Kindle vs. Nook

Rei no Otaku

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I plan on getting an e-reader soon, and these two are clearly the way to go. My question is, does anyone have either of these and what do they think? Has anyone tried both?

I'm currently leaning towards the Kindle.
 
I have the Kindle 2 and it is pretty damn awesome. I have not had the chance to try the Nook out yet, but from what I hear it is also good. I read a lot of different reviews before I bought mine and in the end decided to go with the Kindle.
The Nook has a color screen but for me that was not a big plus. One feature that the Nook does have is that you can lend books to others, so if you have a friend with a Nook or the required app. you could share books although when you lend a book it is much like a real book as you no longer have access to the book for I think 2 weeks or how ever long the lending time is.
The kindle has a text to speech feature that is nice. The Kindle has a proven history and in the end that pushed me to that side.
You probably can't go wrong with either of them. If you have a Barnes and Noble near you a lot of the stores have demo units that you can check out. I don't know if that helped at all but if you have any other specific questions feel free to ask.
 
I have a Nook and I like it a lot. The selling point for me was that it supports ePub and Overdrive so I'm not tethered to a single store for my ebooks (like you will be with the Kindle). I've been able to hunt for low prices at different ebook sellers (or even just borrow them for free from my local library's Overdrive service).

It behaves a little oddly right now but the BN forums say there's a significant firmware update coming in the next week or so.

I've had a Kindle and a Sony Reader. They were both nice devices but I've really become enamored with the Nook. The book lending feature is nice, the free cookies and book browsing at BN stores are awesome, and I really like that the Nook can connect via wi-fi if I don't have a cell/3G signal.

If you have any specific questions about any of the devices just post here and I'll try to answer them for you.
 
Though I have not tried either, I too have been looking towards picking up an e-reader. From my research, each has its own pros and cons.

The nook is cool because you can take it into a B&N store and read for free. You can also share books with peers. The nook also has the color led touchscreen interface.

The kindle is cool because it is lighter, faster, has better battery life and free 3g access worldwide.

The choice is ultimately yours, but I think I am going to wait for Amazon's next Kindle revision which may be another 1-2 years.
 
My major concern is the libraries. Does the Nook have the same amount of books that the Kindle has? True, the Kindle is tied to one store but that store is the #1 seller of books. I'm sure they both have all the mainstream stuff, but how about even older selections that might not be that popular? For example, when I searched the Kindle store they had Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a favorite of mine. I didn't see it when I looked in ebooks section for B&N. Obviously that's just one book, so it doesn't matter too much.
 
I haven't run into a situation where a book or author I want isn't available from the BN store...but then again, I don't read many grand classics of Chinese literature! :)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
is available from Gutenberg for free. It's not as simple as downloading it OTA from Amazon but did I mention that it's free?
 
I got my wife a kindle and she's very happy with it. We looked at both, but the color screen on the nook wasn't enough to persuade us to go with it. You can see a tiny 1" size cover in color, yay! The 3G also a big plus on the kindle, but don't think you'll be doing major internet surfing with it. It's really only for text only sites.

Oh and the text to speech on the kindle - overrated. I tried listening to it try to read the Count of Monte Cristo, but the words ran together and it was hard to understand. Even slowing down the speech didn't help.

I don't think you can go wrong with either.
 
Kindle.

Nook will remodel your home and you'll be so far in debt you'll be shaking the fruit off of trees for money...oh wait.

I'm not going to be buying one, but maybe wait until the iPad shows what it can do?
 
The Nook connects to AT&T 3G, as well. It only works in the US right now, though. You have to connect via wi-fi or just sideload your content from any other location.
 
[quote name='A Happy Panda']but maybe wait until the iPad shows what it can do?[/QUOTE]

It can do apps. But it can't do e-ink. For most, that won't matter, but for me it does.
 
I have Kindle 1 and would recommend it. But both are solid e-readers. The Nook has some complaints about being a bit slow and clunky, lag between the small color screen and the e-ink screen (as e-ink is slow to refresh, just a limit of the technology) etc. You do get the book sharing option. Though if you're just sharing with your wife etc. you can share kindle books by having multipe kindles (or Kindle for PC programs, or iPhones/iTouches with Kindle App) linked to your account. All will have access to all books you buy--each book has a limited number of devices it can be downloaded too--usually 5 or 6. But the limit is up to the publisher.

The Amazon store has a bigger selection (though most books you'll find in both stores--so unless you're after something pretty obscure it won't affect you most of the time) and when there's a price difference on books I've checked, Amazon tends to be a little cheaper (but usually not a huge difference, a buck or less most of the time).


And being tied to one store isn't true of any device. There are stores out there like Fictionwise that sell non-DRM books. Any not DRM .mobi book will work on the Kindle, or you could buy in a format for the Nook or Sony. Or you can convert them into the format you need using a free program like Calibre. Also, even with DRM books, you can google and find the software (free) you need to strip DRM and then can convert it to the format for your device with Calibre.

In short, both are very good readers. I'd go Kindle personally. Plus Amazon has a 30 day trial period. So if you don't like it you can send it back for full refund and just be out the $5 or so that it costs to ship it back.
 
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