The main reason I chose the B&N nook over the Kindle when I bought an ebook reader was the fact that the nook supports PDF and Epub. While the nook’s PDF support is really only suited for text, it doesn’t do a very good job with graphs and images, I find that I can convert most anything a nook-friendly format using Calibre.
One thing the nook handles surprisingly well is manga, Japanese comic books. The nook doesn’t do so well with full sized American comics due to resizing (thus rendering text illegible), but the smaller form factor of manga is perfect for the nook’s screen size:
A lot of manga is only commercially available in Japanese, and the English translation are largely done by fans. The translated files are available in .CBR or .CBZ format, which is really just a renamed zip file full of images. Calibre does a great job of converting the CBR files in to an Epub suitable for the nook. The pages are very readable, and the artwork looks good.
There was also some new nook firmware released today. While most of the attention is going to the new browser (in beta) and games, the page turns are noticibly faster in 1.3. They’re now fast enough that I don’t really notice them, and consider it on par with the amount of time it takes to physically turn a page:
The nook got off to a shaky start, but it’s turning out to be a really nice ebook reader. The games are cute, but not something I see myself using much. Hopefully when the browser is out of beta it will allow for downloading books through it (right now you have to cable sync or use B&Ns app). Or better yet, I hope they let folks develop their own apps for them. A Calibre client for the nook would be great.
Hey, thanks for you review on this specific subject ! I’m thinking of importing one from USA to France, but it’s quite a trip, and quite an investment, so I wanted to be sure that I could also read manga on it. Surprisingly I couldn’t find anything on youtube about that, I could only find small one-entry blog review (no offense).
Well I guess I’ll buy one, even if I don’t have many many french ebooks, not many are digitalized.
Anyway, thanks for your post. You just make a person buy the nook 😉
While I love FMA, does the text on other .cbz/.cbr files come up just as clearly as the picture you posted? I’D LIKE TO KNOW!!!
I have a huge collection of manga and comics (just raw .jpgs now, but will make into epub files) that I’d like to put into an ebook, but I’m concerned about the text. Up till now, it seemed like the Kindle DX was the only e-reader worth putting on manga/comics, unless you have really good vision.
Thanks for your post, definitely making me want to save up and buy one.
Thank u, sooo much. I had no idea the Nook could do manga and with great quality. I read on another blog where the guy said I had to download three programs to get it on my Nook. I did download all three and tried only one page since it was such a long process I didn’t want to waste my time. The quality was horrible. I read your post for Calibre, and it’s amazing. It took 2 minutes and then I had to click the thumbnail to move it to my Nook, then BAM, that was it. Thank u so much. I have had this nook since December and I haven’t even read one manga on it, since I didn’t know how to download them. But now I know its a piece of cake and it looks great too
Finally! Someone who managed to download manga to Nook using Calibre. I have tried but failed. Would it be possible for you to give me a step by step rundown of how to do this. I need very simple and elementary instructions as I am not at all tech savvy. I really need instructions like first, you do this… When you see this on your screen, you do that…… next, you do that… etc. etc. Please help!
hi
i’m nook owner just wonder where to get manga on .CBR or .CBZ format,
seriously
if you know any email me
thanks
Hey I was wondering, I have converting some manga into epub from .CBR and it seems to be stretched on my comp screen, kinda odd, I dont have a nook yet, please get back to me….
Check the size settings on whatever you’re using to convert to epub.
That’s exactly why I wanted to get the nook color over just any regular ereader. I have the same questions a tung however, how do you go about setting up this manga.
thanks!
I just wanted to know…does this only work for Nook Color or can i use it on just the regular Nook??? i’m going to get one soon, and i REALLY wanted to read manga on it, so i just wanted to know should i go ahead and buy the normal Nook or save up a bit more to get the Nook Color?