Yuzu eReader

For this being developed by B&N, I’m honestly disappointed. Currently, while in audio mode, it won’t keep moving the page as it reads, even if I select “recenter,” restart the app, restart the device, etc. App is current version, device is current, and it was working yesterday. That said, for the size of B&N as a whole, the resources they have, and the current capabilities of AI, the digital robot-reader is awful. The parsing is odd, and it doesn’t read normal. Example: DSM-5 is read “DSM minus 5” at every instance (fun when you’re in a masters program where that comes up in every book repeatedly). Another one: “microskills” is read like “Mike Rowe skills.” These are only two examples of MANY and I would avoid the audio if I could. Sadly, the other thing that is hard is the inability to properly gauge time budgeting for reading assignments. “Pages” are inconsistent where some might be 1/4-1/3 my screen, while others are multiple scrolls of my screen long. Thus, I use the torturous audio to get it all done. If one could select the book sections assigned and the app show percent completion, that would help. If in audio mode, if one could select assigned sections, it would be great to show how much time is needed at current speed to finish. Many people using this have other life obligations than just studying and a need to manage time. Our school doesn’t allow an opt-out and B&N doesn’t offer any discounts to get hardcopies, so it’s either endure this, or pay twice for textbooks. For the money we’re forced to pay, this should be better.

I am a senior at UCF, and I have been using Yuzu for some time. I like the fact that I have instant access to (most) of my ebooks for my semesters. Granted, some professors don’t offer materials that are reached through Yuzu, so we have to either use another app, or the web, or just buy a physical copy altogether. With that said, the only real issue I have with Yuzu, is that when i use the split screen function on my iPad (I have the iPad Pro 13inch) the screen almost spams from white, to dark mode throughout the entire time i am using the app. On some occasions I have even had the screen on full screen on my iPad, and even opened on my phone, and one moment the screen will be entirely in dark mode, and a few moments later it will be in light mode. The issue with this is one, aside from it being really annoying to the eye, it also closes and loads up a random page I wasn’t even on when it changes color. And another issue, is if i ever wanted to copy and past a passage, or an image, the lettering, or the picture would be in either white or black ink. Aside form that, I can’t really complain since at the end of the day im still able to keep up with my schoolwork with a click of a button. If this little issue was to be resolved for me, it be a 5/5 easily. Thanks for reading.

TLDR: More features and more stable than the Kindle app. Haven’t experienced any of the major bugs that people have mentioned in the reviews. 4 stars because there are some minor quality of life improvements that can be made. I was nervous to purchase my textbook through B&N due to all of the negative reviews from people having significant issues. I haven’t experienced any major issues; in fact, I have more annoyances with the Kindle app which was my other option for the textbook. The Yuzu app offers way more features. I love the ability to use dark mode, which I can’t do on any of my Kindle eTextbooks. Yuzu also reformats interactive material so you still get the information. For example, my current textbook (even the physical version) had drop-drowns that you were supposed to click to access the information about a topic. Basically, Pearson wanted to force people into paying for their interactive text service. On the Kindle app (and physical book), all of these interactives were just shown as still images. With Yuzu, the information from those drop-downs have been pulled out and listed. The only thing they can’t do is play the videos embedded in the text, but neither can the Kindle app or physical book. The only negative things I’ve come across are minor annoyances. For example, it’d be nice to be able to start typing in the search field after using the search command. Instead, you have to click in the search box first. Again, it’s a minor annoyance and isn’t going to hinder your ability to read your text. The Kindle app doesn’t offer this feature either.