Rooted Nook or Kindle?

[yomer]

I'm looking at the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch for my wife.
She will mostly read books bought from Amazon, but may also try using a public library and books in other formats than Amazon's.

My question is: Will a rooted Nook work pretty good with the Amazon app so I can use all features available to the Nook + read the books from Amazon's purchases?

Which features will I miss by not getting the Kindle.

I have some archive books on my PC in .epub, .mobi(unDRMed), etc. and she's willing to use Calibre if neccesary.

I would appreciate your opinions and experiences(specially if someone uses the rooted Nook already).

Thanks

[afv011]

The kindle app should work on a rooted nook touch, but it is not optimized for eInk, so you will get full flashes at each page turn, plus any menu or dialog will most likely cause a full screen refresh (can't test as mine's not rooted). You are likely to get ghosting as well.

If you want to buy books from different sources, another approach would be to remove DRM and sideload the DRM-free book to your device.

[yomer]

Originally Posted by afv011

The kindle app should work on a rooted nook touch, but it is not optimized for eInk, so you will get full flashes at each page turn, plus any menu or dialog will most likely cause a full screen refresh (can't test as mine's not rooted). You are likely to get ghosting as well.

If you want to buy books from different sources, another approach would be to remove DRM and sideload the DRM-free book to your device.

So would you recommend getting the Kindle and sideload unDRMed content to it, or getting the Nook and "somehow" download Amazon bought titles to my pc and "sideload" them?

[Barbara1955]

Why not just get a Tablet... Most come with Kindle & Nook aps installed.

[yomer]

She wants an e-Ink device just for reading. It must be light and with good battery life, hence my decision between Kindle Touch adn Nook Simple Touch

[Cpl Punishment]

Originally Posted by yomer

She wants an e-Ink device just for reading. It must be light and with good battery life, hence my decision between Kindle Touch adn Nook Simple Touch

Get her both and return the one she doesn't like....next

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by yomer

I'm looking at the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch for my wife.
She will mostly read books bought from Amazon, but may also try using a public library and books in other formats than Amazon's.

My question is: Will a rooted Nook work pretty good with the Amazon app so I can use all features available to the Nook + read the books from Amazon's purchases?

Which features will I miss by not getting the Kindle.

I have some archive books on my PC in .epub, .mobi(unDRMed), etc. and she's willing to use Calibre if neccesary.

I would appreciate your opinions and experiences(specially if someone uses the rooted Nook already).

Thanks

For library books, I would go with a T1. You can borrow library eBooks without needing to use a computer. Plus it can be rooted since it runs Android. It's quite a nice reader.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by yomer

I'm looking at the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch for my wife.
She will mostly read books bought from Amazon, but may also try using a public library and books in other formats than Amazon's.

My question is: Will a rooted Nook work pretty good with the Amazon app so I can use all features available to the Nook + read the books from Amazon's purchases?

Which features will I miss by not getting the Kindle.

I have some archive books on my PC in .epub, .mobi(unDRMed), etc. and she's willing to use Calibre if neccesary.

I would appreciate your opinions and experiences(specially if someone uses the rooted Nook already).

Thanks

Kindle!

If you're going to read or buy from Amazon and you want an eink reader, it's the best choice.

To support my argument

-You now have support for public libraries
-Better customer support
-Ability to return books if you don't like it or made a mistake (you can with B&N but it's a pain )
-Landscape mode on wifi and keyboard models

Please, don't root eink or tablet devices. Get a device that you want or like from the very beginning. You will be a slave or future unsupported patches that keep breaking every time B&N release a new firmware.

Some advantages if you buy a Nook though ...

-Ability to read ebooks for free, 1 hr I think, in store
-More feedback or customer support with initial buy, due physical store with B&N representatives (although this can be a lottery)

Not because I own a Kindle, but after Amazon released the public library feature plus reduced the price of several of their models, I no longer see major advantages of getting a Nook, besides supporting B&N stores and their brick stores, of course.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by yomer

So would you recommend getting the Kindle and sideload unDRMed content to it, or getting the Nook and "somehow" download Amazon bought titles to my pc and "sideload" them?

I would buy the Nook. With the Nook you can buy from different stores and it just works, except amazon which you have to remove DRM and convert. With the kindle is the other way around. Of course if you only buy from amazon, then it doesn't matter.

[Kaaya]

I prefer Kindle over Nook as it I think promises more potential as compared to other similar devices.

With regard to file formats, there are many standalone apps and free online conversation tools such as http://www.clippingsconverter.com that can convert kindle clippings to other convenient formats such as word or pdf.

[Dopedangel]

Originally Posted by afv011

I would buy the Nook. With the Nook you can buy from different stores and it just works, except amazon which you have to remove DRM and convert. With the kindle is the other way around. Of course if you only buy from amazon, then it doesn't matter.

If you are willing to root.
I would recommend a rooted nook touch its way more customizable and it becomes basically an eink android tablet and although she just wants to use it for reading. I really like the ability to check and reply to my email.
If you go with nook touch install coolreader for her it reads most drm free ebook formats and is extremely customizable plus Buggins its coder is on mobileread and monitors its thread and is quick to fix any problems etc.
Here is a video of someone using different apps on nook touch


"This is just a quick video of me using a rooted Nook Simple Touch for 6 minutes. I show off the Amazon Kindle app, the Kobo app, the Overdrive Library app, Mango Manga reader, and Aldiko with both an ePub and a PDF.
"

[tym]

IMHO I would be real careful about rooting either. You can "brick" them both. Which means they wont work. Can not be fixed.

With firmware updates, that could create more issues with one thats been rooted.

I came close to trying it. In the end. NO!! Not after reading some horror stories about the process. If what I wanted was that big of deal, I would go with something other than a simple e reader.

You can get amazon application for your pc. Thats how I buy my books. Its called kindle for P.C.

Now every book I buy from amazon is there. After I get my ebook, I pull it out of my document folder, Deal with the drm, Convert it to epub, and Side load my nook.

I know you can side load a Kindle just as easy, or so I am told.

Now I keep all my ebooks sorted. Some by authors, some by what they are, horror, monsters and so on and so on. I even keep a tiny txt file to tell me what the book is about.

Now I keep them backed up twice. Once on a slave drive, then every once in awhile I burn them to dvd. You can fit TONS of books on one dvd. I have between 5 to 700 and its only 1.63 gb. A dvd will hold 4 gb.

Now while I am not sure. It makes sense a rooted e reader will eat more battery, but i don't know. With my nook, unrooted, I get about 50 hours of reading time before I have to recharge.

Best of luck, Hope that helps.

[yomer]

So many POVs about which to get.

The way I see it now is that if I get a Kindle Touch, I will have to sideload any unDRMed book with Calibre and enjoy Amazon buys in their original format. If I get the Nook ST, I will have to extract the books from the Kindle for PC app and unDRM and sideload them, unless I decide to root the device, install the Kindle app and live with the full and double page refreshes(which will eat up more battery life). Or I can use CoolReader instead of the Kindle app to read the unDRMed amazon books.

Damn it, both options seem equally attractive. And I won't consider the option of buying both and return one of them.



Someone should hack the Kindle app to make it eink friendly.
Can I sideload any unDRMed book to the Kindle Touch using Calibre?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Cpl Punishment

Get her both and return the one she doesn't like....next

This is absolutely correct. They are very different physical devices and she may have a strong preference.

If you are willing to strip DRM and you use Calibre, then bookstore and format becomes essentially irrelevant and you can read near anything on anything.

If she really has no strong preference to the device (which I'd find hard to believe) then get the one tied to the bookstore you expect to use the most, Amazon or B&N, and let the integrated bookstore convenience be the deciding factor.

ApK

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by afv011

I would buy the Nook. With the Nook you can buy from different stores and it just works, except amazon which you have to remove DRM and convert. With the kindle is the other way around. Of course if you only buy from amazon, then it doesn't matter.

Sorry, that's not accurate.

You can buy from other stores that are not Amazon as well. This has been extensively discussed here. The only requirement is being MOBI format and not having DRM protection. I do have several paid ebooks from O'Reilly on my Kindle keyboard and Kindle for iOs. I did not convert anything.

As a matter of fact, you can also buy DRM free ePub and read those on Kindle via Calibre conversion, It takes 60 sec to do it.

I actually recommend checking online stores instead. Besides the device ergonomics or features, ability to find and buy the books you like is really important.

Buying an X or Y device and later find that the ebooks are really expensive or the titles we want aren't there, takes the brand argument out of any discussion, in my opinion.

Right now in USA, biggest online ebook stores are B&N and Amazon. So checking 10 titles on each one and comparing prices would be a better idea.