Saving on SD-cards

[LoseTheRadiosMa]

I understand books can only be lent for 14 days, which is pretty stupid. Most people have lives and can't read that fast! Considering my friends & I are constantly lending & reading each other's books, I'm also not thrilled with being able to share the book only once. I bought it, I own it, it should be mine to do with as I choose. 

If I'm understanding it correctly (very possible I'm not since I'm not all that tech savvy - a lot of things are called 'thingies' in my world), books are shared by being emailed, which starts the clock ticking on the lending period. 

The nook memory is expandable, which means I must have the ability to save books on SD cards. If I give someone the SD card, will that "skirt" the 14 day/one time only encryption? 

I'm really interested in getting one & so are a few of my friends, but this one stipulation might keep us in the traditional book world. 

[LaManchaDQ]

<If I give someone the SD card, will that "skirt" the 14 day/one time only encryption? >

While people have been able to do things with software and hardware no one was suppoed to be abe to do, the ability to put a DRM'd book to an SD card and move it to another device without limitations seems unlikely. It would seem to me that the B&N Lending technology recognizes devices and will disable the ability to read the book on the borrower's device once the 2 weeks has expired.

However, we wil not know until people start gettting their hands on the Nook.

[RaAusar]

ebooks in PDF and EPub formats such as Google Books can be saved to your SD Card therefore can be shared (not lent) with your buddies.

It will not be possible to save ebooks purchased thru the B&N store onto a SD card. 

You're best bet for sharing is to purchase a DRM-free ebook in PDF, ePub format and share/lend to your friends however or as many times as you want.

I'm starting to see a trend when you buy DVD/Blue-Ray movies where a digital copy is provided. I envision a similar thing to happen with ebooks as well. In fact, it's already happening so in those cases where I can buy the physical book with a digital copy (PDF, EPub, Mobi) I'm going that route. This way I physically have the book in my personal library (to lend or store) and I have all the digital copies of my books on my nook to take with me while I travel.

[stirwise]

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RaAusar wrote:

It will not be possible to save ebooks purchased thru the B&N store onto a SD card. 

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Where did you hear this? I can't find reference to it anywhere in the (admittedly light) nook documentation. I don't see why it would not be possible to, say, download a B&N book to my computer and transfer it to the SD card I use on my nook, but I also haven't seen anything saying books can't be transferred to the card on the device itself. If you can point to where that limitation is stated, I'd love to read it.

[LoseTheRadiosMa]

Now I'm even more confused ... if the nook is expandable through SD cards, doesn't that mean you have the ability to save the ebook purchased through BN? 

Thanks for your help .. I really appreciate it 

[soylentgeek]

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RaAusar wrote:

It will not be possible to save ebooks purchased thru the B&N store onto a SD card. 

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Where did you get this information? B&N is certainly not saying that - especially since they have been promoting the SD card storage as the way to increase the nook's capacity to hold over 17,000 books.

It wouldn't make much sense to not allow storage of B&N purchased content on the SD card.

[RaAusar]

I reach this conclusion by simple logic and reasoning. 

The specs states that pdfs, epub, mp3, graphic files can be side-loaded using the micro SD card. There's no indication that you will be able to save ebooks purchase via the B&N store to a SD card for sharing especially since B&N stores all your ebooks in the cloud (Internet) for access from any number of devices (PDA, PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry & etc). 

Now, you may be wondering what if I run out of space on my nook and want to save my purchased B&N ebooks to a SD card to maxmize storage. Well, just like the other ereaders, not all your ebooks purchased thru the perspective vendor (ex: B&N) resides on your device. A set number of recent or unread books will remain in RAM while older, finished books will have to be pushed to your nook upon request.

B&N: If anything I said is incorrect, please inform the community that you can indeed save B&N ebooks to a micro SD card. 

Thank you.

[JimM]

I don't believe that's true.  All your purchase should reside on your nook unless you specifically choose to remove/archive them.  The admins have already stated that you can backup your purchases to your own hard drive, which indicates to me that the eBooks are stored directly on the nook.  I don't see that it would be any different for backing them up to an SD card.

The eBooks aren't stored "in the cloud" -- you download them to each device that you're using.  The devices then sync back with your account to get the updates (such as Last Page Read, annotations, bookmarks, etc.)

[RaAusar]

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JimM wrote:

The eBooks aren't stored "in the cloud" -- you download them to each device that you're using.  The devices then sync back with your account to get the updates (such as Last Page Read, annotations, bookmarks, etc.)

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Sir Jim, what you've just defined is in fact the essence of Cloud computing. Yes, ebooks are downloaded to your nook upon request then uploaded back to the cloud to sync with other devices for updates like you have stated. 

Your online library will consist of both available stored content and downloadable content online. For instance, let's say you purchased and downloaded an ebook from your PC using the B&N ereader. When you get back to your nook, the new ebook title will appear in your digital library however it is not downloaded until you attempt to read it. If for some reason your nook device doesn't have an Internet connection then you won't be able to read the ebook until the nook established a connection. It remains in the cloud until a session is established. Once it has been downloaded to your nook, you can read with or without an Internet connection. 

In regards to backing up your nook to your computer hard drive, is correct. Keep in mind this is not only backing up ebook information but nook device data as well (My daily info, ebooks, emagazines, enewsletter, and so on). A 16 MB micro SD might possibly be able to hold this data but anything less capacity is skeptical.

Disclaimer: Individuals reading please don't take my opinions as actual facts until you've heard them directly from a B&N representative. I am only giving my honest opinion based on several decades of experience working in the IT industry. This discussion is speculative at best. Thank you.

[soylentgeek]

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RaAusar wrote:

Sir Jim, what you've just defined is in fact the essence of Cloud computing. Yes, ebooks are downloaded to your nook upon request then uploaded back to the cloud to sync with other devices for updates like you have stated. 

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And as we all should be abundantly aware thanks to the Microsoft Sidekick fiasco, it's not a good idea to rely on the cloud as your only data store. I've seen no mention of ebooks being automatically removed from nook back to the cloud when not reading them - on the contrary, all indications I've seen are that they stay on the nook until the user removes them.

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Your online library will consist of both available stored content and downloadable content online. For instance, let's say you purchased and downloaded an ebook from your PC using the B&N ereader. When you get back to your nook, the new ebook title will appear in your digital library however it is not downloaded until you attempt to read it. If for some reason your nook device doesn't have an Internet connection then you won't be able to read the ebook until the nook established a connection. It remains in the cloud until a session is established. Once it has been downloaded to your nook, you can read with or without an Internet connection. 

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Where did you get this information? Is it from B&N or is it something you're guessing about?

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In regards to backing up your nook to your computer hard drive, is correct. Keep in mind this is not only backing up ebook information but nook device data as well (My daily info, ebooks, emagazines, enewsletter, and so on). A 16 MB micro SD might possibly be able to hold this data but anything less capacity is skeptical.

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You must be mistaken. The nook's internal, OOTB, capacity is 2 GB. An addition 16 GB can be added with a micro SD card. The stated capacity of the nook is thus advertised as up to 1500 books on the nook, and up to 17,500 with the 16 GB micro SD card. Where did you get the idea that it's 16 MB?

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Disclaimer: Individuals reading please don't take my opinions as actual facts until you've heard them directly from a B&N representative. I am only giving my honest opinion based on several decades of experience working in the IT industry. This discussion is speculative at best. Thank you.

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Perhaps you should refrain from posting your opinions as if they are facts then. Everything in your last post is speculation or flat out wrong based on the current specs and FAQs from B&N. I understand that you believe sharing your opinions by purporting them to be factual statements (saying 'The nook will...' as opposed to 'I believe based on my own impressions...') is helpful, but it would be a lot better for people to get facts slowly than to get (incorrect) opinions fast.

[JimM]

First, I'm just gonna quote this because it is important for anyone keeping up with this discussion:

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RaAusar wrote:

Disclaimer: Individuals reading please don't take my opinions as actual facts until you've heard them directly from a B&N representative. I am only giving my honest opinion based on several decades of experience working in the IT industry. This discussion is speculative at best. Thank you.

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Now...my experience is not quite as extensive as yours (only about a decade as a software developer), but I think my main contention with what you wrote originally here:

"not all your ebooks purchased thru the perspective vendor (ex: B&N) resides on your device. A set number of recent or unread books will remain in RAM while older, finished books will have to be pushed to your nook upon request."

That's what I don't think is correct.  While I know there is an archiving option as mentioned by one of the admins, what you seem to be saying is that unread/less-used eBooks will automatically be removed from the device and you'll need to specifically go out an download them if you want to access them.  My understanding is that you can keep downloading onto your nook as much as you want, and nothing with be actually removed from the device unless I specifically choose to do so.  Just like loading up a USB drive. 

Do you think B&N will be proactively archiving your unused books?  I could see some utility in that, as it would help to ensure that your device will have free space, but on the other hand, I want to be able to control exactly what's on my device at any given time.

[stirwise]

You seem to misread the specs. They state that those files can be loaded to the device via computer or micro-SD. Simply that this is one potential route of delivering content, not that this is the only content available by that route.

Also, B&N has never stated that your books will be automatically deleted from your nook. You can delete books and archive them to the cloud whenever you like, but B&N doesn't have a say. I still can't find anything anywhere indicating that B&N books are not movable to computer or external media.

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RaAusar wrote:
The specs states that pdfs, epub, mp3, graphic files can be side-loaded using the micro SD card.

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[LoseTheRadiosMa]

This is what I received from Customer Service: 

Thank you for your inquiry regarding nook, the world's most advanced

eReader!

All of our eBook's are encrypted. You can only share one book with one

person only one time for 14 days.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cost you.

As I stated in my initial post, my friends & I are always passing books around; some take longer to read books than others, so not only is the 1 book share unreasonable, so it the 14 day requirement. Books are meant to be read and shared. If they weren't, libraries wouldn't be so popular. On that point, when you check a book out of the library, if it's not finished within the designated time, they allow you to extend your due date. 

Perhaps B&N will rethink the sharing policy & really hope they do. Not only might this be a deal breaker for me, but I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same. 

I

[TiggerBear]

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LoseTheRadiosMa wrote:

This is what I received from Customer Service: 

Thank you for your inquiry regarding nook, the world's most advanced

eReader!

All of our eBook's are encrypted. You can only share one book with one

person only one time for 14 days.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cost you.

As I stated in my initial post, my friends & I are always passing books around; some take longer to read books than others, so not only is the 1 book share unreasonable, so it the 14 day requirement. Books are meant to be read and shared. If they weren't, libraries wouldn't be so popular. On that point, when you check a book out of the library, if it's not finished within the designated time, they allow you to extend your due date. 

Perhaps B&N will rethink the sharing policy & really hope they do. Not only might this be a deal breaker for me, but I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same. 

I

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The whole thing just feels to me as if I by an ebook for the Nook, that I don't really own it. If I owned it I could lend to whom ever I wanted for however long as many times as I wanted. It would be my copy, to lend or even once I got sick of it to sell or give away.

[LoseTheRadiosMa]

Exactly!!! 

[PapaDear]

The technical specifications state the Nook will accept microSD memory expansion cards with a maximum storage capacity of 16GB; however, I believe one will be hard pressed to find a microSD card with a storage capacity as large as 16GB. MicroSDHC (the HC stands for high capacity) cards are available in 16GB capacity; however, microSDHC cards can only be used in devices that are specifically designed to accept microSDHC memory cards. Therefore, the Nook technical specifications need to be corrected to explicitly state whether the Nook will or will not accept microSDHC memory expansion cards or will only accept microSD memory cards. I would urge Nook users to avoid purchase of a memory expansion card until the vendor clarifies if the Nook will or will not work with microSDHC memory expansion cards to avoid purchase of a memory card that is incompatible with the Nook.

Barnes&Noble webmaster, please clarify the technical specifications on your website.

[Po1gara]

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PapaDear wrote:

The technical specifications state the Nook will accept microSD memory expansion cards with a maximum storage capacity of 16GB; however, I believe one will be hard pressed to find a microSD card with a storage capacity as large as 16GB. MicroSDHC (the HC stands for high capacity) cards are available in 16GB capacity; however, microSDHC cards can only be used in devices that are specifically designed to accept microSDHC memory cards. Therefore, the Nook technical specifications need to be corrected to explicitly state whether the Nook will or will not accept microSDHC memory expansion cards or will only accept microSD memory cards. I would urge Nook users to avoid purchase of a memory expansion card until the vendor clarifies if the Nook will or will not work with microSDHC memory expansion cards to avoid purchase of a memory card that is incompatible with the Nook.

Barnes&Noble webmaster, please clarify the technical specifications on your website.

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If you would go to the Nook page, under Features, Accessories, then Essentials you will find the microSD cards for the nook and they plainly say microSDHC. So, it appears 16 GB is not a problem. I've also done an internet search and found sources for the microSDHC cards at cheaper prices, you just have to be careful the card is in the right configuration for the nook.