Why I'm completely sick of idiots defending a 1 GB limit

[PandaNook]

As Apple and Android phones clearly demonstrate, there is no technical reason why user content needs to be walled of so tightly from purchased content.

From a basic principles content, if someone pays for 16 GB, then let them use it.  Requiring them to buy a SD card still pays more, and fails to efficiently use the storage on the device.

If they do buy and add a card, then let them use that, too.  It's shouldn't be an either/or split, nor a requirement to add a card, especially if the storage space exists and is unused. 

And if SD cards are so very cheap, then why not simply include one with the device.  An 8 GB card with an 8 GB user partition would give the end user 16 GB while still reserving 8 GB for system and B&N content.

But to say that people shouldn't be allowed to use the storage that they paid for is the height of foolishness.

[PandaNook]

As Apple and Android phones clearly demonstrate, there is no technical reason why user content needs to be walled of so tightly from purchased content.

From a basic principles content, if someone pays for 16 GB, then let them use it.  Requiring them to buy a SD card still pays more, and fails to efficiently use the storage on the device.

If they do buy and add a card, then let them use that, too.  It's shouldn't be an either/or split, nor a requirement to add a card, especially if the storage space exists and is unused. 

And if SD cards are so very cheap, then why not simply include one with the device.  An 8 GB card with an 8 GB user partition would give the end user 16 GB while still reserving 8 GB for system and B&N content.

But to say that people shouldn't be allowed to use the storage that they paid for is the height of foolishness.

[RHWright]

I'm all for strongly held differences of opinion. And while heated debate may grate on me after awhile, I'm cool with that.

However, the title of this thread is, IMO, a violation of the TOS for this site:

User is prohibited from posting on or transmitting through the Barnes & Noble.com Site any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material of any kind [...] (emphasis added)

Fine. You disagree with pretty much everyone who has cared to comment in the multiple other threads on this issue. No need to call us idiots and fools.

Try dialing it back a notch and switching to decaf, 'kay?

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

Reported.

Feel free to disagree, but don't make personal attacks.

[PandaNook]

Do you even understand the meaning of those words?

- Abusive is me flaming the hell out of somebody.

- Harassing is me continuing to do so for an extended period of time.

- Hateful is me going after their sex / race / religion while doing so.

But characterizing knee-jerk defenders of something foolish as "idiots"?  No, that's not a violation of anything.

[PandaNook]

When I attack "flyingtoaster", *that* is a personal attack.

Don't make things up.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

---

PandaNook wrote:

When I attack "flyingtoaster", *that* is a personal attack.

Don't make things up.

---

A) You spelled my name wrong.

B) You called me an idiot because I don't mind the current partition scheme. That's a personal attack.

[Tom51]

Been working around UNIX for more than 20 years, I don't see a technical reason why it must reserve 13G storage for BN only contents.  I will still buy Nook Tab for the storage expandability, but yet it's so sorry to see BN, with a great product, turns its strength into a weakness for the stupidity (or the greedy?) of its marketing strategy.

[PandaNook]

I'm sorry that I didn't misspell "toaster" the way that you did.

And your personal decision that you are an "idiot" isn't me making a personal attack against you.

The Nook Tablet, or any other product, is ill-served by knee-jerk defense.  The product has a problem, so simply fix it.  Don't defend the bad decision. Heck, even the Penn State finally figured that out...

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

---

PandaNook wrote:

The Nook Tablet, or any other product, is ill-served by knee-jerk defense.  The product has a problem, so simply fix it.  Don't defend the bad decision. Heck, even the Penn State finally figured that out...

---

What you see as a problem I see as quite nice. I have a ton of BN content, and with the posibility that the partition is going to be used for large files like movie downloads makes it quite compelling to be large. Moreover, this kind of thing has been in effect since last year with the launch of the NOOKcolor, so it shouldn't surprise anyone.

What I'm really getting at here is that for some (read: a lot of) people this isn't an issue, and thus we don't agree with your ascertation that it MUST BE FXD NAOW!!!!1111 That doesn't make us idiots. It means we just have a different opinion. If you're allowed to voice yours (which you are) you should really extend the same respect to those of us who disagree with you. 

[RHWright]

---

PandaNook wrote:

Do you even understand the meaning of those words?

- Abusive is me flaming the hell out of somebody.

- Harassing is me continuing to do so for an extended period of time.

- Hateful is me going after their sex / race / religion while doing so.

But characterizing knee-jerk defenders of something foolish as "idiots"?  No, that's not a violation of anything.

---

Yet another caustic barb that goes to prove my point.

BTW, I am a professional writer and editor (not that you'd always know it from my laziness when I spend my downtime here ) So, yeah, I have a pretty good idea what those words mean.

Abuse is not restricted to flaming, and is often in the eye of the target of the behavior, not the initiator.

Harassment can be a singular incident or repetitious behavior. Either way, your multiple posts on this subject and their tone is something that fits, IMO, even your definition of "an extended period."

Hate is not exclusive to comments about others sex/race/religion.

You're perfectly welcome to disagree with B&N's business decisions and discuss your opinion here. And while your tone in other posts grated on my sensibilities, that was fine.

But to heighten your rhetoric to the level of name calling—"knee-jerk defenders," "idiots"—that crosses a line that, in my opinion, is a violation of the way we usual engage in debate around this community.

That is why I, and others, reported you to the moderators. That is why I also posted my comments here.

I value lively discussion. So I actually hope you do choose to stay here. Just, please, consider dialing it back a tad.

Please, however, don't feel an obligation to continue the dialogue on this particular subject; I have nothing further to say about it.

[PandaNook]

The only reason I am here is because I am actually interested in buying a Nook Tablet instead of a Kindle Fire or some other tablet. 

However, B&N is making that decision much more expensive and complicated than it should be.  At $50 premium, the NT is a reasonably justifiable upgrade over the Kindle - it's still half the price of an iPad.  But tack on the cost and effort of adding a SD card, and at that point, it's no longer as cheap, and you start comparing with $300+ tablets.

I am deliberately raising some hell, more than I normally would, precisely because I want B&N to address the issue before the holiday buying season kicks off in 8 days.

Particularly, as the issue can be easily resolved via firmware or app to repartition the device on the fly.

I'm sorry that some people's panties are got in a twist, but if B&N doesn't have a stellar Christmas, they're going to be left behind and shut down like the HP Touchpad. I believe that fear is the reason behind the knee-jerk defensiveness I'm seeing.  However, the more people suggest there isn't a problem, the worse it'll get.

Anyhow, I'll shut up now, and just hope to see B&N copy HP with clearance-priced $49 NTs early next year.  At that price, I can afford a bunch of 32 GB cards, so it won't be a problem.

[maxsideburn]

I guess that's the problem...I didn't buy a Nook Tablet for the 16gb...I bought it for everything else. I was ever so slightly dissapointed to see only 1gb of free space...but it's certainly not worth all of the moaning over a fast $250 tablet.

simply put the vast majority of people who will buy a Nook tablet this christmas won't even notice. they'll fill it full of content from B&N. the average consumer isn't tech savvy enough to download pictures from a camera let alone sideload content onto a tablet. video is the only likely thing that will quickly overwhelm the built in 1gb of space....but 99% of the populace buying a NT will have no earthly clue how to encode video for it in the first place.

so by that logic the NC should have been a huge disaster since B&N never once released an official program/app to encode and sync video and pictures to the NC. It wasn't though, because 99% of people who bought one just used them for magazines and books bought from B&N, the rest of us figured it out on our own.

[DeanGibson Distinguished Bibliophile]

---

PandaNook wrote:

As Apple and Android phones clearly demonstrate, there is no technical reason why user content needs to be walled of so tightly from purchased content.

...

---

I'm going to provide partitioning work-arounds for the NT like I did for the NC, but at the moment I've more important things to do.  If you understand the technical issues so clearly, why don't you create the scripts necessary to do what I did for the NC?  I will tell you, that for a person that fully understands the technical issues, it is absolutely trivial to do.  Especially given the scripts I've already created.

[DeanGibson Distinguished Bibliophile]

As Apple and Android phones clearly demonstrate, there is no technical reason why user content needs to be walled of so tightly from purchased content.

...

[Sardonic]

I find it interesting that "everyone" keeps wanting to add the cost of a 32gb SD card to the Nook Tablet to force the cost differential from the KF to around $80.

Meanwhile, no one seems to want to add the cost of Amazon Prime to the KF...why?

Does everyone already have Amazon Prime?  I don't.

If you do the math a Nook Table with a 32gb is a wash with a KF with Amazon Prime...but wait...you gotta fork over that $80.00 year, after year, after year, after year...on top of your purchases from Amazon...

So, the NT seems a better value than KF...just sayin'

[maxsideburn]

not to mention that sd cards might be expensive at retail stores, but online they can be had for pennies.

[deemure]

And a microsd card can be a onetime purchase whereas Amazon has recurring fees for their free cloud storage.

Also, I am so sure Barnes and Noble is going to drop everything because one individual that cannot even show a modicum of restraint is calling people that don't share his (?) view.  Yeah, I think it's really important to bend over backwards for someone that calls my customers idiots.  And the abuse need not be within a post or directed at one particular individual to be flaming.  The very nature of this thread's title is insulting to a group of people and is in itself inflammatory.  And yelling, rather than making coherent calm argument shows a distinct lack of civility.

[Tom51]

What can that 13G space accommodate?  What do you plan to do when your BN contents take over all that 13G space?  Do you plan to quit buying things from BN?

So it's a mistake to partition the storage both strategically and technically.

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

I think it's unfortunate that the OP didn't simply title the thread, "Why I'm completely sick of people defending a 1 GB limit".  Or simply be gracious, and accept the gently posed suggestions of RHWright.

That's not because rules were being broken per se, but simply because denigrating people is counterproductive to making a convincing argument.  And the central thesis that buyers should be allowed to use what they paid for in any way they choose to do so, without restrictions, is one that I happen to agree with.  Instead, the focus has shifted to other topics.

For myself, I know that it's possible for a user to change this allocation (and if they're not savvy enough, they can wait until a canned solution is made available), so I'm not getting bent out of shape about it.  But if this were something actually locked down, then it would eliminate any potential for me to purchase a NT.  That's because I'd personally  fill the 1G user area immediately, yet only use perhaps 3G of the reserved space, leaving 9G permanently wasted.  That's unacceptable to me, though I recognize it's not to many folks.  And I'm OK with that.

However, that constraint is already starting to draw the attention of other websites and blogs, which are using it as a tool to attack the NT in comparisons against the KF.  If for no reason other than that, I don't think the current distribution of space allocation will serve B&N well, without giving the device owners more choices.

- Mark

[Mark_OB1 Bibliophile]

I wrote:

> that constraint is already starting to draw the attention of other websites and blogs, which are using it as a tool to attack the NT in comparisons against the KF. If for no reason other than that... <

I've read this more than once, but I just have time to quickly grab one reference:

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/nook-tablet-only-allows-1gb-of-non-barnes-noble-content-2011111... 

which is leading to unattractive conclusions like, "for those not rooting, the Nook is only going to be good for serving as a direct pipeline from their wallet to Barnes & Noble’s bank account."  

And, "What’s the point of having all of that extra space if owners aren’t free to do what they please with it?".  And even, "Thankfully, that SD card slot is on the Nook Tablet...  Obviously they can’t police what you store on your SD."  (my emphasis)

When that kind of talk starts getting picked up and regurgitated by other websites, it won't be helpful to B&N sales.  Which does concern me a bit. 

- Mark

[doncr]

Oh yeah?  Well the JERK STORE called, and they're running out of YOU!

(That's not aimed at anyone in particular, I just like saying it)