers aren't intimidated by the size of a book. Special Education learners can have the pleasure of reading on a 'cool' gadget.
Nook is lightweight (about 12 oz.) - no more heavy backpacks!
Resizable text for up to extra, extralarge font
Bookmark a page and make notes anywhere in the text
Onboard dictionary
Local libraries offer eBooks for checkout on NOOK. Borrow the book for 2 weeks and it returns to the library.
Load a favorite audio book in MP3 format, and listen while you read the eBook.
Barnes & Noble provides a growing textbook library, enhanced by the free online NOOKstudy program
Teachers can prepare notes and study guides in Word, then convert to .pdf .pdb or epub format for loading on NOOK
Teachers and students can write their own books and publish them for sale on B&N with the newly unveiled Pubit!
Generate money for future book purchases through our in-store and online Bookfair Program
Schools may purchase eBooks online with a Purchase Order by creating an institutional account: ?
Find more information on line at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook .

Hope that helps!

[Tina M. Glatz]

Laurie,

Thanks for the information! I just contacted the director of our local public library about the number of ebooks available for children and young adults and she said they currently only have audio ebooks available through NetLibrary. She also said, " Also, copyright laws say we cannot circulate a Nook with a book on it. So we are on hold on this issue and continue to monitor and see when it will be allowable to circulate the Nook to mulitiple users along with allowing the library to purchase the book on the Nook." Do you know if the information about copyright law is correct?

Thanks,

Tina






Laurie Aldern said:

Hi Tina,
We'll know specifics about the new upgrade next Tuesday. In the meantime, you can protect NOOKs from unwanted downloads by clicking off the default credit card on your account. Here's a list of features that may be helpful:


NOOK provides lightning-fast access to more than 1 million titles from the Barnes & Noble eBookstore - bestsellers, literary classics, MP3 audio and music files, newspapers and magazines.
NOOK's gorgeous color touch-screen allows easy navigation of its library, features and settings.
NOOK holds 1,500 eBooks, is fully expandable with the use of a memory card, and provides the ability to share eBooks with the Lend-Me Program.
NOOK is as easy to use as it is to read. Just a touch of the screen and an eBook appears on the E Ink® display, crisp as a printed page, whether indoors or out in the sun.
Free access to books while you're in any Barnes & Noble store, and thousands of free books to download
Available in WiFi and 3G with WiFi, with no monthly fees. WiFi: $149 3G with WiFi: $199
Most eBooks start at $9.99 or less
Free in-store support every day in over 700 stores, plus online and phone support centers.
Teachers and students love NOOK for many reasons:
Share one book with up to 6 NOOKs
Technology is a great incentive to encourage reading. Reluctant readers aren't intimidated by the size of a book. Special Education learners can have the pleasure of reading on a 'cool' gadget.
Nook is lightweight (about 12 oz.) - no more heavy backpacks!
Resizable text for up to extra, extralarge font
Bookmark a page and make notes anywhere in the text
Onboard dictionary
Local libraries offer eBooks for checkout on NOOK. Borrow the book for 2 weeks and it returns to the library.
Load a favorite audio book in MP3 format, and listen while you read the eBook.
Barnes & Noble provides a growing textbook library, enhanced by the free online NOOKstudy program
Teachers can prepare notes and study guides in Word, then convert to .pdf .pdb or epub format for loading on NOOK
Teachers and students can write their own books and publish them for sale on B&N with the newly unveiled Pubit!
Generate money for future book purchases through our in-store and online Bookfair Program
Schools may purchase eBooks online with a Purchase Order by creating an institutional account: ?
Find more information on line at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook .

Hope that helps!

[Linn McDonald]

Tina,
Our regional library system subscribes to a service called Overdrive to provide ebooks to patrons. Many teachers and students in my school use their Nook or their Sony Reader to check out an ebook from local public libraries. What your library is referring to is a possible roadblock as far as providing Nooks or other reader devices for check out, not the ebooks themselves.

Tina M. Glatz said:

Laurie,

Thanks for the information! I just contacted the director of our local public library about the number of ebooks available for children and young adults and she said they currently only have audio ebooks available through NetLibrary. She also said, " Also, copyright laws say we cannot circulate a Nook with a book on it. So we are on hold on this issue and continue to monitor and see when it will be allowable to circulate the Nook to mulitiple users along with allowing the library to purchase the book on the Nook." Do you know if the information about copyright law is correct?

Thanks,

Tina

[Tina M. Glatz]

Linn,

So if this is the case, why would schools or school libraries buy ereaders for their school?

Tina




Linn McDonald said:

Tina,
Our regional library system subscribes to a service called Overdrive to provide ebooks to patrons. Many teachers and students in my school use their Nook or their Sony Reader to check out an ebook from local public libraries. What your library is referring to is a possible roadblock as far as providing Nooks or other reader devices for check out, not the ebooks themselves.

Tina M. Glatz said:

Laurie,

Thanks for the information! I just contacted the director of our local public library about the number of ebooks available for children and young adults and she said they currently only have audio ebooks available through NetLibrary. She also said, " Also, copyright laws say we cannot circulate a Nook with a book on it. So we are on hold on this issue and continue to monitor and see when it will be allowable to circulate the Nook to mulitiple users along with allowing the library to purchase the book on the Nook." Do you know if the information about copyright law is correct?

Thanks,

Tina

[Linn McDonald]

Hi Tina,
I wish this ereader "stuff" was more simple, don't you?!
I feel it is important that we (school libraries) keep up with technology and popular culture in order to make our spaces an up-to-date, exciting place where students want to visit. Ereaders are becoming very popular with adults and students, and when I tried one myself, I was surprised how much I liked reading on the device. Some schools are also experimenting with ereaders as devices for students to house all their textbooks, so this is a "wave" that is coming strong. So I feel we need to get on board.
We want to buy ereaders, purchase ebooks for the readers, and check them out to students. Hopefully sometime down the road we hope to subscribe to a service like Overdrive and offer ebooks from our school library. Right now, I do not plan to use our devices to check out public library ebooks, but it's important to me to have a device like Nook or Sony Reader that allows library book checkout because I want to do that in the future.
I want to "test the water" with ereaders in my school (grades 6-8) by having a small ereader book club first. This will help me see how students like the devices, how they use the devices, whether it improves their reading, and also how I (the school library media specialist) should manage the devices.
I am leaning towards purchasing Nooks because I can use a school purchase order to buy gift cards which in turn can be used to purchase ebooks. Amazon does not allow purchase orders for ebooks or for gift cards.
Hopefully we'll get this figured out and order the devices soon.
Linn

[Will DeLamater]

Linn, nice summary of the situation, thanks. I think the borrowing will be a major factor in the future.

Linn McDonald said:

Hi Tina,
I wish this ereader "stuff" was more simple, don't you?!
I feel it is important that we (school libraries) keep up with technology and popular culture in order to make our spaces an up-to-date, exciting place where students want to visit. Ereaders are becoming very popular with adults and students, and when I tried one myself, I was surprised how much I liked reading on the device. Some schools are also experimenting with ereaders as devices for students to house all their textbooks, so this is a "wave" that is coming strong. So I feel we need to get on board.
We want to buy ereaders, purchase ebooks for the readers, and check them out to students. Hopefully sometime down the road we hope to subscribe to a service like Overdrive and offer ebooks from our school library. Right now, I do not plan to use our devices to check out public library ebooks, but it's important to me to have a device like Nook or Sony Reader that allows library book checkout because I want to do that in the future.
I want to "test the water" with ereaders in my school (grades 6-8) by having a small ereader book club first. This will help me see how students like the devices, how they use the devices, whether it improves their reading, and also how I (the school library media specialist) should manage the devices.
I am leaning towards purchasing Nooks because I can use a school purchase order to buy gift cards which in turn can be used to purchase ebooks. Amazon does not allow purchase orders for ebooks or for gift cards.
Hopefully we'll get this figured out and order the devices soon.
Linn

[Kathy M Burnette]

Just as an fyi, my BN allowed me to put all 12 of my Nooks on one account! They even loaded them for me. They were extremely helpful!

[Laura Gardner]

Wow! This discussion has really taken off in recent days! So thanks to everyone who responded a while ago on this and other forums. I did find out that both Kindle and Nook can share books between 6 devices, but my district decided to go with Kindle. We bought 14 to start and bought 6 books to put on all of them (3 copies of each). I passed them out to all the students about two and a half weeks ago and they LOVE them. I think they'd like any ereader, though. At first they figured out how to download more books and did so accidentally, but then we figured out how to fix it so it is password protected. Six of them now have the entire Twilight series now, too. :)

The biggest pain so far is that I have no control over ordering books for the devices; I have to wait for a secretary at the district office to get permission from the assistant superintendent to buy books for the Kindles. Obviously that is NOT very convenient for the future when we're all checking out ereaders at our front desks and putting the desired book on the ereader right there at the desk.