Nook VS Kindle

[bicker]

We have neither, at this point, and only because, unlike with an MP3 player, which can play most any (DRM-free) music, if you have an old Kindle (let's say), and then decide to get a Nook, you can't take most of your purchased books with you to your Nook.

My sister-in-law has one or the other; I forget which. She's had her's a while, and so she's been thinking of getting another. What she's saying, now, is wait. This is not the time to be spending money on either a Kindle or a Nook. The introduction of the iPad, and the upcoming introduction of new tables, from Dell and HP, is going to change the face of this sector. Hopefully that change will come soon (let's hope by this Christmas), and will obviate the concern I have (outlined above).

 

[DVCLiz]

We have neither, at this point, and only because, unlike with an MP3 player, which can play most any (DRM-free) music, if you have an old Kindle (let's say), and then decide to get a Nook, you can't take most of your purchased books with you to your Nook.

My sister-in-law has one or the other; I forget which. She's had her's a while, and so she's been thinking of getting another. What she's saying, now, is wait. This is not the time to be spending money on either a Kindle or a Nook. The introduction of the iPad, and the upcoming introduction of new tables, from Dell and HP, is going to change the face of this sector. Hopefully that change will come soon (let's hope by this Christmas), and will obviate the concern I have (outlined above).

I don't agree, Bicker. Yes, if you can tolerate a backlit screen for several hours each day, then the iPad is a great choice (and I do love mine for many, many reasons - magazine reading being chief among them.) Although I have found that, even for magazine reading, the iPad is too heavy to hold comfortably. I need to put it in a stand or lean it on something after a couple of minutes.

But for many of us, reading a novel-length book on a backlit screen is really unpleasant and leads to blurry or tired vision and eyestrain that can be uncomfortable. I have 3 Kindles - I've upgraded each time a new model has come out - and an iPad, and my leisure pleasure reading will always be on an eink device, not a backlit one. I just can't tolerate that much backlighting.

I think the market for both types of ereaders will continue to be strong.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I chose the Nook because of the Android OS. I have been more than happy with my choice.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I got a Kindle for Christmas and I love it. I can take it with me everywhere. There's never been a book I wanted that wasn't available on the Kindle so for me, the selections are great. Everyone gets me Amazon gift cards as gifts now so I will not have to spend my actual money to purchase books anytime soon. I would not buy an Ipad if your main purpose is reading books.

 

[bicker]

My sister-in-law has one or the other; I forget which. She's had her's a while, and so she's been thinking of getting another. What she's saying, now, is wait. This is not the time to be spending money on either a Kindle or a Nook. The introduction of the iPad, and the upcoming introduction of new tablets, from Dell and HP, is going to change the face of this sector. Hopefully that change will come soon (let's hope by this Christmas), and will obviate the concern I have (outlined above).

I don't agree, Bicker. Yes, if you can tolerate a backlit screen for several hours each day, then the iPad is a great choice...

I'm sorry -- I didn't make DSiL's point clear. She isn't saying that the iPad is a better book-reader, but rather that the introduction of the iPad, and other tablets coming to market soon, may prompt a change in the way e-book titles are sold, i.e., perhaps driving toward a standard, as music was driven toward MP3 as a standard. (As recently as early last year, Zune Marketplace was still only offering DRM-locked WMAs. Now, practically everything is available as MP3s.) In other words, she's projecting that this market sector may end up such that you can buy books from Amazon and use them on your Nook, or buy books from Barnes and Nobel and use them on your Wal-Mart brand e-book reader.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'm sorry -- I didn't make DSiL's point clear. She isn't saying that the iPad is a better book-reader, but rather that the introduction of the iPad, and other tablets coming to market soon, may prompt a change in the way e-book titles are sold, i.e., perhaps driving toward a standard, as music was driven toward MP3 as a standard. (As recently as early last year, Zune Marketplace was still only offering DRM-locked WMAs. Now, practically everything is available as MP3s.) In other words, she's projecting that this market sector may end up such that you can buy books from Amazon and use them on your Nook, or buy books from Barnes and Nobel and use them on your Wal-Mart brand e-book reader.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I don't care about the DRM issue - I can read anything I buy from Amazon on a Kindle or on my iPhone or iPad. That's enough choice for me. But, I'm a casual pleaasure reader of what Amazon calls "literary fiction" so my choices are many and I will run out of time and vision well before I read a tenth of what Amazon has for me.

And, I can always go buy something in paper form if it isn't electronic.

 

[RitaE]

I don't see DRM going anywhere in the near future as the major Publishers are absolutely rabid over it.

Right now no matter what you buy - nook, Sony, Kindle, iPAD or any of the other brands your books are going to be restricted to an account or specific devices somehow. The only way around that is to break the DRM.

As far as nook vs Kindle. I personally prefer the Kindle but they've worked out most of the clunkiness of the nook with the latest updates. It is a far better device now than when first introduced.

Don't be fooled by all the "We have this many books" vs the competitor claims. They all count all the out of copyright public domain books differently to skew those numbers. Those books are available to every eReader. Otherwise, now that Amazon has settled with Penguin publishing, they all mostly have the same published books. Amazon has a larger library of independently published books, but those tend to be niche reading that not everybody is interested in.

nook/Sony and other devices that can read ADE ePub offer Public Library Overdrive access. That is a big advantage if you belong to a library that offers this service. Free books - gotta love free books.

Kindle is supposed to be introducing a new model in August. Not much out about new features yet but supposedly it is thinner and lighter.

 

[bicker]

I don't see DRM going anywhere in the near future as the major Publishers are absolutely rabid over it. Right now no matter what you buy - nook, Sony, Kindle, iPAD or any of the other brands your books are going to be restricted to an account or specific devices somehow.

That's exactly what the RIAA thought about digital music.

To be clear: I personally would prefer that things stay the way they are, in this regard. It simply isn't clear that it will, and perhaps isn't even a good bet that it will.

 

[kaffinito]

I was going to buy a Kindle, but then decided to go for an iPhone instead. I have Kindle eReader, B&N reader, and eBooks loaded on it. this way I can get a lot of books, and buy when the various companies have sales on their eBooks.

 

[Lanshark]

I went to my library system but don't think they loan ebooks. I'm surprised because I live in metro Atlanta. I had no idea NOOK could check out books from the library. How exactly does that work? To me, that would definitely push me toward a NOOK.

 

[Ephany]

I went to my library system but don't think they loan ebooks. I'm surprised because I live in metro Atlanta. I had no idea NOOK could check out books from the library. How exactly does that work? To me, that would definitely push me toward a NOOK.

Do you use Pines also? I talked with a gentleman at Georgia Download Destination and he said I'd have to talk with my local reference librarian to see the status of ebook lending since right now they only do audiobooks. I couldn't find any counties in Georgia who lends ebooks.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I like the Nook's "Library" better - you can see all your books in one place sorted by author, title or newest. The books 'on' the nook appear in black font while the archived items appear in gray font. The Kindle lets you see everything that's 'on' it, also by author, title or newest, but you have to view the archived items separately and only by title and author - and the sorting is interesting - sometimes by first name, sometimes by last.

I'm not sure what you mean by archived items.

I like to delete the books off of the Kindle once I've read them. I can go anytime to the content manager and pull up everything I have downloaded, and to the left will be marked whether that item is on the Amazon server or on my Kindle. I can then move any items I want back and forth. I have moved several items back to my Kindle to re-read.
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In response to the OP, I agree with previous posters who have said that you will enjoy either the Kindle or Nook. I have the first generation Kindle and really enjoy it. I like to read a little each night, and when I'm out I like browsing through the store and downloading samples of books to try out.

I have read many books that I never would have otherwise, and have enjoyed all of them.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'm not sure what you mean by archived items.

I like to delete the books off of the Kindle once I've read them. I can go anytime to the content manager and pull up everything I have downloaded, and to the left will be marked whether that item is on the Amazon server or on my Kindle. I can then move any items I want back and forth. I have moved several items back to my Kindle to re-read.
---------

In response to the OP, I agree with previous posters who have said that you will enjoy either the Kindle or Nook. I have the first generation Kindle and really enjoy it. I like to read a little each night, and when I'm out I like browsing through the store and downloading samples of books to try out.

I have read many books that I never would have otherwise, and have enjoyed all of them.

Mary Jo, you must have a Kindle 1 - for the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX, there is an alphabetical listing of the current books you have downloaded to your Kindle, and then somewhere near the top, depending on the list, you have an item called Archived Items (with a number in parentheses like this). Those are the books Amazon currently has on its server attached to your account.

You click on Archived Items to get an alphabetical list of titles and you can then move them to your Home screen.

That was a big change from K1 to K2, but both versions do the same thing - allow you to move books from your Kindle's memory back to Amazon and then back again at your whim.

It's why I never saw the big deal about the lack of an SD card - even a K1 will hold 200 books and the DX holds thousands. As long as you don't clog your Kindle with hundreds of free books you will always have room for your entire library.

 

[dex08]

I didn't read all of the previous posts, only glanced at them so sorry if this was already stated as I didn't see it.

News releases yesterday state that Amazon is releasing a new version of the Kindle later this summer. Goggle it and you'll find all the articles. Here's one from the New York Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/new-kindle-expected/?src=busln

So if you can hold out a few months, you may be able to get a better version or perhaps even the current version cheaper.

 

[crazee4mickey]

Don't know if someone already mentioned this but I forgot to say this in my original post here....
I also LOVE my kindle because I can put an app on my kids' iPods and then they have a "mini" kindle which they take with them everywhere and read!!

 

[donac]

I just got the Nook for my birthday yesterday. I would have been happy with either. I like the nook since there are a couple of authors who are only on B&N and they are ones that I like.

For me it is a matter of saving space in the house. I have way too many books and I do reread them.

 

[MonkeyDishwasher]

I got a nook. I LOVE the item, but I HATE the customer service! Long stoyr short, if you buy a Nook, get the extended warranty when you purchase it, or go thoruhg Squaretrade on the same day and get a warranty through them.

If you do not, and anything happens to it, you will be s.o.l. as far as Barnes and Noble cares, and they *will not* help you fix or replace your Nook.

You have been warned.

 

[SunshineOR]

I got a Kindle 2 for Christmas. I love it, but it's not as perfect as I'd imagined. It downloads books quickly everywhere all the time, but I do not have a good connection in my home because I'm in a rural area and find it hard to search for books with it. I generally do my searching and buying on my computer and just use the kindle for reading. I love the e-ink and no-glare screen. I have a blackberry and love that if I've forgotten my kindle or don't want to carry it, I can pull out my blackberry and pull up my book. Not only does the app allow me to pull up my book, but it will take me right to the page where I left off on my kindle. I love that!

I don't know the nook or ipad, but most books I want to read are on the kindle and I've gotten good service from Amazon when I've needed it. I will confess I'm a bit disappointed because I only get 2-3 days on my battery, even with wireless turned off. I haven't complained or tried to send it back because I can get through a day anytime and charge it at night. Sounds like you can't really go wrong either way, but that's my kindle experience.

 

[DisneyMum4]

I asked for an eReader for Christmas and my husband and I did a lot of research. We looked at the Sony, Kindle, and Nook. Truth is that they all have their pros and cons. I chose the Sony because of the ability to borrow from the library and I liked the style of it better. The Nook would have been my second choice with the lending ability. I am very happy with my choice. My library does not lend books but the neighboring county does and allows the neighboring county residents to have a card. I have borrowed more books than I have purchased. I also love the covers that Sony has with the lights built into them. They are pricey but the light is great.

As to the iPad, I would love to have one but I truly do not think I would like to read books on it due to the weight of it. However, I can think of many things that I would like the iPad for.

Best of luck to you in your choice. I know that you will be happy with whatever you choose.

 

[J Le]

I'm not sure what you mean by archived items.

I like to delete the books off of the Kindle once I've read them. I can go anytime to the content manager and pull up everything I have downloaded, and to the left will be marked whether that item is on the Amazon server or on my Kindle. I can then move any items I want back and forth. I have moved several items back to my Kindle to re-read.ks that I never would have otherwise, and have enjoyed all of them.

I must be missing something - the archived items (books I've deleted off the kindle) are viewable under "View Archived Items". Or I can click the "Home" button and see everything I've moved back to the kindle. Maybe its online? I don't see a Content Manager on the kindle itself.