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B&N Nook for Android now supports EPUB side load and SD app storage

By | August 5, 2010, 6:34am PDT

Summary: Barnes & Noble’s Nook for Android application just jumped to the top of my ebook app list with new support for your own side-loaded EPUB files, the ability to store the app on your external storage card, and several other improvements.

It seems that every week something comes along on the Google Android platform that raises it higher on my personal smartphone rating scale. We saw Froyo come to my awesome HTC EVO 4G this week and now just a couple weeks after Barnes & Noble released the Nook app we see a MAJOR update that just propelled the Nook Android application to the top of my ebook reading application list. The new Nook for Android 2.1 application, available in the Android Market, enhances my reading experience by giving me access to all of my DRM-free EPUB files, the ability to store the application on my microSD card, and much more.

I have several DRM-free EPUB files and this morning I simply moved them from my hard drive onto my microSD card in the Nook>My Documents folder. I then launched the new Nook for Android application and all of my EPUB files were there. I was using Aldiko to import and read these files, but now I can stick with the Nook app that I have loaded anyway to access my Barnes & Noble purchased titles. You still do not yet have the ability to connect your Android device to your PC or Mac and transfer titles via Adobe Digital Editions (needed for books such as those from your local library), but I am hoping this too comes in a future update that would really make me a happy ebook reader.

Another great update in this version of Nook for Android is the ability to now move the 17.4 MB application from your phone memory onto the microSD card. You need to have Froyo on your device, but both my EVO 4G and Google Nexus One have this so I am good to go. I have seen low memory warnings on both of these devices so it is important to have the ability to store the app on the external storage card, especially an application that is quite large.

Other updates in this version of the Nook for Android application include:

  • Four professionally designed themes for page and text color including: Day, Night, Sepia and Butter
  • Additional screen settings with new margin options and brightness control
  • A new search function in Library
  • Other performance enhancements

Remember Nook for Android also supports lending ebook titles. I was recently notified that there is a website, BooksForNooks.com, that was created to let members loan books to each other. You can setup book alerts so when a book you are interested in is available you can visit and request a loan. I like that they require you to post a loanable book on the site before you can borrow so there isn’t just a bunch of takers on the site.

Barnes & Noble also stated that new iPhone and iPad applications will be coming soon, but with the Apple limitations on the file system I am not sure they can give you all the capability you get with the Android application (such as access to your EPUB files).

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Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

Disclosure

Matthew Miller

Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

Biography

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 125 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes an HTC Radar 4G, Dell Venue Pro, Apple iPad 2, HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N9, Apple iPhone 4S, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".
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RE: B&N Nook for Android now supports side load EPUB and SD storage
upinson 11th Oct
@jperlow Pulauweb Web Hosting Murah Indonesia
Blogger Nusantara Blogpreneur Indonesia
Barnes & Noble also stated that new iPhone and iPad applications will be coming soon, but with the Apple limitations on the file system I am not sure they can give you all the capability you get with the Android application (such as access to your EPUB files).

It works with Stanza for iPad, but the software has to maintain it's own database. I'm able to import EPUBs into it no problem, though. No reason why B&N can't do the same thing.
0 Votes
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Contributr
Thanks, I didn't know this worked
palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller) 5th Aug 2010
@jperlow How do you get EPUBs into Stanza? Is it through iTunes or some other web-based method?
@jperlow Pulauweb Web Hosting Murah Indonesia
Blogger Nusantara Blogpreneur Indonesia
How in the world did you get an epub file that wasn't from the shoppping in the my documents folder to work. I have several epub files and they will not load at all.
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Contributr
Correct folder?
palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller) 7th Aug 2010
@clarkjlynn At first I put mine in the My Documents folder on my microSD card, but nothing worked. You need to make sure to put them into the Nook>My Documents folder only.
@palmsolo (aka Matthew Miller)
I did that and they weren't showing up and I just figured out if I filter it to show just my documents instead of Library they show up. I find that a little strange but I can live with it. happy Thanks for the help though.
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Nook Droid problem
wagnerfilm 8th Aug 2010
I've just downloaded Nook onto my new LG Ally and every time I open it I get the following alert: "Problem occurred while trying to synchronize library. Please try again later." This happens every single time. What can be causing it?
@wagnerfilm
It started doing that after the last update. It worked fine when it was first released. I have tried to find an official forum to report this but technical support for the Nook apps seems to be non-existent.
Did you notice you were unable to bookmark your epub files in your my documents folder? I haven't figured out how if you can. Is there a way to have your owned epub files on your actual ebook library? I'm talking about Nook for Moto Droid.
Are there ANY Android (or iPod Touch) apps that will support reading of DRM'd eBooks from my public library that use Adobe Digital Editions??? I can't find ANYTHING that works!
@JPJayhawk - I use Aldiko. See Adobe's list of applications that support their DRM scheme at http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/supported-devices

I use Aldiko and find it works great as a reader, but to be honest, I haven't tried loading any books from the library yet. When my new SD card gets here I will try it out. From what I've read, it works great.
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Correction
katylad 19th Oct 2010
To save anyone the trouble. The actual folder on the SD card is Nook>MyDocuments
@katylad

I have put my ebup files in the Nook>MyDocuments and still cant see them. I also do not see a way to filter other than choosing "My Files" which shows nothing. Any help would be awesome.

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