Okay, let's face it, reading IS in an investment. But it's hard to know where to put your money these days. There are so many options!!Paperback books have always been my first love. Most esp. mass market size. They're easy to tuck into my purse and tote around. The price is usually right--when I buy them from Wal*Mart. But with the invention of ebook readers I realized I wanted to get into the digital age. I bought a Sony ebook reader. At first I liked it. Handy and it can hold a bunch of books. But, to be honest here, I don't care for it. I find that it's not user friendly. I'm not going to take an hour trying to figure out how to get a book loaded. It's supposed to be easy as pie, but that's not been my experience.
Hardbacks are just too damned expensive. I mean, I went out and bought Sherrilyn Kenyon's massive book Acheron and I also bought J. R. Ward's Lover Avenged. But, damn it was hard to shell out that kind of money. It really was!
So, I've been checking out the Kindle and the Nook. They both seem to have great features. Both are pricey, there's no two ways about it. But which to choose??? I'm leaning towards the Kindle. Mainly because I do a lot of shopping on Amazon now and I find they're easier. The last time I ordered books from Barnes & Noble, it seemed to take forever to get them. Amazon ships their stuff out fast, and I've always taken advantage of the spend $25 and get free shipping feature.
None of that really has anything do with ebooks though. I'm in the dark where the Nook and the Kindle are concerned. Which ebook reader do you use and which do you think is the most USER FRIENDLY. Do you find you've saved money by buying ebooks instead of paperback? Do you buy MORE books now than what you would've before, considering they're delivered to your device within seconds of purchase?
What are the pros and cons as YOU see it? Which is the best investment?
11 comments:
Love this post because I'm actually exploring my opinions at the moment. I have an ebookwise and it's okay but a little bulky. Besides...I'm love getting new toys. What girl doesn't? I'm actually looking at the Nook right now. It has a good look, it's a little cheaper than the Kindle and I just like Barnes and Noble. Always have. Just made a call to the B&N nearest me and learned they don't carry the Nook 'in store' for purchase (at least this store doesn't) and I'm very disappointed. I like keeping my money local and would prefer purchasing that way.
I haven't bought a print book in so long, I can't even remember. There aren't any authors in print who I care to read at the moment. Sorry. Just the way I feel about it. Everything is the same. BLAH.
A friend got a nook for Christmas and has loaded her entire pdf library to it and said it was SUPER easy. i may have to break down and order the damn thing, but I hope eventually I can walk into a B&N and buy it.
I want an ebook reader SOOOO bad. I went to the bookstore and bought two books last weekend and after tax and everything it was 23 dollars. My friend has Barnes and Noble's Nook and she bought five books for 11.60. They're expensive to buy but if you look at it that way, you save so much more money in the long run.
I purchased a Nook right before Christmas. My cover is a green hardback and makes me *feel* as if I'm holding a book. And I have never needed to hook it to my computer to download anything. It comes with free WiFi and since I have wireless in my home, it picks up my connection with no playing with settings. I love B&N so I'm shop there anyway and if I go to the store I can browse until I find what I want, either have my nook there and purchase or come home and purchase.
My friend has a Kindle and after comparing I still like my Nook Better.
Regina, I think one of our stores in SLC has the nook there, but I can't be 100% it may have been a display only I saw.
Mary
A friend has a Kindle DX, and I can honestly say to let them work the bugs out, before you get one. Amazon has been great about replacing the unit (THREE times) overnight mail and no fuss. And they've been great about making sure he gets his books loaded on the new one. But honestly...until they work the bugs out, it's not worth the down time. Until then... I've heard good things about Nook.
Brenna
Yep. Keep hearing really good things about the Nook. Kelly, it IS an investment but in the long run you really save a bundle buying your books that way.
I love these blogs, but I'm still indecisive about ereaders.
The Nook sounds good to me, but my dilema is the bath. I love paperbacks and being able to spend two or three hours in the bubbles reading, dosing, and reading some more. On occasion when I dose, I drop the book in the water. lol A book is a bit cheaper to replace, or I simply let it dry out and pick up where I left.
I don't really mind reading ebooks on the computer. I have my netbook that fits in my bag. The screen is a bit bigger, I can do more than read books with the netbook.
Justifying the cost, I guess is the big factor.
I don't know, there's quite a nice discussion over on the Samhain Cafe too about this topic. I'm still sort of leaning towards the Kindle.
Either way, I need to sell my Sony ereader first. So, I do have some time to decide (and that should give Amazon time to get the bugs worked out too. Thanks for the warning there, Brenna!)
I've had a Kindle2 for quite awhile now and can't imagine going back to my old ebookwise (and having to hook up to a computer, then figuring out how to
I LOVE the Kindle2 and carry it with me everywhere. I have a cover on it and can prop it up on its side when I lie on my side and read in bed. Sometimes I'll even turn on the scroll button and not have to touch it to "turn" pages. The only downside I've found is the voice reader. Still sounds too mechanical and mispronounces a word every so often. So I don't use that function.
If I lost my Kindle2 tomorrow, I'd have to buy either the Nook or the Kindle2 again. (Don't know about the Kindle DX) Since I don't know anything about the Nook, either, I can't speak to that one. I did hear it has color, which would be cool.
However, I've never had a problem with the Kindle's functioning or downloading and don't need to worry about being near a Wi-Fi spot to scour the books on Amazon or My Bookstore and More.com. Aside from the NY Times bestsellers, there's a little wait (maybe a month?) before some paperbacks come out in Kindle, but even that's getting faster.
Do I buy more books than I normally would? Probably. But then that's only after I'd read the sample (a free download) and known I wanted them for sure. Oh, and new hardback releases are much cheaper ($25 vs $9.99) than buying the hardback and you don't have to wait a year for the paperback to come out.
I'll stick with my Kindle2 for now and wait for the Nook to be out longer. Then maybe I'll give my Kindle2 to my daughter (Hopefully, they'll start doing more textbooks in ebook format) and buy whatever is better at that time for me.
I bought a Nook for myself this Christmas and I love everything about it. It was incredibly easy to upload the PDFs (hundreds!) that I already owned (just copy and paste on the computer with the Nook plugged in -- it took a few seconds) and I LOVE reading on it. It's a wee bit heavier than a paperback, but so easy to hold and handle.
When I bought the eReader, I thought I would mostly use it to buy and read those books I couldn't get in paperback. I firmly believed I'd never give up the love of the paperback book. Fact is, though, it's actually EASIER for me to read on the Nook than it is to read my paper books, both in terms of the "print" and the ease of holding it. I can read when I eat, and not worry about pages flipping closed (I can even turn pages with my elbow or nose if I have to ... and yes, I've done it). The last three NY Published books I've bought have been for the Nook and not in paper. And, I'm already planning on replacing my "keeper" shelf on the eReader as well.
I have a friend who actually touched, handled, played with the Sony, the Kindle and the Nook before deciding what she wanted, and she opted for the Nook.
:::shrugs:::
Whatever you get, I can say this: you won't ever look back.
I had a chance to play with a Nook in store over Christmas and it looks very nice. I'm hearing of bugs--something typical with any new device--that still need to be worked out. Wouldn't get the DX Kindle, but I have the smaller version and like it very much. (It's been out longer, so bugs are more worked out, IMHO.)
Re: reading in the tub -- way easy. Slip your device in a zip lock bag and make sure it is totally zipped.
Have I bought more books? Yes.
because of sample feature I've also bought fewer books I regret buying. Does that make sense?
I *prefer* multi format, because I can shift them to a new ereader, if I change later. Heard the Kindle is going to dump drm, which would be a good thing.
Love, love, love instant download feature.
As far as screens go, kindle and Nook are the same as the sony. the kindle in your picture is actually the first edition. the newer ones are a bit more sleek.
I think the Nook is cooler looking than the kindle, but the big diff really is access to books. Who has it, who will continue to have it.
So far, I don't think B&N has the selection, though they claim they do. Its hard to see past the hype at this point.
But if you always shop B&N, then that's prob direction you should go. I always go to amazon, so B&N will have to work harder to lure me. :-)
I was able to play with a demo Nook and found it very easy to use:) My B&N said they'd have some by late February, so I'm hoping to use some of our tax refund to buy one.
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