Nook, Kindle, and other e-book readers?

**Pint** · 01-31-11, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by Toker

I'm a noob to these, but I bought my wife the Nook over the Kindle. She said she wanted the Nook, because she had a larger selections of books. Not sure if that is accurate or not...

The reason she has a higher selection of books is that the Nook supports nearly all file formats where as the Kindle only supports the amazon fire format. I picked the Nook over the Kindle in an easy choice. I would point out though that I read a lot of print from things that are pre 1920's which is where the copy right has expired (and are public domain), so if your reading up on your Sir Francis Bacon or The Descent of man or George Eliot then do not pick up a Kindle you will not be happy.

Project Gutenberg - free ebooks online download for iPad, Kindle, Nook, Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader

^^^^^^^ Great web page.

PoB

**Rawr** · 02-01-11, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by Pint

The reason she has a higher selection of books is that the Nook supports nearly all file formats where as the Kindle only supports the amazon fire format. I picked the Nook over the Kindle in an easy choice. I would point out though that I read a lot of print from things that are pre 1920's which is where the copy right has expired (and are public domain), so if your reading up on your Sir Francis Bacon or The Descent of man or George Eliot then do not pick up a Kindle you will not be happy.

Project Gutenberg - free ebooks online download for iPad, Kindle, Nook, Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader

^^^^^^^ Great web page.

PoB

Gutenberg is swell but the kindle does support PDFs as of like a year ago. Oh and most library stores have a few hundred thousand free ebooks with expired copywrites.

**Phyrelight** · 02-01-11, 09:33 AM

I have a kindle and LOVE IT. I can turn off the 3g and read for months without charging it. There are lots and lots of books available from the kindle store on amazon. In the drop down at the top select kindle store and you can see all the books. For stuff not in kindle format there are plenty of free converters and it takes about 60 seconds to convert a book from say, public library format to kindle. For straight reading there is nothing better in my opinion. Now if you like to read lots of magazines or graphic novels then the nook is better in my opinion since it's color. The nook is hard to read outdoors or even by an open window here in Arizona where its almost always sunny. Go to B&N and they have nooks there that you can try out. All the ebook readers can get open source books for free (they are no longer covered under copyright). The two biggest reasons I chose the kindle over the nook. 1. The screen was easier on my eyes (no eye strain with kindle for me). 2. Ebooks on Amazon for the kindle are 1-2 bucks cheaper than the same book at B&N for the nook. If you read 12 books a year(1 a month) at $2 an ebook you will save $24 a year with the kindle over the nook. I read more than 12 a year but that number was easy math for the example. I have the kindle 2 3g version so my books are delivered for free anywhere over 3g. It's fantastic.

**Kanati** · 02-01-11, 10:55 AM

Don't call the nook color a nook... not the same.

**Sfrichck** · 02-01-11, 11:34 AM

I have a question... if you get the nook or kindle can you download books from other sites on to it or do you have to use there sites? I got the Sony because i heard with others you can only use there sites. i love my Sony ( although its broken at the moment, too lazy and broke to have it fixed yet) but even with it being broken i still enjoyed it while it worked and would get another one in a heartbeat given the fact i can download books from any site.. except places like Barnes and noble online. I tried to get a ebook from them and only could veiw it on my computer and couldnt transfer it to my ebook. But i use a site called 4shared.com and before my ebook crashed i had over 200 books on it only a handful i actually bought. Thankfully I have about 75% of my collection on my computer or on usb drives.

**WileECyte** · 02-01-11, 12:15 PM

I don't see the point into locking yourself in to a proprietary device like the Kindle or the Nook when you can get an Android Tablet or iPad and have the best of all worlds. Android has apps for Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and most other ePub formats. The one format you can't read on an Android device is the stuff from Apple's iBook store. It's ePub format, but has Apple's crappy Fairplay DRM on it. The iPad can do Kindle, Nook, and iBook, but also pretty much any other eBook format. Sony released an iOS version of their Reader app, but Apple nixed it. They want a cut of the book sales.

**Scotzo** · 02-01-11, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by WileECyte

I don't see the point into locking yourself in to a proprietary device like the Kindle or the Nook when you can get an Android Tablet or iPad and have the best of all worlds. Android has apps for Kindle, Nook and most other ePub formats. The one format you can't read on an Android device is the stuff from Apple's iBook store. It's ePub format, but has Apple's crappy Fairplay DRM on it. The iPad can do Kindle, Nook, and iBook, but also pretty much any other eBook format.

It's the e-ink display that sets these apart from LCD panels such as the iPad. You can read for hours and not strain your eyes

**WileECyte** · 02-01-11, 12:50 PM

I'll take greater functionality over e-ink displays any day. Why pay for a 'unitasker' when you can get something that does much more. I personally don't have any issue with eye strain. I work at an LCD 10+ hours a day, so the only 'bonus' of e-ink for me would be the viewability in any light condition.

**Phyrelight** · 02-01-11, 01:59 PM

Kanati, correct nook and nook color are 2 different devices, I didn't mean to use the terms interchangeably.

Wile, You don't want to lock yourself into a proprietary device but you mention the ipad? It's as locked down as it gets. I can use a converter and convert other formats, even B&N and then use the usb tether to upload it to my kindle. The nook, nook color and back lit LCD screen ereaders in general get about 8 hours of reading time to a charge. I get months on my kindle. I tried the nook and the nook color to read and had zero problems in a perfect environment (i.e. my living room with decent lighting). Where the kindle shines is a 3-4 hour plane ride where you have nothing but the over head light (or in my case the led light in my kindle case) to see by the kindle was by far the easiest on my eyes. The LCD screens with even the slightest glare give me a headache. The android tablet will probably be one of my next ereaders but that market is still emerging. I have big hopes for it. I have a droid OS phone and love it. The android tablets currently out do not have access to the android marketplace and until they do they are not truly open enough to make me change from my kindle. If they open them up like they have the phone then I will consider them.

**Kanati** · 02-01-11, 07:36 PM

The nook, nook color and back lit LCD screen ereaders in general get about 8 hours of reading time to a charge.

You are still equating a nook with a nook color. The nook is epaper just like the kindle and sony readers... along with dozens of other epaper readers. The epaper readers all have outstanding battery life because they don't use power once the page is displayed. You can equate it to epaper being like a flash memory card in your camera, comared to memory in your computer which is erased when the computer is turned off.

Safari. All readers let you transfer books over usb. Almost all but the kindle allow you to use epub which is THE major format being used right now. Yes, you can definitely convert files using Caliber, but you shouldn't have to. Epub is the open standard and amazon is the only real holdout there.

Short answer... yes. You can download from other sites and put them on your reader. Whatever that might be. The nook connects to the barnes and noble store. The sony connects to the sony store. Kindle connects to amazon. But your computer connects to them all.