Many have hear me say over the years that I'd NEVER get a tablet as the screen is too small for what I do, so I lied.

I got an 8 inch Android tablet; android version 4.2.2. I like it and it looks like it will be handy especially for reading. It has Wi-Fi, blue tooth, hdmi out, micro SD slot and USB so for $75.00 USD I think I did fairly well.

It came with a NOOK app already installed which I have used and it works without issue and is fast. So what is my actual question??? NOOK is Barnes and Nobel which is fine except that they probably have some of the highest book prices around which I am sure probably relates to their NOOK prices. I would just like to get input as to other book apps others may use and a sort of average price per book. Right now I'm seeing NOOK as around $8.40/book but have only bought two.

Any input would be greatly appreciated as this is all quite new to me.

P.S. Any insights as to any android apps that you might feel are essential to have would be appreciated.

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I mainly use the Kindle app on my Smartphone and Asus Notebook, I don't have an actual Kindle but the app works fine. I have some books on that which didn't cost anything and a few other that were cheap compared with buying an actual book.

Nook has only just been made available over here I believe and I downloaded it onto my Notebook a few days ago but haven't actually looked into what books I can get. I may not even use it as I'm very happy with my Kindle app.
The one I have on my Lumia is very good and I sit there on my Friday bus journey reading my book trilogy I have on there.

I know when I was thinking about getting this Notebook I was vying between having a tablet or laptop but decided that as I don't really go anywhere I'd settle on this Asus Notebook as it was more versatile than a tablet.

Can't really advice about Android apps for you Jay, a lot depends on the things you want to do on the tablet which apps are more useful to you and as I've now got a Lumia Windows 8 phone I've got a whole lot of different apps to think about. I know Android has a load of apps compared to Windows phones but again, I think it depends what you want to do on the device what apps work for you.

What make did you get Jay ?

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

There's other reading apps like the Kindle or Google, for example, that work on your tablet. Part of the trick with these apps is to figure out how to see the free books. The free books won't be anything recent but there's loads of great classics available, even in the Nook, for free. I've read loads of great books on my tablet for free. Look in the Play Store for the ereader apps. There's around 250 of them there. I mostly use the Kindle app.

For recent books I haven't purchased many as I'm happy to read the uncopyrighted classics.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Thanks Manny.

Joan, the tablet is made by Polaroid of all companies. Until we got the things in at work I didn't even know that they made a tablet.

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Yes that surprises me, when you think of Polaroid you just think cameras.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

I don't think you will see a substantial difference in ebook prices from store to store, and frankly, the app has little to do with it. B & N has tons of free books
too. It's the newer, best-seller type of books that cost more. I occasionally buy one, but I'm not into the NY Times Best Seller list. <g>

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

I'm not really into the best seller list either Patty. I go for my tried and true authors such as Asimov, Heinlein, McCaffery and several others. I go mostly Sci-fi and Fantasy. One author I haven't read in MANY years and love is Andre Norton. I don't know if you know the genre but she wrote the Witch World series. I just did a quick search and they have at least thirty of her books available.

Interesting to hear that I won't see a real difference in prices with different apps. I sort of figured that the e-book price would follow the pricing of the store to which the app is associated. I tend to find that Barnes and Noble (Nook) to be one of the highest prices around for real books, figured it would be the same for e-books.

One app I'll have to look for is a file manager, I just don't like the one included although I'm sure that I'd get used to the thing... it just seems cumbersome to me.

Hmmm, since it has a USB port I wonder what would happen if I attached a mouse. Probably nothing and I probably wont even try as I'd need to get a female to female adapter... wait a minute... this is why I bought a USB cable with six interchangeable ends. Nope, did nothing when I plugged in the mouse, no surprise. The surprise is that a quick search shows that Android WILL accept a mouse as long as it is Bluetooth. Still won't, no reason to do so.

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I think the thing with tablets is that you have to change your mind set. Don't think it of it as a PC where you can easily navigate. A tablet, compared to a PC, is cumbersome and if you just let it put files where it wants and forget about trying to control it you'll like it better. Use it as intended and it'll be better.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

I suppose that you are right Manny but have you ever known me not to tinker?

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Which is great, that way you break yours tinkering, then you can tell us what not to do to break ours.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Jay

I use my library exclusively and wait for a particular eBook to become available.

Downloaded my first eBook yesterday (PDF or EPUB) which then entails a series of miserable contortions trying to move it from desktop to tablet. And figuring out which reader works best, and after already downloading to desktop through OverDrive and opening Adobe Digital Editions (ADE 2.0 or 2.1), I learned that there are easier and better ways, if OverDrive is the vehicle your library uses.
For me, it was unbelievably time-consuming and frustrating, on my first attempt. One set of instructions would be nice, but I've got ten.

My mother just got her NYC library application today, so I'll see if a city of eight million on the East Coast - the world's financial capital - is more generous with their library budget.

Check this out: https://openlibrary.org/borrow

Hmmm, I've had no problem with moving books between my desktop and tablet but then I'm still just using Nook. I just do the buying on my desktop and it is automatically there in the Nook app on the tablet. I just download on both systems. Since I do have my desktop linked to my Nook account this works the same even if I buy through the tablet as the book will then be available for download on the desktop. I've been involved in a couple of book series that I knew I'd want to keep so I just bought and downloaded. Since I've been reading these two series I haven't checked out the library possibilities yet. Well that and I've been pretty busy lately on some website work and just haven't had the time to explore.

As to readers you might want to check out Calibre, http://calibre-ebook.com/
I have not had it long but it looks decent so far. Sadly I can't say if there is or is not a tablet version of this reader as I installed it on my desktop to check out Nook samples to avoid buying a book in Spanish again... Barnes and Noble did refund without any problem. For some reason IE 11 will not work with the Nook instant read feature.

When I have time I DO intend to try an experiment. I don't know about your tablet but with mine I have an option to move apps to the external card. What I want to try is to move the Nook app to the external (actually a micro-SD card that I use on the tablet) and then see if I can see the ebooks if I put that card in the reader on my laptop. If you don't hear from me in a week or so on this drop a reminder as I probably forgot. If this works and you also can use an SD card on your tablet, it should make it quite easy to move books between systems.

Thanks for the link. I saved it and will check out when I can.

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Borrowing ebooks from my library, who also uses OverDrive, is also a particularly convulated process. It takes quite a few steps to get it done but once you get it the ebook magically appears in the tablet application. Even the librarians are confused by the process which unfortunately fails once in a while for unknown reasons. All I can say is that this process is evolving Nancy and I think it will get better in the future but right now it certainly can be frustrating.

Borrowing magazines is also in its infancy and awkward. This too should evolve because the library twenty years from now is going to be a very different place from what it is today. Right now it's in the Model T phase.

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Best regards,
Manny Carvalho
MS-MVP since 2002

Except for the Surface, of course, or perhaps other Windows 8.1 tablets, which work just the way you are accustomed to. Love this thing. I'm on it now. Somehow never got back to this thread until today.

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

Jay is that Calibre the program that enables you to change format for ebooks ? I've heard of something that allows you to read a Nook book on a Kindle device and vice versa.

I have the Nook app on my Windows 8.1 Notebook with just a couple of books, to me they are quite expensive to buy books through Barnes & Noble.

I have a Kindle Fire HD 7" and have quite a few books on that and they sync between the Fire my Notebook, Nokia Lumia and Johns Kindle e-reader.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Please remember that I have NOT used this feature...

While I have done nothing with the feature my guess/answer would be yes. Calibre DOES allow for conversion. Of course it seems that conversions are allowed (as should be) for titles NOT protected with DRM.

The following shots are of the formats it can convert to/from.




This is the entire initial conversion window.

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Thanks Jay, I'll probably have a look at it a bit later on to see if I really need it. At present I'm quite happy with my Kindle ebooks and they are a price I can afford.

It is always useful though if the need arises to have something that makes the job easier, thanks for the links.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Calibre is a great program, constantly made better. There are plugins you can get for it to strip DRM from your DRM'ed eBooks. They don't talk about it on Calibre though. Not sure I have the link here on my Surface (I'm in LA) though. I've used it in the past, but haven't had too much luck recently with my Nook books. My only reason for wanting to do it now is that B&N has no Nook app for Windows Phone, so I was wanting to convert to something else I could read on my phone. Honestly, I could probably get it to work, but haven't had the time to devote to doing so.

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

OverDrive is an excellent app for reading. It stopped being convoluted what seems like a long time ago, now. Download to tablet in an instant.
The only thing I can't figure out is borrowing library books on Amazon (I checked that format by mistake once and had to have OD delete books from my account.)

I wonder if more people - librarians and other staff - need to be better trained on the technology - as did (or do) the health insurance companies since the ACA went into effect.

Manny, if I had grasped (fully) your comment about a tablet vs PC, I would have had an easier go of it last year.

MacDuffie - not with the Surface - really?

I have a Surface RT. You can't install programs on it, only apps from the app store.

All moot now. I've got a workaround for Barnes & Noble, and I also have a Kindle, and a workaround for that too. I can now switch formats and devices at will, with Calibre.

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Patty MacDuffie
Computer Haven Administrator

Live Long and Prosper
Mr. Spock

I have OverDrive on my Kindle plus OneClickDigital I use them for my libraries audio books. I belong to 4 libraries and it depends on which one I log into which reading app I use. I also have the Zinio app on the Kindle as well for the magazines I get from the libraries.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Moore's Law or something along those lines.
I ran into problems last night - as usual. Found Project Free TV to watch House of Cards.
Found it on my laptop, instantly. Tested well on laptop, of course.
On tablet - no search (duckduckgo or google) unearthed the term, so I had to copy the url.
Firefox issues, so I switched to Chrome. Chrome stopped the video after five minutes (file error) and I eventually switched back to FF, which overcame its issue. Forty minutes later, I wanted to go to sleep instead.
(Proxy wars with Orbot and Adblock on Nexus 7.) Since this is not a question, but a statement - I should know better than to expect decent performance for other than books, but video entertainment? Bah.