College Students! discussion

So I got the B&N Nook for Christmas and was extremely excited about it; I actually prefer physical books but a severe lack of space and an anti-book crazed step mother made the idea of putting all my books into a compact little space for now a very attractive option. So I got the Nook and immediately started searching through the ebooks and was actually a little dismayed at the selection. Anyone else have this problem with the current ebook selection?


Their classics selection is decent but even that seems to have some glaring omissions in what is available. I couldnt find anything (or hardly anything) by Saul Bellow, Albert Camus, Vladimir Nabokov, or Anthony Burgess (INCLUDING A Clockwork Orange!).

The option of modern writers seems even more disappointing. Margaret Atwood? Only the Handmaid's Tale and maybe one other of her books available. Jose Saramago (A Nobel Prize winning author!)? Nothing!

It really seems that outside of best sellers you're going to be quite disappoointed.

And, to top it all off, the non-fiction section is dismal at best, especially in the science section. I mean, ONE BOOK by Carl Sagan? The hell?

I'm still glad I got the Nook, don't get me wrong, but am I the only one shocked by the selection for ebooks right now? Does anyone know how certain books are made into ebook form and why it is that some authors are so glaringly absent? Is there an actual reason these authors arent present or is it just a matter of someone getting around to including them? I'm rather ignorant to the processes involved in making ebooks available and am rather curious, so if anyone could enlighten me I'd appreciate it.

x-posted

There are other sites besides BN's that you can use. Fictionwise.com has a huge selection. If you're looking for books where the copyright has expired use Project Gutenberg. Allromanceebooks.com has a good stock of romance novels.

Did a quick search on fictionwise and found the same omissions (except one more book by Margaret Atwood). No Nabokov, Camus, Burgess, Bellow, or Saramago. Same one book for Carl Sagan. :(

Thanks for the try though :)

Definitely going to browse Project Gutenberg.

When I first got my Kindle2 I was kinda surprised that certain books weren't available but over the year there seems to be more, so maybe it will just take a while for B&N to get a more varied selection once they hear feedback?

Hey Jacqueline- I got a K2 for my 20th birthday. I am just like you, I love having physical books. I haven't obtained ebooks from anywhere besides amazon, so I am glad I came across this discussion.
How do you like your nook? The specs look really cool..!
-d

Denise wrote: "Hey Jacqueline- I got a K2 for my 20th birthday. I am just like you, I love having physical books. I haven't obtained ebooks from anywhere besides amazon, so I am glad I came across this discussion..."

I LOVE it! Despite my love of physical books I have to admit I'm quite enamored with this cool little piece of machinery (my techie boyfriend is so proud of me, haha). I really like the touchscreen and book cover scroll. The larger non-touch screen really impressed me too; they have these really intricate screen savers that I was impressed by. When I started up my Nook B&N had given me three free books as well which was a good way to get started (Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, and Little Women).

I like that I can shop for books on my Nook if I have a wifi connection, rather than having to download them to my comp and then connect my Nook with the usb, although that is also an option (I've never actually seen a Kindle so I'm not sure if this is the same case).

I have been slacking (well actually really busy and not home to look) on getting books on my Reader. Hopefully I will be able to find some that are great.

Jacqueline wrote: "Denise wrote: "Hey Jacqueline- I got a K2 for my 20th birthday. I am just like you, I love having physical books. I haven't obtained ebooks from anywhere besides amazon, so I am glad I came across ..."

i love that the nook came preloaded with those three books! my k2 only came with a letter and a guide, haha. i love touch-screen technology, but can live without it. also, electrical cords are my PET PEEVES, i hate having to keep track of so many! so yes, i agree with you about being able to get books through the device itself and not having to d/l it off my computer! i read somewhere you can actually go into b&n with your nook and read full books for free?? have you tried that??
-d

Denise wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "Denise wrote: "Hey Jacqueline- I got a K2 for my 20th birthday. I am just like you, I love having physical books. I haven't obtained ebooks from anywhere besides amazon, so I am ..."

Yes, this is true, you can! I have yet to do it myself though since the last few times I was in B&N I was with people and couldnt linger too long. I definitely plan to soon!

I know there are a lot of copyright issues when it comes to books. For example, I was looking for Orwell's 1984, assuming that it would probably be a B&N Classic at this point. Even though Orwell is no longer alive, his estate is still there preventing B&N from printing it into a classic.

A lot of that has to do with these e-books. The publisher/estate/author must approve for it to become an e-book - which as you can imagine, is probably a very lengthy process for B&N to get approval from every publisher, unfortunately.

They do look cool, but I don't think that I could really enjoy using one. I like flipping through pages =)

Yeah, unless the book's copyright has expired, Amazon and B&N and other places can't release the book in ebook format unless the copyright holder agrees to it. (And some won't agree to having their books in ebook *glares at J.K. Rowling*)

I wonder if they get a reduced payment for e-books?