Kindle, sony reader or nook?

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chipper112

CAG Veteran
Does anyone have any one of these? I'm leaning towards the Nook seeing how it has a sd card slot, interchangeable backs and wifi. The Sony reader I heard was just awesome and has a touch screen, and the Kindle has a ton a good reviews. I would like to pay cash and just go pick it up but if the Kindle is the way to go, I don't mind charging it and waiting.

Also, can I just buy giftcards and get the books that way or do I need to charge the books online? I'm really trying to get rid of the credit card bill and would like to pay cash for as much as possible. Thank you.
 
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I heart my Kindle... but I don't really see a way to pay for books with cash. Not sure about how feasible this is with the Nook or Sony.
 
I was given a nook for Christmas and love it. I buy my books directly from the nook but I am guessing you could get B&N gift cards at the store and use those to purchase the books.
 
I have a Sony Reader and I love it except for having to connect it manually to my PC to transfer the books I buy. I buy books directly from the Sony Reader Store (like iTunes) or I buy cards from Borders, which I am like you about avoiding CC charges as much as possible. I have the first generation of the reader but most of newer models have smaller screens (such as the Pocket Edition) but the Touch Edition looks nice. They have a SD card slot but the battery is enclosed (like iPods).

The Nook is nice for the expansion of memory, battery and the little touch screen on the bottom. The Kindle is nice too but it has its limitations (no expandable memory at the moment).

My suggestion would be to look for the book prices on each of their ebook stores before you decide on the device. Since you will be investing money on the device, you should look for the particular ebook store that has the best prices and selection. I know that the Sony Reader store does not have the selection that Amazon (Kindle) has for example. So pick a store then pick a device.

Lastly, I would suggest for you to visit http://www.mobileread.com/ often. There are a lot of ebook readers out there that you may not know about and there is a rumor that a new Kindle will be coming out this year (with color and touch screen to compete with the Ipad). Of course take the comments with a grain of salt approach but it is very helpful to get a review of different readers at that site.

Good luck!
 
I have a Kindle and really like it.

Largely the screens on these will be about the same, with the exception of the sony reader models with touch screens. The contrast on those isn't as sharp as on others as the touch screen is on top the e-ink--some complain that it makes the text look a little fuzzy/blurry.

Otherwise, it's largely a matter of which e-book store you want to use since the books are DRMd (can strip it and convert of course, just don't ask how on here).

I find the Kindle store has the best selection and usually has the best price when I've shopped around out of curiousity.

The iPad is another option if you don't mind reading on LCD screens. My girlfriend bought one and it's a pretty slick device. Can get books in the Kindle store using the free Kindle app, from Apple in iBooks, from Kobo, and there are other e-book apps on the way.
 
I absolutely love the nook.

It is so much faster than when it was first released. I honestly do not know why anyone would buy a Kindle at this point.

It is ugly. The nook is at least easy on the eyes. You can also lend books, AND it is run on the Android platform, meaning there is potential for Android games/apps/etc.

That is all.
 
Access to the Amazon store remains the main reason to buy the Kindle.

But if you have pretty mainstream reading interests, any of the stores are fine and then you can go on deals, which appearance you like better etc. Though I think the Kindle 2 is a fine looking device. The K1 (which I have) is definitely ugly.

But in any case, e-ink screen is e-ink screen as they're all made by the same 1 or 2 companies. So it really comes down to price and the selection in the e-book store tied to the device when deciding between Kindle, Sony and Nook.

Well the book lending is a fair point for the Nook--assuming you know someone else who has one. Though with the Kindle if you're just sharing with your spouse, etc. you can have more than one Kindle (or device with Kindle app like a PC, iPad, iPhone etc. on it and you can both read all the books under the same account--as long as you don't mind sharing an account.
 
Agreed. When it comes to the screen, they are essentially the same.

It honestly, and I'm being serious here, comes down to which store you TRUST.

When I think books I think Barnes & Noble. Not Amazon. Not Sony.

Therefore, I TRUST that Barnes & Noble will continue to increase their eBook library because they most likely have the best relationships with the publishers.

That's the reason why I chose the nook. Who cares about other features. You aren't buying an eReader to surf the net or play games, you just want to read.
 
I like my Nook but I have been a little frustrated by BN's ebook selection and pricing lately. I appreciate that I can buy ebooks from different sources and read them on my Nook, though. The device itself is very sexy and the firmware updates have made huge improvements in the way it operates.

And, yes, you can buy BN gift certificates in stores and use them to buy ebooks. You have to enter the card number into your account on the BN website first but you can then use that credit to buy directly from the device.
 
I'm currently on my second Sony Reader and I love it. (I'll probably buy the next revision later this year)

You can buy giftcards for it in Borders (the last I knew) and you can download a ton of free public domain books for it through the Sony Reader software. When I bought it it also came with 100 free downloads of Sony Formated public domain books as well, but I'm not sure if that offer is still going on. (The Pocket Edition is $199)

Since it came out, the prices of the books have gotten better (not all of them are where I should be) and I genuinely think this is the perfect eReader for me (I don't like the keyboard on the Kindle and I didn't like the interface of the Nook). If I were you I would go to Best Buy or Borders and try out the 3 different Sony Readers, go to Barnes and Noble to try out the Nook and try to find someone who has a Kindle. Pick the one you like best, but personally I think the Sony Reader is the best. :bouncy:
 
Also, Sony Reader and Nook are compatible with eBooks that can be checked out at a Library. At my library at least, the Kindle is not compatible.
 
[quote name='jackpayne24']Agreed. When it comes to the screen, they are essentially the same.

It honestly, and I'm being serious here, comes down to which store you TRUST.

When I think books I think Barnes & Noble. Not Amazon. Not Sony.

Therefore, I TRUST that Barnes & Noble will continue to increase their eBook library because they most likely have the best relationships with the publishers.

That's the reason why I chose the nook. Who cares about other features. You aren't buying an eReader to surf the net or play games, you just want to read.[/QUOTE]


Fair point. Amazon has been my most used online store for over a decade, so that definitely played into my decision. The wireless for buying books was big too--though less of an issue now that the Nook has it as well, and I think some Sony Reader models due. Early 2009 when I got my Kindle it was the only one with that feature.

Other than that, it came down to the Amazon name, and the store having more books and better prices than the Sony store when I checked. Being able to use gift cards from my Amazon Visa rewards on e-books was a big plus for me as well.

But at the end of the day, all 3 of these are very comparable readers hardware wise. So I'd tell the OP to browse around in the book stores for each as that's the only major difference. Look up authors you read. Are the all in all 3 book stores? If so does the price vary?
 
Good point on the library books.

Public domain books you can get for any reader easily, so that doesn't factor in. If you go Kindle you can download a file from feedbooks.com or mobileread.com that's a link to 1,000's of public domain books you can click the link for and download to the Kindle via it's browser.

But again, you can get public domain books for any reader, so that's not somthing to factor in. All the book stores have a good bit of them as well--but something like Feedbooks is much more comprehensive.
 
I just bought a Nook and I love it you can buy them direct from a B & N BM Store and yes the giftcards will work just buy them from there website it will download direct to your nook when you log in to it next time and further more I'm not sure what the other's can read as far as media but If I have a .pdf or any random text file i just throw it on there and read away works well for all those back issues of Popular Science they just posted on the web for free that's just my 2 cents hope your shopping goes well
 
The Nook is going on sale at Best Buy as soon as this weekend. The Kindle is rumored to be headed to Target's shelves sometime this year.

Two other places you'll be able to buy gift cards or credits for those respective devices with cash. If either of those are more convenient for you...
 
[quote name='Bartboy']I just bought a Nook and I love it you can buy them direct from a B & N BM Store and yes the giftcards will work just buy them from there website it will download direct to your nook when you log in to it next time and further more I'm not sure what the other's can read as far as media but If I have a .pdf or any random text file i just throw it on there and read away works well for all those back issues of Popular Science they just posted on the web for free that's just my 2 cents hope your shopping goes well[/QUOTE]

What?
 
Yeah, none of these 5" or 6" screen readers will be very good for most PDFs.

Many PDFs are 8.5" x 11" or bigger--especially scholarly articles etc. If you want really good PDF support you'll need a bigger screen.

Kindle DX--though the software sucks. Wait for the Plastic Logic Que or the Skiff Reader (pricey though). Or give up e-ink and get an iPad or wait and see what other tablets come out.

If you have PDFs that can reflow (just text, not just a scanned immage, not full of graphs and tables etc) these smaller readers can be ok. But if PDFs are a big concern, none of these fit the bill, these are all more devices meant for reading novels of just text.
 
I bought my mother a Nook as a gift, and it was horrible. She had to exchange it because it was continually freezing every time she wanted to download a book.

The new one she got had the same problem, wouldn't stop freezing.

Not to mention the customer service was terrible, as they wouldn't even refund her for the books she purchased and couldn't download because it kept freezing up.

She returned it and got a Kindle, and it's worked flawlessly, not a single problem. Not to mention Amazon's customer service is actually good.

I'd definitely recommend a Kindle.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Good point on the library books.

Public domain books you can get for any reader easily, so that doesn't factor in. If you go Kindle you can download a file from feedbooks.com or mobileread.com that's a link to 1,000's of public domain books you can click the link for and download to the Kindle via it's browser.

But again, you can get public domain books for any reader, so that's not somthing to factor in. All the book stores have a good bit of them as well--but something like Feedbooks is much more comprehensive.[/QUOTE]

I know that you can get them for any reader, but it's really nice that they on Sony Reader's storefront formated specifically for my reader.
 
[quote name='KillerRamen']I know that you can get them for any reader, but it's really nice that they on Sony Reader's storefront formated specifically for my reader.[/QUOTE]

The Amazon store has public domain books.

And the Feedbooks list and the Mobileread books are also all in the .mobi format and thus all set for the Kindle.

Again, that's a non issue, as the same is true of pretty much all the reader formats, and shouldn't play a role in deciding which one to go as they're equal on that.

And even if not, the free Calibre program is a snap to use and can easily convert any non-DRM book (or book you've stripped the DRM from with other software) to the format of your reader of choice.
 
I also recommend calibre, great tool
have a nook, and the 1.2 version is better than how it was, but it is still prone to freezing or dumping the user back to the start menu. the big problem of bookmarks disappearing seems largely solved. it still could be faster navigating, though.
The wi-fi eats up battery life, so i usually leave it in airplane mode. The package was awful, and accessing the sd card slot is inane- but these are one offs and don't linger as problems

My biggest complaints are:
content purchased from bn stays separate from content purchased elsewhere
content cannot be easily browsed/sorted/deleted. All that memory and expandable storage is nice, but once you load 20+ books, navigating them becomes a chore. I'd like to leave 100s of books on there, but the navigation system is too slow and ponderous
purchasing content directly off the nook is incredibly inelegant, and searching for the free public domain books pulls up many, many titles that can not be sorted easily
 
My local Best Buy has both the Nook and Sony Readers on display. (Well, 2 of the 3 Readers. The World Edition was just a shell) You might check your local Best Buy and play with both of them side by side. The Nook I played with had the updated firmware which worked a whole lot better than the one I played with at Barnes and Nobel. It looks like it will turn into a pretty competent device when they fix all the bugs, but it also did crashed on me while I playing chess... (I don't know if this is a normal thing, but if you're an early adopter to the Nook I guess that's just something you'll have to live with for the time being)

...As it stands now, my Sony Reader is still my favorite reader since it does exactly what I want it to do and it does it well. (Read books)
 
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