Hey, glad to see this thread is up at the top....I just returned from visiting my Grandkids, my 10 yr. old grandson has a Kindle. He says that he gets pictures on his kindle.....like illustrations. Does the PDN? My daughter wants me to wait and buy the paperback "Water for Elephants" because she wants me to see the pictures. Also, Grandms and Raven, have you read "Outlander"? What did you think? I loved it. Never heard of it before I got it as a freebie. I'm hooked...found a Outlander bookclub website (just what I need, talking about wasting time on the computer) and am in the process of acquiring the rest of the series!

No I have not read it yet for that reason everyone I know that reads it is hooked and has to have the rest, I have seen them all in the used book store though so I know I can find them pretty cheap. If the book has pictures and illustrations it should show them. The kindle can not do color though, no idea how they would be since I have not had any ebooks yet that had pictures.

I was not interested in the bigger PDN either, I like the size of the one I have and the price of mine sure was a lot better.

Yes, for the investment, I think we have the better deal. I was comparing my grandson's Kindle to my PDN....the Kindle is nice and light and so thin. I just discovered the dictionary on the PDN.....the Outlander has words I never heard of....so simple to check out their meaning (like I will remember! but I'm making an effort...(I'm over 60)) hee hee
Raven....the Outlander is awesome. It has such a following, you wouldn't believe. The followers have back up copies so they can lend out, etc. It is a big deal. Can't wait for you to join us! lol

Yes, I read Outlander and loved it! I notice that it now sells for $7.01 @ B&N. The next two sequels are $5, and I'm thinking of buying those since my daughter was kind enough to give me a B&N gift card for ebooks.

that is a very good price at $5 lower than many paper back books these days.
I might start it after I finish a real book I just started called The Ladies Farm, it is pretty small so if I spend time reading it won't be too long.
I have the spring cleaning bug and it has been interfering with my fun stuff LOL

Is the Outlander the series about a scottish woman who walked between some stones and went back in time 200 years?

Yes, but she was English and was in Scotland when this took place, and 200 years before, the English were the "enemy" of the Scots.

I have a pandigital 6 inch model. I can't get my books to fit on the screen where I can read them! This is much harder to use than my 7 inch white! Can you tell me where to go to find out how to fix this? Thanks.

Raven, do you leave your sd card in the slot all the time or just when you want to read or load a book on the PDN. I finally turned mine on, charged it, set the time, date, etc.. and started to calibrate it but stopped there. I printed off the manual and will check on that before I try. I love being able to surf on it. I won't do much, but if I am traveling I can check my email. I am very glad I bought it.

I do not leave an sd card in mine, I have all my books on the pdn built in memory. I just go to Barnes and Noble website look for books usually the free ones select those which makes you "buy" them but it is free if it lists the price as $0, once you do that all you have to do is open your pdn click on your library and at the top click to get books and it opens up your B&N list to tick off which ones to put on the PDN. very very easy.
For music I have mine on an sd card so use it when I want to listen to my music.

what do you mean wyobugmama the 6" PDN?? there is no 6" there is the original 7" and the new 9"

I think both are the same you tap at the top of the page in a book and change the font size there. Double tapping on the page will sometimes also zoom it, like when you are viewing a web page if it is too small you double tap on the page to make it zoom bigger.
I would go to the library on your PDN and look through the user manual for the one you are having problems with. Or go to the pandigital website and search there.

Yep, it's a 6 inch and you can see it here:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2010/10/18/new-e-reader-form-pandigital-sipix-screen-wifi-199/
It's really light-weight, but no matter what I've tried, I can't get the type big enough to read. anything over "small" skews the letters on the page. It's okay, just a $100 mistake on my part! Got it on ebay, can't return it. I'll go do more reading. Thank you.

I haven't taken my PDN out in many months and was happy to see that it was still charged when I started it! :)

I went online per raven's link and downloaded and installed the upgrade but see that my current firmware version is still S10_07_18B_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP...I think that's an old one? Is that the one I'm supposed to have?

Also, I expected my home screen to change dramatically after the upgrade. It looks very different from the one I see at the link. I have 2 bars visible...the Bookstore at the top and My Library in the middle. My icons are hidden at the bottom as before and I can bring them up with the up arrow at the bottom edge of the screen.

Is that what it's supposed to look like?

Thanks!

ahhh well I did not know that they had put out one of the e-paper versions. It is quite different than the android 7" PDN. I know nothing about this 6" one.
Personal eReader

pfmastin I assume you are talking about the major update they have on the PDN update page? I have not done it so can not comment on the changes. If you are still seeing the same screen as before it appears you do not have the new update since that screen does look very different.

By the way anyone wanting one I got info that Office Max has a sale on them for $129 also Radio Shack has them for $129 and some said they also got a $10 discount. Am also hearing that BBB is no longer going to be carrying them at all which is strange because BBB is still listed on the PDN site. And apparently there is all new packaging.

And for those that are going to take the plunge and do the new major update this info might come in handy. It is how to save your current firmware should you need to revert back to it. taken from page 64 of their new user manual

New major update info for PDN

Re-Upgrade
If you have previously performed a firmware upgrade to your device using one of the above methods, we recommend that you move the existing upgrade file into a different folder before performing another upgrade, which allows you to revert back to the existing version if desired.
1. Connect the device to your computer.
2. In a Windows Explorer or Finder window, create a new folder titled Firmware, and then copy the existing upgrade file into the Firmware folder. (The upgrade file is named similar to SYY_MM_DDK_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.)
3. Perform the new upgrade using one of the methods above.

Revert back to Previous Version
1. Connect the device to your computer.
2. In a Windows Explorer or Finder window, delete the upgrade file from the root, and then copy the upgrade file from the Firmware folder back into the root of the device.
3. Turn your device off.
4. Press the Volume + key plus slide the power key on simultaneously for 5 seconds, and then release both.
5. Your device is upgraded again and restarts automatically.
6. Follow the prompts to re-set your language and date and time.

Attention anyone wanting to do that new major update this is a great resource on how to get apps and other neat goodies once you have done that.
Pandigital Novel App Installation Tutorial (Video)
there is a video tutorial included.
Once you have done this major update if you get the youtube app you will then be able to watch youtube videos on your PDN. There are lots of neat apps that are free to choose from.

Raven, I have the free "Outlander" for Kindle on my pc. I posted this on the wrong thread, as I was reading the other one while looking to see if I had "Outlander" for Kindle.

oh would you mind sharing the file? I looked everywhere thinking surely there would be somewhere online that had stored those for future use but can not find it.

We can try. How do you want to do it?

I grabbed a throw away email so we can try to send it to that if you would.
bloospoudsa@dunflimblag.mailexpire.com

never tried so no idea.

On it's way. Hope it works.

it did!! thank you so much I am going to email it to her now and hopefully it will open and work on her kindle. Thank you so much!

You are welcome. I don't even know why I had it for the Kindle. I had it on my PDN and read that one.

I am reading it now and enjoying it so far, not the normal type of book I read so new for me.
Thanks again!

I have 7 of the series and one on order, due out in April. They are very good books. I think of them as refreshing. After reading all of my life books can be pretty predictable, but not these.

Vala, I am on my 3rd in the series and I am soooo hooked!

Raven, I am still confused, we can read Kindle versions on our PDN, but Kindle folks have to have only Kindle versions? (I'm following both of these threads).

no we can not read a kindle format book on the PDN we can read the epub format on the PDN.
Kindle can read the kindle format books.
(Both I believe can read PDF format)
Outlander was offered free in both epub and kindle format, I had downloaded the epub one to read on my PDN but not the kindle one. I normally get both since I do have the Kindle for pc on my netbook.
So since I did not have the kindle format one to share with my sister I was looking for someone who had that format, thankfully I got it and emailed it to my sister, now we have to hope she can figure out how to move it to her kindle LOL she just got her kindle and is calling me for help which is difficult since I do not own a kindle.

I'm just curious; as I've mentioned before my 10 yr. old grandson got a Kindle and I try to sift thru the recommended sites to see if I can find him some free books. His Dad said he is already spent all his Amazon cash and he had to have a talk with him about his reading budget!

well the best site I know of that has kindle format books for free is www.feedbooks.com I have a lot of them from there, just select the kindle option under download.

Fantastic thread...but lets see if I can't stump ya'll with this one. I've had my PD for a bit and have done all the updates up to the full tablet update. Started with the inernal SD of 1G. Got my hands on a 2G and swapped them out and did a full update to the Android tablet from scratch. Got a 4G and did the same thing. Now, when I put the 1G and the 2G in ANY Windows, Android, or cell phone the total memory reads ~485MB and 0.89MB respectively. I think that when the firmware unloads, it re-writes the FAT so that part of the SD's memory is used only by the OS. Whatever is left over, we get to use. I have tried formating the SDs, but Windows and Android only see the ~485MB and 0.89MB. So when the format is "complete", I still have ~485MB or 0.89MB.

How in the world could I get the FULL 1G and 2G SD cards back?
Thank you all for any comments....
(After typing all that...I need a nap...)

how are you reformatting them? in FAT or Ntfs

Lost my user guide on my pandigital. Is there a way to reload it?

they still have it I think over on the pandigital site
Pandigital Novel 7" Color Multimedia eReader

scroll on down till you see the user guides and quick start guide
you can download it to your pc as a pdf, you can load it to your PDN on memory card. That way you have a copy on your pc should you wipe it out of the PDN again.

Is there a manual that reflects the PDN after update to Android tablet? I find the original user guide useless now, but can't find a new user guide.

Ditto to above post.

After I updated, the new user manual was automatically in the My Novel tab under the B&N icon. The old manual was there too.

Guess I'd better take a look. It's probably there. Had one real problem with the update. Finally put it on the SD card and that worked after I had tried and tried the other way. It would only install parts of the update. Now it's all there.

You are right! How did I miss that? Thank you.

so how are you all liking the update? I am still original but really thinking about doing it soon would love to hear real pros and cons and are you glad you did it.
Did you save your books off to an sd card prior to update, I was told if you did not back them up you lose everything??

Raven, I took your advice and have not done the update. I thought the update would allow users to read books in other formats like Kindle. I have the 7" white PDN.

What is the benefit of updating.

Nothing really to report about the update because I really haven't utilized the features. Been busy, and have basically just been using the e-reader. I tried a few of the free games from the included app store. I was happy that LinkUp game was still included on the new update. When I updated, I just had a couple books on it that were also online in my B&N account. So they were on the PN after the update, I don't remember re-downloading them, so maybe they just stayed on? Sorry, I'm no help there. So eventually I will explore everything more, it seems nice to have all the extra features and being able to change more settings it seems, than the original. On the e-reader, it seems to not remember my font size, when I change it from the default. I don't think I had a problem with the original? Hope this helps...a little.

I did not back up my books, but when I accessed B & N and entered my password, they were all there. I'm currently reading a book I had downloaded several months ago.

The absolutely hardest part was installing the update. Using the PC connection, it supposedly downloaded (showed the right size of the file), but I could not get it to install. Can't remember how many times I flashed it to no avail. Finally, in desperation, I copied the download to the SD card (using a card reader port on my computer), put the SD card back in the PD, turned it on, did the flash, and this time it installed without a hitch. To access your libray, you must use the B & N icon.

Now I really haven't used anything else much since I've been fooling with my Droid Incredible 2 phone.

Thanks, see since I got my new htc inspire 4g phone which is android 2.2 and I am playing with the apps and market and stuff like that it is making me want to go ahead and do the update on the PDN so I can also have some of those same things I have on my phone on it too.

I have many many books on mine that are not from B&N so those would likely be lost so I should probably just back them up.

Glad to hear that the SD card method worked for you finally, I have heard so many people having a problem getting the update to take.

vala there is an app that is available which will allow you to read kindle format books on the pdn after it has been updated, I have not tried that app on my cell phone so do not know how well it works. I am not that interested since I can find all the same books in epub format which is much easier to for most readers to utilize. Anything I need to change format I can do that using calibre anyway.
I really love my PDN as it is and really hate to mess with it.
My perfect plan would be to get another android tablet like the flytouch 3 or even better yet one of the new android 3 honeycomb tablets but those are out of my price range yet.

I have had a little problem lately with my pdn and the battery just suddenly going dead when it has been showing bars still. Not sure if it is not charging right or what. I know I need a new charging cord and they keep telling me they are sending me one but nothing yet.

For now I am not doing the update. I emailed PDN when I thought about updating and he gave me very detailed instructions with the advice to pay attention and follow the instructions. some of the instructions were to repeat the last step. The only problem I have had was trying to download to my PC. It would not work. Someone at B&N told me to load it directly to the reader and that solved the problem.

vala it may be helpful to others that are trying to do the update if you would copy and paste his instructions here for everyone to see, it might make it easier to just go through the process once.

I have to say, I updated my PDN the day I found out that I could and I have never been sorry. The process took maybe 5 minutes and worked from the beginning. I can do SO many things, including access my favorite baseball teams and see how games are going. I keep all of my books on the SD card so I don't have to worry about losing them. I've ordered an Acer Iconia, but I think I will still be reading books on my PDN because I like it so much.
Vickie

I have to say, I updated my PDN the day I found out that I could and I have never been sorry. The process took maybe 5 minutes and worked from the beginning. I can do SO many things, including access my favorite baseball teams and see how games are going. I keep all of my books on the SD card so I don't have to worry about losing them. I've ordered an Acer Iconia, but I think I will still be reading books on my PDN because I like it so much.
Vickie

This is what he sent me. I have had this for awhile now, it might be a bit different now.

Please follow the next steps to correct the issues on your Pandigital Novel: 1. Plug your reader into your computer using the USB cable. 2\. Locate the "My Computer" icon on your desktop or just "Computer". This can also be found by clicking on the "start" button in the lower left\-hand corner of your screen. 3\. Locate the drive listed as "Removable disk". 4\. This file should have Adobe Digital Editions as the first icon. Delete everything in this file except for Adobe Digital Editions. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Re\-run the firmware update. I have included specific instructions on how to update your Novel: If you should have any questions after following these directions, please do not hesitate to call our customer service phone number at: (800) 715\-5354. 1. Please visit our website on your home computer at www.pandigital.net 2. This will bring you to our home page, on the right\-hand side of the screen you will see a box with the words "Firmware Updates Click here", please click on this box. 3. This will bring you to the next webpage asking you to select your region. For your specific Pandigital Novel please click on the \[American/Canadian\] flag. 4. You have now reached our information page. On this page, please locate the blue lettering that states: "Click here to learn more and to update your Pandigital Novel." 5. This will bring you to the actual update page. Please read over the information on what the latest firmware update can do for you. The additional features that come with this update are something to be excited about and we�re sure you will be too! 6. Please locate the blue text at the bottom of this screen that states: "Click here to run PC Updater Application." 7. At this point if you have a pop\-up blocker in use, you may get a yellow/gold bar that appears at the top of your screen asking if you would like to allow this pop up. Click on "temporarily allow pop\-ups" and refresh the page by hitting the F5 key on your keyboard. If you do not have a pop\-up blocker in use, ignore this step. 8. You will now have a download box appear on your screen asking you if you wish to run or save this program. If you are using Windows XP with IE you will choose the "Run" option. If you are using Windows Vista, please "Save" this file to your desktop. 9. Windows XP: At this point you may have an information box appear that will inform you that the publisher of this program could not be verified and ask if you are sure you would like to run this program�Click "Run" again. The Updater Application will start automatically. Windows Vista: Please double\-click the download icon on your desktop to being running the Updater Application. 10. The Updater Application should now be on your screen. It lists the steps that you will go through to update your Pandigital Novel. Click on the blue text that states "Click here to start the process". 11. At this point, the program will list some steps you will need to do before updating your novel. These steps are: 1. Unplugging any other USB mass storage devices from your computer. These kinds of devices include flash drives, cameras, photo frames etc. Keyboards and mice are not considered storage devices so if you have any of those plugged into your USB ports, they are ok to leave plugged in. 2. Powering your Pandigital Novel with the supplied AC adapter (please ignore this step and just be sure that your Pandigital Novel is fully charged before you attempt the upgrade process). 3. Connect your Pandigital Novel to your computer using the USB cable that was supplied with your device. 4. Power your Pandigital Novel on (your Novel will go into "PC Mode"\- this means that your Novel will be inoperable while connected to your computer). 12. Once you have completed these steps, please click on "Ok" to advance to the next step. 13. The Updater Application will then display a screen and ask you to confirm the details of your device (serial number, model number, etc.). Confirm these details by clicking on the "Confirm" button. 14. You will now begin the download process. (This process can take some time depending on your computer and your internet speed). 15. Once you have finished the download the screen will display that you have successfully downloaded the firmware update. At this point you will see another text box on appear on your screen giving you more instruction. These instructions will include: 1. Removing your Pandigital Novel device from your computer 2. Informing you that your Novel may or may not turn itself off, if it does not turn itself off, please power the Novel completely off by pressing the power button and choosing the "power off" option. 3. Now it will ask you to power your Novel back on in a very specific way. Please press the power and volume up button (located on the top of your device and is the + key) at the same time (not one and then the other, they must be pressed at the same time) for 10 seconds. Please do these steps until you see two lines of white text appear at the top of your screen that states the boot count and firmware version. As soon as you see these lines of text, let go of the power and volume + buttons. This should begin the update process in the form of a blue progress bar appearing at the bottom of the screen that will state things like "verifying update." If you have reached this screen your Novel is now updating properly. If you do not see this screen, please power your device off once more and try the activation process of holding the power and volume + buttons again. Do not be discouraged if this takes a few tries, and be sure you are holding the edge of the power + button; holding it too close to the middle will not activate the update. 4. Once the update is complete, please power off your Pandigital Novel completely, then reconnect the device to your computer using the USB cable and power it on after it is plugged in. 5. Click on "Ok". This will then run a process called a "restore". Once this has finished please disconnect your novel and once more perform the activation process of holding down the power and volume + buttons. You will again get another blue progress bar at the bottom of your screen when done correctly. 16. Congratulations! You have now updated your Pandigital Novel successfully! I have attached a new user manual for your use as the interface of your Novel has now changed to the most recent version. We hope you enjoy your Novel even more now and make use of all of the newest features! Happy Reading!

I am not being critical or judging the Pandigital as I really don't know much about them. However in the interest of sharing information, the new September issue of Consumer Reports has among other device ratings an e-book reader category. Of the 18 tested as to "regular sized models" Pandigital was 13, 14, and 16.

If one is in the market for a reader perhaps a read of CR might be worthwhile.

DA

at this point in time with the upgrades to the newer android version that is now on the PDN I personally would not put it in the category with other just ebook readers, it would be more apt to be in a category with other android tablets with the same android version, it is so much more than an ereader. I think that is where some of the confusion comes in when judging ereaders you have to determine what you want to judge, just something that lets you read books only or a multi function full access android tablet. Really two very different animals.

I have had mine for quite some time now and absolutely love it still and would buy it again in a heart beat, and everyone I have talked to that bought one that I know is still happy with it and for the price well that makes it even sweeter LOL.

Personally, I don't really think one can compare the Pandigital to a "real" tablet computer. There is much that it cannot do, and the fact that one must tap on it rather than touch is a drawback, depending on what you are used to. I still use mine as a reader, but I do not use the other features even though I installed the latest update. I'd much rather use my Droid phone.