[tomsem]

If it is just for library ebooks, and you want something now, Nook is the way to go at this point in time; I don't expect the Overdrive support for Kindle to arrive until December (the only official time frame given is 'this year').

If you happen to have a smartphone or even just an iPod Touch, I would get a Kindle and use your smart thing until the Kindle library feature arrives. Overdrive's app is fairly decent and it is a much more convenient workflow than using a dedicated ereader like Nook because it doesn't involve side-loading.

Considering the entire ecosystem, Amazon's selection, store, and support is much better. Kindle's feature set is richer. And when library borrowing comes to Kindle, the lending user experience should be much better as well (wireless delivery, no need to side-load with ADE, synching multiple devices, annotation backup etc.).

Also Kindle has a workable web browser that allows you to consume web content (things like wikipedia work great), and download content from various web sites (including dropbox or calibre's built-in content server), and Amazon offers a unique-among-ereaders delivery and conversion service that lets you push content to your Kindle wirelessly (both with services like instapaper and ad hoc using browser plugins like Send To Kindle). With Nook, all 3rd party content has to be side-loaded; wireless is basically reserved just for purchasing and managing books from B&N. The only downside is that Kindle's eBook formats are inferior to ePub, though that doesn't matter most of the time.

I've been a Kindle user since K2 came out, but just bought a Nook STR. I see them as complementary: I'll use nook for library books and my computer book collection (for the latter, I think ePub will look better and be easier to navigate on Nook), Kindle for everything else (I also have the idea of using them together for studying foreign languages - one displaying Russian or whatever, the other the English translation). It remains to be seen how it will affect my ebook purchasing habits, but I suspect I'll continue to invest in Kindle books. My interest is broader than just reading, I'm also interested in the technology of reading, so I could justify the purchase of Nook on that basis.


I won't get into whether touch interface is 'better' than Kindle's many buttons. I'm pretty neutral on it myself but others seem to be more passionate about their preferences. At this point, neither interface achieves any sort of perfection, yet both are good enough for productive reading.