Nook, Kindle, or Sony-which one should I get?

[Lobosan]

Hey folks. I am currently trying to decide between a Kindle, Nook, and Sony eReader. Things I'm looking for:

-Ease of navigation. I don't want to have a big hassle every time I want to jump to a different page or chapter.

-WiFi only. I don't need 3G for anything, WiFi is everywhere these days.

-Access to most popular titles. This is important, as I really don't care so much about free, non-mainstream independent titles. I tend to go for mainstream fantasy/scifi, like Tolkien, or anything in Blizzard's titles (WoW/Diablo/SC books).

-PDF support. This is a biggie-I have a large PDF library and want to make sure my eReader can either read PDF's or has a method for simple conversion.
-Price. I'm not really looking to spend over 200-though if the Sony has compelling reasons for being more pricey, I might consider the 650.

-Music/web browsing. These are a plus, and the easier they work, the better.

-Durability. I'm a military guy so it matters, though I don't plan on throwing the thing around, heh.

-Aesthetics. This is the least among my priorities-at day's end, the looks don't matter so much. But if it proves to be a tiebreaker, include it.

Things that don't factor in are TTS, Nook's in-store support (I rarely visit the physical store itself), the iPad (too expensive), international support and any unnecessary bells and whistles.

PLEASE help me out here guys! My b-day is coming up in a week and I gotta let my folks know which one I want asap. Thanks!

[ChrisChillin]

Welcome, Lobosan!

You won't be able to find a reader that will do all things well, especially looking at your list. The three options you mention will do most things well, with some key differences.

Originally Posted by Lobosan

Ease of navigation. I don't want to have a big hassle every time I want to jump to a different page or chapter.

Others will have to speak from their actual experience. But, from what I've read of the different readers, there isn't much difference between them in this regard.

-WiFi only. I don't need 3G for anything, WiFi is everywhere these days.

The Sony readers do not have any WiFi at all. That limits you to Nook and Kindle.

-Access to most popular titles. This is important, as I really don't care so much about free, non-mainstream independent titles. I tend to go for mainstream fantasy/scifi, like Tolkien, or anything in Blizzard's titles (WoW/Diablo/SC books).

The best thing you can do is browse Amazon, B&N.com, Fictionwise, etc, and see for yourself what is available that you enjoy in either the .azw/.mobi/.prc (Kindle) formats or ePub (everyone else).

-PDF support. This is a biggie-I have a large PDF library and want to make sure my eReader can either read PDF's or has a method for simple conversion.

Sony is the winner on PDF support because it reflows the text. Kindle has native PDF support but no reflow so the text will be small, even in landscape mode, unless you zoom in, and then it's a bit more awkward to navigate. You can convert your PDFs with the free Calibre program or by emailing them to Amazon.

I'm not sure if Nook supports PDF or if you'll always need to convert it.

-Price. I'm not really looking to spend over 200-though if the Sony has compelling reasons for being more pricey, I might consider the 650.

So far, the one major factor I see is PDF.

-Music/web browsing. These are a plus, and the easier they work, the better.

Both Nook and Kindle have basic mp3 players, and I think it's the case with both that you cannot organize the mp3s. They are just in alphabetical order. Kind of like having an iPod Shuffle without the "shuffle" part. Both also have web browsing, which the Sony, sans WiFi, does not. Browsing will not be the best with either one, but not terrible if you just want to read largely text-based web sites. Kindle has a nice feature with its browser in which you can render a site in "article mode" and strip away extraneous pictures, graphics, banners, ads, links, etc - leaving just the content of the page as if it were an eBook.

Also, there are a number of programs for converting web pages you read regularly into a kind of eBook or ePeriodical format. Calibre can "fetch" your web news. There are also web-based programs like Kindlefeeder and Instapaper. These can email you formatted web feeds through your Amazon Kindle email. I'm not sure if Nook has anything like this. Nook users can chime in here and say if they have a similar ability with an email address at B&N.com or not. If not, getting your formatted news from the web through Calibre would require sideloading from your computer, as I understand it. Others correct me if I'm wrong. But if this is an accurate assessment, that gives an ease-of-use edge to the Kindle here, I think.

-Durability. I'm a military guy so it matters, though I don't plan on throwing the thing around, heh.

That may be a vote again for the Sony readers since Sony prizes good hardware construction and they're made of aluminum rather than plastic.

-Aesthetics. This is the least among my priorities-at day's end, the looks don't matter so much. But if it proves to be a tiebreaker, include it.

Hmm, that I can't judge for you. You'll just have to look at each one and decide which is the purtiest.

[ProfCrash]

ChrisChillin hot most of the points.

If you want WiFi the Sony is out.

You can compare all three readers at Best Buy and get a feel for which one feels best in your hands and looks most pleasing to you.

A good case will go along way in providing protection for whatever device you purchase. I am waiting to hear from KlearKase that their K3 version is ready. Their K2 cover was made from some incredibly strong material and was suppose to provide a great deal of extra protection as well as be water resistant. They only made these cases for the Kindle. There are some really nice leather cases for pretty much every e-reader out there that will provide protection and some nice waterproof cases that do a good job of keeping sand and water out of devices.

Since you are in the military, I am assuming that there is a real chance you could be deployed. The K3 has the best battery life of the e-readers out there. The Nook has a replaceable battery so you could carry a couple of charged batteries with you just in case you are out and cannot recharge.

It sounds like you would be best served by searching the various book stores to see if the titles you want are available. Amazon has the largest store available and there are plent of stores, such as fictionwise, smashword, and baen, that sell books for the Kindle. Nook and Sony are EPub readers so it is a bit easier to put books on them from more mainstream stores. Then again, I have seen a bunch of posts from Nook users who have ended up buying Kindles because they cannot find the books that they want for their Nooks and they don't want to strip DRM.

Navigation is something that is a personal preference. I don't like a touchscreen so the Nook and Sony are not players for me. I find that the joystick on the DXG works just fine for me. Heck, I liked the scroll wheel on the K1 but realized that the joystick was better for looking up words and more precise highlighting of passages. I have not used the new pad on the K3 so I cannot comment on that.

[geertm]

As you are in the military there is perhaps one important thing about the Nook that you should now. At the moment it is not possible to buy e-books at B&N outside the US, because only US (and Canadian) IP-addresses are allowed when buying e-books.

You need workarounds (VPN, family members) to buy B&N e-books outside the US.

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, Lobosan.

Thank you for your service to our country.

Get the Kindle........customer service is superb, selection is outstanding, but I would definitely, whichever device you decide on, get a 'sand-proof' cover....

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by geertm

As you are in the military there is perhaps one important thing about the Nook that you should now. At the moment it is not possible to buy e-books at B&N outside the US, because only US (and Canadian) IP-addresses are allowed when buying e-books.

You need workarounds (VPN, family members) to buy B&N e-books outside the US.

Is that true for US citizens living abroad? I know with the K1 I cold not use whispernet outside of the US but I was still able to buy books overseas from Amazons website and sideload them to my K1.

I understand that the non-US citizens need the work arounds but I was not aware that a US citizen who has an account has to use the work around.

[boswd]

my vote goes for the Nook, easy and fun way to navigate with the color LCD touch screen, great look and design, great bookstore platform, epub which is great for shopping around and using your library.
PDF's? Hmm that is going to be depending on what the docs. are. I also have a ton of books in PDF format and they are just fine but Sony wil be the best at this.

For general reading and buying popular books etc. The Nook is IMHO the best out there.

[randyflycaster]

If you want to borrow ebooks from libraries look at the Sony. To me, the Nook was way too heavy. (I bought the Sony 350.)

Yes, Amazon has somewhat of a better selection for new books.

Also, I don't feel I need wireless downloads, as I don't mind downloading from my computer.

I guess, in the end, people who can afford to have two or three different ereaders.

Randy

[Lobosan]

Thanks so much for the info guys! The Nook may be out of the running for me now, so it's between the Kindle and Sony. I like Sony's touchscreen, and I haven't figured out how to jump pages or chapters with a Kindle just yet...but the Sony's are pretty darn expensive comparatively.

[ProfCrash]

Jumping chapters is easy enough, you go to the table of contents. You can get there through the menu buttons. Then you can choose to go to a specific location, table of contents, or the begining of the book.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Is that true for US citizens living abroad? I know with the K1 I cold not use whispernet outside of the US but I was still able to buy books overseas from Amazons website and sideload them to my K1.

I understand that the non-US citizens need the work arounds but I was not aware that a US citizen who has an account has to use the work around.

Yes, this is also true for US citizens living abroad.
B&N only allows US and Canadian IP-addresses. Unlike Amazon there is no exception for people with a US shipping/billing address with a non-US IP-address.

[ProfCrash]

Wow, that sucks.

[Lobosan]

Ok, what it's coming down to for me is this-the reliability of the Kindle vs. the convenience of the Sony. I hear the Sony is glitchy and gets returned a lot, but it's great for reading PDFs and has an easy-to-navigate touchscreen. The Kindle, on the flip side, never really seems to glitch or break, but it's PDF support and navigation systems feel mediocre at best.

[Lobosan]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Jumping chapters is easy enough, you go to the table of contents. You can get there through the menu buttons. Then you can choose to go to a specific location, table of contents, or the beginning of the book.

This doesn't seem to work for PDF-converted files on the Kindle, and their page navigation system is...odd. The numbers go up to the thousands, rather than just the number of pages, which is a pain to sort through without a ToC.

[ProfCrash]

There are plenty of folks who have needed to return a Kindle due to glitches or something not working properly. Normally the number of returns is higher with the first batch of a new Kindle, I am thinking of the sun fade with K2 and sticky power switches and the like with the K3. I think it is a small percentage but it does happen.

Amazon CS is great and the process is normally pretty smooth.