[Nook Color Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Nora D:
:) I completely understand! I have many of the same concerns and make workarounds and otherwise try to frustrate the usual 'Big Brother' tactic that are becoming so prevalent. I don't think you've gone into the realm of conspiracy theory at all, what you're talking about is a long term goal I think. Think of the marketing and capital profit possibilities of that kind of control over a still largely unregulated market - 'largely unregulated' because the technologies and the possibilities they allow are evolving so quickly.

I also am a 'computer geek', prefer control of my own devices and am very strict about personal security. So then why does B&N have my personal data? Largely because they had it far earlier than there was ever a blip on the tech radar of 'e-readers'. I'm also incredibly bookish and there haven't been a whole lot of B&N in my region, but I prefer their company as a book retailer, so I was a member that had begun ordering from them online as soon as they had a website to order from. So, it wasn't a huge loss for me to keep the stock and use it as intended. here are some things about this that do grate with me, yes, but they wouldn't have lost my data history anyway, so wth, I might as well get a really elegant e-reader interface from a company I mostly like and support. This is definitely not a situation that applies for everyone, I know.

I use windows on a secondary boot partition and funnily enough, largely for gaming. :D I also use it on a work laptop because I have to. I run Suse most of the time, myself.

As far as DRM, it' something we need to fight in the courts and through making our own backups for experimentation, and that's all I can really say. :)

When I bought my NC over two years ago, tablets were still pretty uncommon and e-ink readers all the rage. I splurged on this even though I was still using a flip phone because I felt it would serve multi needs well:

a) The need for an e-reader (I travel at least 1ce a year and I read a lot while traveling. Books are HEAVY! and I'm getting oilder...)

b) The desire for an e-reader that could read color and comics - so I could DL comics and fan creations and manga as well as books on the same device - and one that isn't an Apple (I dislike Apple as much as I dislike MS).

c) The desire to have a good interface in a size that is more readable than most phones on the market, to surf the web on or read the above during my long commutes.

d) The desire to have all of the above in one item that would also not tie me to a single seller - in other words I also wanted to run the Kindle App and Google books.

At the time, Kindle Fire had not been released and the next best machine (actually, tied as of the time I bought this nook) was an iPad. Other tablets out there were more expensive and glitchy and without that quality - some didn't even expect to ever update their android ROM. There was nothing on the market close to the NC in that price range - and I knew I could root it or otherwise replace the original ROM if I didn't like it, to do what I wanted, and essentially never brick it!

I chose MN over CM or Nightlies because I didn't have to mess with the factory partition at all or ever worry about replacing it, and it let me use my nook directly from system in a two-sided boot that had a tablet on one end and a Nook on the other. Very neat. I got the 3 yr warranty when I bought it because at that time they stated that you could return the NC within that time for a lower price on the next new thing. I plan to use that, so I wanted the original factory partition intact.

There are only two things today that would keep me from running a CM install or SD right now. The most important of those two is Battery Life.

The trip I'm about to go on is to India from the east coast of the US. We'll be gone about a month and my NC/Rooted or flashed tablet will be my ONLY mobile device. I need something stable, and that if I am not already familiar with it will be fairly intuitive, and most important - Good Battery Life. As far as I know, the CM ROMs for NC are energy hogs - is that still the case? We will have a lot of devices to try and keep charged, one plug adapter, and the NC will have a central role in our keeping in touch with family and friends. We we go for a day without a charge but with about 8 hours of use including wifi time on a MN root, I know I will still have enough charge the next day till we get to the next location where we can try and charge everything.

My other concern is more about running apps and what apps will work with the setup I'm planning - which I already know would work on my NC had I not hit the "Low Memory" wall and started all of this.

I am still interested in running CM, can you point me to info on these? For the second, I need to link to Canon Image Gateway wirelessly and also a Bloggie. I love that CM7 can run a USB interface! That's a huge advantage that I could use!

Even if I don't use it for this trip, I may change it when I get back to a CM7 sd boot to play with till I'm used to it. :) Also, I am rooting a NC for a Niece before I leave, and I think I'm going to change tactics and put CM on it instead. :D

As to smartphones... LOL. I still have a pay-as-you-go flip phone, wanna talk about being cheap and having security paranoia? XD Seriously, I spend a lot on my computers - which I prefer to build - and spent a lot on my tablet back when I bought it and when I replace it will consider carefully and spend on that again. =) Smartphones? I will get one eventually, it's a matter of time, but I'm holding out as long as I can. LOL