I was swayed by the online reviews. A poor man’s iPad says one reviewer. At $US249 I certainly found the price persuasive enough to get one on a Christmas trip down to the US of A. As a magazine junkie, I was overjoyed at the thought of being able to subscribe to my favourite journals and newspapers at a great discount (because everyone knows digital copies are much cheaper but more on that later). And as an owner of a 1st Gen iPod Touch, I was already familiar with the convenience of having a touchscreen device with wireless internet access. Unlike the other e-readers in the market, the Nook Color had a Internet browser. How could I go wrong?

But I wasn’t blind. Being a Canadian made for a more challenging experience:

• A large part of the Barnes and Noble e-book catalogue is only available in the US.
• The Pandora app does not work.
• You can’t subscribe to the e-magazines or newspapers offered by Barnes and Noble (although I have read that single issue purchases are okay). And forget about Canadian newspapers—most of them have chosen to create apps for Apple devices. And no, Android apps are not supported even though the Nook Color is running on Android 2.1.

The Pandora workaround is a built-in music player in Nook Color for MP3 and AAC files though I haven’t had the chance to try it yet. The lack of access to the B&N catalogue is a moot point. The ePub format is widely available in all other e-bookstores though the Nook Color causes major irritation with the way it displays non B&N DRM protected ePub books.

I bought an e-book from Kobo. It was easy enough to download it to my Nook Color but because it was not a B&N purchase, it was relegated to a folder in the file directory instead of its rightful place in the Library section. The Nook Color would not display the book’s cover as well, instead it conferred it a gray nondescript cover. This is only an issue with DRM ePub files I think. If I had known this beforehand, I would not have bought the device. Yes the ebook still read okay but I paid extra for color you know.

The Article View in Nook Color displaying a magazine article

Still there’s a lot to like about its 7-inch 1024x600 display. The colors on the Vanity Fair magazine I downloaded from the B&N site are vivid, the text crisp. I prefer reading from the Nook Color screen compared to the Kobo reader which utilizes an e-ink display. I also enjoy the fact you can post passages from your ebook onto Facebook or Twitter.

But it has become clear to me that those reviewers who wrote those positive reviews about the Nook Color have probably never used the Apple touch interface. The Nook Color touch screen is temperamental, sometimes it’s too sensitive, other times I could hit the screen hard with my finger and nothing happens. Cut and paste is also not as user-friendly as the iPod Touch and doesn’t work on all text. And you can forget about watching YouTube videos on the Nook Color. Videos are unwatchable.

But some say the Nook Color is better rooted. As for me, I’m hoping the upgrade to Android 2.2 will make things right. Finally, if you’re considering subscribing to an e-magazine, it would be wise to first compare the rates with the print rates. I found the print subscription to Popular Photography to be $16 cheaper than the rate offered on B&N.

(Photos are of my Nook Color with a decal from DecalGirl)