Yet another "help me decide" thread.

hokiemule · 06-04-2011, 08:47 PM

Sorry, I was trying to avoid posting yet another one of these, because I'll bet it can be tiring. I really need some advice, though, from the e-reader brain trust.

My needs:
Probably more than half the books I would purchase for reading on an e-reader will be business-type books (marketing, crisis communications, business, leadership, etc.). I did take some advice I read on here and looked up about 10 of the books on my Amazon wish list on Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon. For the most part, they were comparable, but B&N didn't have 2 of them and one or two others were a couple bucks more than Amazon. Borders seemed to be somewhat in the middle, maybe a bit closer to Amazon.

When I read these books in physical form, I highlight important phrases and then hand-type those into a Word doc. I need an e-reader that will allow me to highlight things - that's a non-negotiable demand. In an ideal world, I'd love to have one that would let me compile those highlights into a list or document - but is that possible with ANY of them?

I quickly looked at the Nook Color and the Kindle at a Best Buy store, but it's hard to really evaluate them because 1) the salespeople won't leave you alone, and they don't know enough about the devices to answer any questions that aren't very basic; 2) they've got the devices leashed down, and whenever I moved the Kindle, it set off an alarm; 3) they're in a place in the store that isn't well lit. I really liked the touch screen of the Nook Color, and I don't get a headache looking at a computer screen for a while. I don't need the apps they're promoting, though - I already have an Android smartphone. I looked at the Kindle next, and I must say that I kept wanting to touch the screen to do things. The keyboard seemed "outdated." As I said, though, I didn't use it much because of the alarm. The screen seemed a bit dim to me in the store, but I couldn't really assess it in different light because of the leash. I left there thinking I wanted the NC, but after thinking about it more, I'm still very unsure.

I worry about the Kobo because of Borders' financial troubles and I wonder what will happen to support when they completely tank. I originally thought I wouldn't want the Kindle because it's proprietary and you're locked into Amazon (I don't have a problem with Amazon, I just hate to be tied to one store) - but from friends and from reading this forum, that's actually not an issue.

I don't know how much reading I'd be doing outside. It would be nice to have that option, but it's not really a deal-breaker.

I have not looked at any of the other devices, but I'm open to considering them.

I'd appreciate any and all advice on this. Price is obviously a component of the overall package, but I'd weigh it against the other factors.

Thanks!
Kim

CRussel · 06-05-2011, 11:35 AM

You don't say where you're located or if you travel for business. Given your reading needs, I'd say those are important considerations. If you travel internationally, or are located outside the US, then the Nook is going to be a less satisfactory solution since B&N is simply not supporting it outside the US. (Yes, there are workarounds. No, I don't think they are a great solution.)

Given that you found the books you wanted more on Amazon than B&N, I'd go with the Kindle. You can highlight, annotate and mark up your books easily, and those markups, etc., are available on your PC/Mac using the Kindle for PC(or Mac) application, allowing you to easily move them to a secondary document.

Using a keypad rather than a touch screen is not something I think you'll long find an issue. Personally, I prefer it, but others seem to love touch screens. IAC, both work acceptably for what you want to do, and I think you'll adapt to either.

hokiemule · 06-05-2011, 11:46 AM

Thanks for the reply! I'm in the U.S. (Illinois) I travel a fair bit for business, but so far it's all U.S. travel and I don't foresee that changing.

OtterBooks · 06-05-2011, 11:50 AM

Quote:

I worry about the Kobo because of Borders' financial troubles and I wonder what will happen to support when they completely tank.

Quote:

I looked at the Kindle next, and I must say that I kept wanting to touch the screen to do things.

All signs seem to point to the newly released Nook.

OtterBooks · 06-05-2011, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hokiemule

Sorry, I was trying to avoid posting yet another one of these, because I'll bet it can be tiring. I really need some advice, though, from the e-reader brain trust.

That's what this forum's for, and no two users' needs are identical. Plus new ereaders get released on occasion and the market changes. Mobileread folks are a friendly bunch who enjoy giving advice to new peeps.

polly · 06-05-2011, 12:04 PM

If you don't like the keyboard of the Kindle, I'd recommend the Sony 950. It has a larger screen, handles PDFs well, and is currently selling for $199 at Best Buy. It has a touch screen, so it's easy to highlight text and save it as a note. I've heard that it's possible to transfer those notes to a computer, but have never had the need to do that myself. Whether or not highlighting and exporting text will work depends a lot on the PDF. If it was scanned as an image, highlighting won't work on any reader. It would have to be OCRed first.

I would recommend going to www.inkmesh.com to do your comparison shopping for books. It searches across all of the ebook stores and is a great way to compare price and availability. Stripping DRM is easy and makes it possible to read books from Amazon on my Sony reader.

pidgeon92 · 06-05-2011, 02:01 PM

I have a 950, and find that highlighting is not very good. I use the stylus, begin to highlight the text, and the start point invariably moves.

With the Kindle, I find it much easier to highlight, and then I can add a text note that will appear immediately after the highlight, which I find more beneficial than simply highlighting text. You can also back up the highlights and notes on Amazon's servers, which is a big plus if the Kindle crashes.

ebusinesstutor · 06-05-2011, 03:46 PM

Given that you have an Android phone, why not an Android tablet? Gives the best of both worlds. Easy to copy out to word processing documents and you can install apps from all the stores so you will be able to access any ebook no matter who is carrying it.

And the tablet will let you do other things as well. I would consider a 7" Android tablet as I find the larger ones are too big for comfortable reading.

ProfCrash · 06-06-2011, 08:06 AM

Kindle is the only device that lets you sync between various reading apps. So you could read a book on your Kindle, phone, and PC and be able to pick up at the same page very easily.

Highlighting on the Kindle is easy and there is a webpage were you can print out all of your highlighted text just in case you need something specific at a meeting.

jocampo · 06-06-2011, 08:37 AM

Those, with computer books, are the same type of books I like and buy. Amazon has shown , at least to me, having a best collection of those. Also here in Texas, I have to pay taxes for B&N ebooks, not the same for Amazon's, that made me re think and turned my face to Kindle more than a year ago and extremely happy since then.

Just because the store I would say Kindle. But check titles again and prices between these two stores. If you can find same prices on B&N you should take a look on new Nook Touch, I like it. Keep in mind about the absent of landscape and good PDF support though in case you need those in a near future.

boswd · 06-06-2011, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Kindle is the only device that lets you sync between various reading apps. So you could read a book on your Kindle, phone, and PC and be able to pick up at the same page very easily.

Highlighting on the Kindle is easy and there is a webpage were you can print out all of your highlighted text just in case you need something specific at a meeting.

The nook has that as well. I do it all the time between my Droid X and my two nooks. plus there is a nook app for PC and MAC as well.

ProfCrash · 06-06-2011, 09:49 AM

You can synch between devices on the Nook? Cool, I had not heard that.

boswd · 06-06-2011, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

You can synch between devices on the Nook? Cool, I had not heard that.

Yeah it comes in handy while I'm waiting in line for my lunch at the nearby deli that is always packed during lunch hour , just crack open my droid and open up my nook app.

Poppaea · 06-06-2011, 10:08 AM

If you tried to touchscreen handle the Kindle from the start don't buy a button manoevered device! I had one as my first reader and I wanted to turn the page all the time with my fingers as if it were a physical book. I ended up buying a touchscreen device pretty quick and took the quite hefty loss of 99€ on getting rid of my button-only device.

Go for a Sony or have a look at the new Nook, but skip the Kindle, it would only drive you nuts.

EowynCarter · 06-06-2011, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Probably more than half the books I would purchase for reading on an e-reader will be business-type books (marketing, crisis communications, business, leadership, etc.).

What format are these available ? ePub ? Pdf ? mobi ?

Cybook orizon might be worth looking at. It do have highlighting.

06-04-2011, 08:47 PM	#1
hokiemule Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	Yet another "help me decide" thread. Sorry, I was trying to avoid posting yet another one of these, because I'll bet it can be tiring. I really need some advice, though, from the e-reader brain trust. My needs: Probably more than half the books I would purchase for reading on an e-reader will be business-type books (marketing, crisis communications, business, leadership, etc.). I did take some advice I read on here and looked up about 10 of the books on my Amazon wish list on Barnes & Noble, Borders and Amazon. For the most part, they were comparable, but B&N didn't have 2 of them and one or two others were a couple bucks more than Amazon. Borders seemed to be somewhat in the middle, maybe a bit closer to Amazon. When I read these books in physical form, I highlight important phrases and then hand-type those into a Word doc. I need an e-reader that will allow me to highlight things - that's a non-negotiable demand. In an ideal world, I'd love to have one that would let me compile those highlights into a list or document - but is that possible with ANY of them? I quickly looked at the Nook Color and the Kindle at a Best Buy store, but it's hard to really evaluate them because 1) the salespeople won't leave you alone, and they don't know enough about the devices to answer any questions that aren't very basic; 2) they've got the devices leashed down, and whenever I moved the Kindle, it set off an alarm; 3) they're in a place in the store that isn't well lit. I really liked the touch screen of the Nook Color, and I don't get a headache looking at a computer screen for a while. I don't need the apps they're promoting, though - I already have an Android smartphone. I looked at the Kindle next, and I must say that I kept wanting to touch the screen to do things. The keyboard seemed "outdated." As I said, though, I didn't use it much because of the alarm. The screen seemed a bit dim to me in the store, but I couldn't really assess it in different light because of the leash. I left there thinking I wanted the NC, but after thinking about it more, I'm still very unsure. I worry about the Kobo because of Borders' financial troubles and I wonder what will happen to support when they completely tank. I originally thought I wouldn't want the Kindle because it's proprietary and you're locked into Amazon (I don't have a problem with Amazon, I just hate to be tied to one store) - but from friends and from reading this forum, that's actually not an issue. I don't know how much reading I'd be doing outside. It would be nice to have that option, but it's not really a deal-breaker. I have not looked at any of the other devices, but I'm open to considering them. I'd appreciate any and all advice on this. Price is obviously a component of the overall package, but I'd weigh it against the other factors. Thanks! Kim

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06-05-2011, 11:35 AM	#2
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,296 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	You don't say where you're located or if you travel for business. Given your reading needs, I'd say those are important considerations. If you travel internationally, or are located outside the US, then the Nook is going to be a less satisfactory solution since B&N is simply not supporting it outside the US. (Yes, there are workarounds. No, I don't think they are a great solution.) Given that you found the books you wanted more on Amazon than B&N, I'd go with the Kindle. You can highlight, annotate and mark up your books easily, and those markups, etc., are available on your PC/Mac using the Kindle for PC(or Mac) application, allowing you to easily move them to a secondary document. Using a keypad rather than a touch screen is not something I think you'll long find an issue. Personally, I prefer it, but others seem to love touch screens. IAC, both work acceptably for what you want to do, and I think you'll adapt to either.

06-05-2011, 11:46 AM	#3
hokiemule Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	Thanks for the reply! I'm in the U.S. (Illinois) I travel a fair bit for business, but so far it's all U.S. travel and I don't foresee that changing.

06-05-2011, 12:04 PM	#6
polly Evangelist Posts: 454 Karma: 270240 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS 650, PocketBook 360, Astak PocketPro (RIP), Tungsten T3	If you don't like the keyboard of the Kindle, I'd recommend the Sony 950. It has a larger screen, handles PDFs well, and is currently selling for $199 at Best Buy. It has a touch screen, so it's easy to highlight text and save it as a note. I've heard that it's possible to transfer those notes to a computer, but have never had the need to do that myself. Whether or not highlighting and exporting text will work depends a lot on the PDF. If it was scanned as an image, highlighting won't work on any reader. It would have to be OCRed first. I would recommend going to www.inkmesh.com to do your comparison shopping for books. It searches across all of the ebook stores and is a great way to compare price and availability. Stripping DRM is easy and makes it possible to read books from Amazon on my Sony reader.

06-05-2011, 02:01 PM	#7
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I have a 950, and find that highlighting is not very good. I use the stylus, begin to highlight the text, and the start point invariably moves. With the Kindle, I find it much easier to highlight, and then I can add a text note that will appear immediately after the highlight, which I find more beneficial than simply highlighting text. You can also back up the highlights and notes on Amazon's servers, which is a big plus if the Kindle crashes.

06-05-2011, 03:46 PM	#8
ebusinesstutor Star Gawker Posts: 526 Karma: 6944314 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Spruce Grove, AB Canada Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Given that you have an Android phone, why not an Android tablet? Gives the best of both worlds. Easy to copy out to word processing documents and you can install apps from all the stores so you will be able to access any ebook no matter who is carrying it. And the tablet will let you do other things as well. I would consider a 7" Android tablet as I find the larger ones are too big for comfortable reading.

06-06-2011, 08:06 AM	#9
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	Kindle is the only device that lets you sync between various reading apps. So you could read a book on your Kindle, phone, and PC and be able to pick up at the same page very easily. Highlighting on the Kindle is easy and there is a webpage were you can print out all of your highlighted text just in case you need something specific at a meeting.

06-06-2011, 08:37 AM	#10
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	Those, with computer books, are the same type of books I like and buy. Amazon has shown , at least to me, having a best collection of those. Also here in Texas, I have to pay taxes for B&N ebooks, not the same for Amazon's, that made me re think and turned my face to Kindle more than a year ago and extremely happy since then. Just because the store I would say Kindle. But check titles again and prices between these two stores. If you can find same prices on B&N you should take a look on new Nook Touch, I like it. Keep in mind about the absent of landscape and good PDF support though in case you need those in a near future.

06-06-2011, 09:49 AM	#12
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	You can synch between devices on the Nook? Cool, I had not heard that.

06-06-2011, 10:08 AM	#14
Poppaea Lucifer's Bat Posts: 2,577 Karma: 20638583 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Earth/Berlin Device: Kobo Libra Colour	If you tried to touchscreen handle the Kindle from the start don't buy a button manoevered device! I had one as my first reader and I wanted to turn the page all the time with my fingers as if it were a physical book. I ended up buying a touchscreen device pretty quick and took the quite hefty loss of 99€ on getting rid of my button-only device. Go for a Sony or have a look at the new Nook, but skip the Kindle, it would only drive you nuts.

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