miscellaney

[bedlamsbard]

One of those days when my computer is making me froth at the mouth; I have had to shut it down and reboot it five times today because it's gone unresponsive. I should have just bought a new computer yesterday while we were at Costco. (Yeah, I'm still on the Dell Inspiron 1525, it's functional most of the time, except for today, apparently.) This weekend, I guess. *pets laptop hopefully* Don't die, baby!

My cousin and her kid were here all weekend, which was...trying. K. is about a year and a couple months, and I've never been in sustained proximity to a kid that age. It's really not my thing. (And of course, my parents and cousin are all, "Oh, Katrina, doesn't this make you want to have a baby?" "NO. NO IT DOES NOT." "Ka-chan, you're not going to be one of those only children who doesn't have kids, are you?" "YES. YES I AM. AND THAT'S OKAY." *parents look doubtful*)

Am watching Hornblower, since my local library has the DVDs. BABY JAMIE BAMBER AND IOAN GRUFFUDD OMG. Gruffudd has such an expressive face, it's really amazing. And is occasionally really sexy, I think it's my usual competence + duty kink. (And for some reason I've been getting all hot and bothered about cute dudes, this isn't typical for me. I blame The Avengers, because have you seen those guys? homg. /shallow)

I'm thinking about buying an eReader to take to England, since I obviously can't take my usual collection of books with me. I'm not very keen on eReaders? But it seems like a good idea. Texas has a Nook Color, which she also uses as a tablet, so that's what I'm thinking about. But I don't know a whole lot about eReaders.

Comments

[cursor_mundi]

I have a Kindle, and it's great -- wi-fi and free 3G, which I got for free since I didn't want a Fire tablet and was happy with the older model. I have a friend in London with a Kindle (same make and model as mine) and she uses it to check email and whatnot. Less smooth than a regular phone/tablet interface, but serviceable, and you can get a lot of free books from Amazon (there are sites that collect the free ones and provide summaries, etc.). Customer service is solid: mine had a mysterious ailment, I called, we chatted, and within an hour a new one was heading my way. Another friend has a Fire, and it is significantly heavier than the regular models, but it's pretty darn awesome.

Anyway, I like the Kindle, and I got it because I was shopping for an ereader just as Borders went under, so I am wary of Barnes and Noble. I can guarantee that Amazon is not going to crash any time soon. B&N has a lot of perks if you bring your Nook to a store, so while this isn't useful for UK travel, it might be something you'd want to consider for long term use. That said, I have absolutely no complaints with my Kindle and I think it's a better device for international travel because of the link to Amazon.com. You can also read PDFs on the Kindle, the screen's big enough.

[bedlamsbard]

Thanks!

Oh, that's a good point. Where I live in Washington there's not actually a B&N anywhere near me (for, uh, at least a hundred miles), so while it wouldn't be a problem if I was still in New Orleans (she says wistfully), out here and in the UK it probably would be a problem.

[cursor_mundi]

I think, at this point in the technology race, that both Nook and Kindle are just about equal in terms of tech and battery and whatnot. The main thing you should focus on is delivery and other uses, so if there's no B&N for miiiiles around you, you may want to go for the Kindle because Amazon's entire business model is based on the assumption that you'll go online and buy stuff that way ... or chat with customer service via email or phone or something. The only time I wished for a Nook was when my poor Kindle was ill, but the customer service folks were really great and the "things to try before you call" lists are quite solid and detailed.

Here's the other thing to consider: the Fire and Color are the first of a new generation, and you might want to go for cheaper on your first model and wait for the tech to experience its first couple of major steps up in quality. I personally did not want the tablet thing for my first ereader, because I wanted to be able to treat it just like a book (so, dumped in a purse and hauled all over creation, opened and used at random moments).

[bedlamsbard]

I think I'll go play with the display models at Fred Meyer when I have time and see what feels better, but I am reminded that I definitely do want something that comes in color, since I'm on a comics kick again.

[cursor_mundi]

Oh, comics, yes, you don't want a black and white at all then. Keep in mind, though, that B&N will sell you nothing owned by DC Comics and its stable because of a dustup they have had: Amazon solicited and obtained exclusive digital rights from DC, and B&N retaliated by pulling print copies from their stores. If you're mostly into Start Wars, I thiiiink they're under the DC umbrella. I know Marvel offers a direct to buyer digital comic with multiple ereader formats available, but I don't know what DC is doing, so make sure you investigate.

Another alternative: go for a true tablet, like the Asus model. It runs off Honeycomb, an Android OS used in phones. More expensive, but you can easily use multiple ereader formats (so it would be like having a Nook, a Kindle, annnnd an iPad).