Typical Decision Delimma

[Zeroburn]

Hi everyone,

As most in here I assume, I'm new and completely stuck between two of the best e-ink ebook readers available today: The Nook and Kindle 3.

The situation for me personally is that I have quite a few PDF books, these are technical Computer books, so nothing with any real crazy artwork or graphs, ect.

I like the Nooks open system of lending books, being able to easily read epub, google books, books from the library, ect. without needing to convert. The issue I do have is that some of the text ebooks i would like are rentals only, which I think kinda stinks, and Barnes and Noble doesn't exactly have the cheaper or stronger line up of ebooks.

Also I don't think I can highlight, make notes with the PDFs I have, right?


The Kindle 3 hardware is really good and I like Amazon's ebook lineup on their site, but one major downer is that I'm sorta stuck with Amazon with their tight format and i can't do epub or library rentals without doing converting, which is annoying. That and add in the fact that I might not be able to get a ebook reader for at least 1-2 months as they are all sold out.

Is converting epub and other formats slow, not always perfect with the Kindle 3?

I honestly have gotten to a point of debate where i might just grab both, which is yes crazy for me to consider.

Anyone have opinions on this matter?

[clintbradford]

>> ... sorta stuck with Amazon ...

Being "stuck" with a company who wants to have every book ever published available to us as eBooks is not necessarily a negative thing.

[HarryT]

No 6" device is going to be great for PDFs. You really should consider a device with a larger screen if these are important to you. The Kindle is a great device, but not for PDFs.

[pwjone1]

Originally Posted by Zeroburn

Hi everyone,

As most in here I assume, I'm new and completely stuck between two of the best e-ink ebook readers available today: The Nook and Kindle 3.

The situation for me personally is that I have quite a few PDF books, these are technical Computer books, so nothing with any real crazy artwork or graphs, ect.

...
Also I don't think I can highlight, make notes with the PDFs I have, right?
...

I honestly have gotten to a point of debate where i might just grab both, which is yes crazy for me to consider.

Anyone have opinions on this matter?

OK, I'll point out the obvious, I buy quite a lot of computer books, and I'd have to say that really neither the Amazon Kindle 3 nor the B&N Nook are going to be all that great. There's quite a bit of graphics and in some cases color in computer books these days, most all switch fonts a lot, and both of these devices have some trouble rendering properly. Don't get me wrong, I'm still switching the majority of my book buying to eBooks, even for computer books, as the weight and space saving, ease of reference is just too much to much to pass up. The only thing I don't buy in eBook format are books with a lot of color or pictures, the coffee table type stuff, art, etc., those just aren't viable yet. But the Computer books sure don't render all that well, compared with printed.

So here's my suggestions in terms of someone that is Computer Book oriented:

1. Research Safari Online Books (web based) and Books 24x7 - True professionals often end up with one of these, but you need a web connection
2. Consider the Apple iPad (more expensive, still you were proposing to by both a Kindle and a Nook, but iPad supports both Kindle and ePub (B&N) content, so format war wise, is agnostic. A LOT better with PDFs. Has Color)
3. If it's an O'Reilly book, consider buying it directly from the publisher, they sell unencrypted variants, multiple formats (including Kindle and Nook compatible, PDFs) -- that's really how things should be
4. If you can, wait until Christmas, there will be a flood of Android Tablets, various other options, and just maybe some color eBook readers, although the price wars that will eventually result probably won't kick in until 1H2011. But soon enough you'll be able to get something better/cheaper, and I would not be surprised to see the major 6" B&W eReaders below a $100 (sans cell connection)
5. If you have to pick one of Kindle 3 or Nook, flip a coin, basically same technology, slight pros and cons either way

I have an Amazon Kindle, I don't see the company as the root-of-all-evil that some do (but then I gave Apple somewhat the benefit of the doubt on the whole iPod thing, maybe I'm just too trusting), and they probably are slightly better than Nook at this second, they've been kind of playing leapfrog. I've come more to the conclusion that it's the publishers that as much as anything are the problem, having forced Amazon's prices up. How the publishers managed that, aided a bit by Apple, and didn't get hit with a price-fixing class action, I don't understand. I see Amazon as more bought in on eBooks. B&N is trying, maybe "got-it" a little late (not as late as Borders), but they're having all sorts of money problems at the moment, so as much as I love and support the local B&N store, I sure hope they don't end up going all Circuit City on me. I suppose that's maybe what it will eventually all come down to, no record stores around much anymore, miss those sometimes, too. Technology changes can have that disruptive effect, but I'm sure going to miss those big B&N displays of new books and magazines and the nice attached coffee shop, etc., if it comes to that. But I already miss the local Mom & Pop bookstores, where they had read a lot of the books and would have little hand-written index cards with mini-reviews, that B&N largely put out of business. Price of progress, I guess.

One last point, if you buy the 6" B&W eReader, that's OK too (although I'd get just one), it will be great for fiction when you buy something bigger+color down the road, so that Computer and other books render better.

[Ea]

Good advice on PDFs - a 6'' e-reader won't satisfy you in that respect,

[Zeroburn]

Ok, i think for now for my PDFs I'll likely stick with a cheap netbook. Now what about purely ebooks, I'm leaning more on the K3

[Ea]

if it's Nook vs. Kindle for fiction then take a look a what you would want to buy - or borrow from the library. The Kindle is a nice device, but if it doesn't support the file types of the books you want to read, then you should look for something else.

[ProfCrash]

You are not tied to Amazon for books. There are plenty of book stores that you can buy ebooks foryou Kindle. There are even bookstores that don't require reformating. Non-DRMed EPub books are easily converted to the Mobi format and it is suppose to be eas to strip the DRM off books if you are so inclined.

The lending options on the Nook are very limited. Publishers can choose to allow abook to be lent or not and many have choosen to not allow lending. You are allowed to lend a book once, for 14 days, and it is no longer on your Nook.

It is possible to lend books with your Kindle. Most books come with 6 liscenses. You can share an account with people that you trust, such as family and friends. Six people can read the same book at the same time. If you want, you can register someone to your Kindle to lend them a book and then deregister them. The book remains on their Kindle until they delete it.