Sony or Nook Touch

[Poppaea]

Originally Posted by rolof

Sorry for triple posting, but I have become aware that the nook has access to Google Books. I think that's amazing. If the kindle or the sony don't have access to that, then definitely go with the nook.

Sony does.

And the 950 has 3G/wifi.

[Ditchleyportrait]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Sony does.

And the 950 has 3G/wifi.

Since the 650 doesn't have 3G, I'd say the new nook is superior. I have wifi at home, but the 3G represents one less hassle to worry about. Whether the sony ebook store is more price-competitive doesn't matter if they don't give free 3G to access it.

Not having 3G to mess around on the net like amazon gives you might be a good thing. More time reading, less time messing around. The flipside of course is having the ability to wiki your favorite writers is great, too!

Oh, well, since the 950 is bigger and has 3g, maybe that's the choice.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by rolof

Since the 650 doesn't have 3G, I'd say the new nook is superior. I have wifi at home, but the 3G represents one less hassle to worry about. Whether the sony ebook store is more price-competitive doesn't matter if they don't give free 3G to access it.

Not having 3G to mess around on the net like amazon gives you might be a good thing. More time reading, less time messing around. The flipside of course is having the ability to wiki your favorite writers is great, too!

I have had my Kindle 2 for about 18 months and have only used the browser 3-4 times to check it out. I would rather use my iPhone to look up things on the web. The only time I turn on 3G is when I actually want to download a book otherwise it stays off. I like the fact that the ereaders in general are one trick ponies. It minimizes the distractions and lets me concentrate on reading.

[Ditchleyportrait]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

I have had my Kindle 2 for about 18 months and have only used the browser 3-4 times to check it out. I would rather use my iPhone to look up things on the web. The only time I turn on 3G is when I actually want to download a book otherwise it stays off. I like the fact that the ereaders in general are one trick ponies. It minimizes the distractions and lets me concentrate on reading.

true, but the simplicity of the browser limits your experience. for example, i went awhile without a computer (*gasp*), and i stayed in the loop with that browser, not on mobileread persay, but i was able to use the mobile espn site without a hitch!

i do see the draw of being a one trick pony you're right. if i had a hypothetical reader that was a tablet and an e-ink device, i'd probably get a lot less reading done!

[BarnettR]

Having owned a Sony 350 and now the Nook Touch I would give a slight nod to the Sony. The Nook Touch and Sony 350 screens are similar in contrast (both very good). Nook seems to refresh on page changes a little quicker though. Both touchscreens work well for eInk device. Nook has wifi, Sony is bare bones. Both feel good to hold and well made. On the minus side for Nook: it has physical page buttons that are very hard to press, make loud click. Button functions are also illogical (in my opinion of course!) - top buttons on both sides of screen go same direction, bottom's go the opposite, like Nook 1. Navigation thru library is OK but not as good as the Sony (may get hard to find things if you have a lot of books in your Nook). B&N exercises a lot of control over device - have to register it, wipes ALL of your books (even side loaded ones) when you un-register.

All in all, Nook Touch is OK but I think I would check out Kobo Touch as well.

[jedipencil]

So I've been playing with my Sony 350 for a couple of weeks now, and all I can say is I love it. It does everything I want it to do. I think now I will buy paper books only for the copies I really want to keep and/or the ones I know I will re-read and will want available to me (because, being a long-time computer user, I know all too well the problem of disappearing files, file format incompatiblites etc etc etc). Like Harry Potter books or the like.

And Calibre has made the PDF files MUCH easier to read on the device.

When my book comes out, I'll make sure it's available for Sony readers, just cuz I like the thing so much.

[JSWolf]

A rooted nook Touch with the Kindle app is comparable to the K3 wifi except better since it also handles ePub, it lighter, has no physical keyboard, and has a very nice touch screen. If B&N sold the nook Touch rooted with the Kindle app on it, Amazon would be in trouble as B&N would then have the better reader for sure.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

A rooted nook Touch with the Kindle app is comparable to the K3 wifi except better since it also handles ePub, it lighter, has no physical keyboard, and has a very nice touch screen. If B&N sold the nook Touch rooted with the Kindle app on it, Amazon would be in trouble as B&N would then have the better reader for sure.

I disagree and makes no sense to me.

You are assuming that all existing Kindle users want to get rid of the keyboard, which is not the case. The epub format is also not an issue for most of Kindle users either and the public library lending is now part of the past or will be soon.

The Kindle app is not a physical Kindle 3 and we can do the same but with full color on any Android device anyway, like an iPad or Xoom. I don't even know if a rooted Nook Touch running Kindle app does landscape, that's a very important feature.

The opposite could be true. A rooted Nook Touch could be a benefit for some B&N users who read more from B&N store but still want to be able to access Amazon's store without getting rid of their eink readers or buying a Kindle.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by jocampo

I disagree and makes no sense to me.

You are assuming that all existing Kindle users want to get rid of the keyboard, which is not the case. . . .

Absolutely, I am guessing that only about 95 percent of them would prefer a nice touch screen interface.

Assuming, that is, that all other things were equal.

Unfortunately, all other things are not quite equal, because I don think the page turn buttons on the nook were handled as well as they could have been, and some Kindle owners who are in love with the Kindles large buttons will single this out.

Obviously B&N was trying to address another, less desirable, point about the Kindle's and earlier Nook's page turn buttons - that you often end up turning pages by accident when picking up the device - but I think that they went a bit too far in the opposite direction, and made the buttons a little harder to use than they should be.

B&N can address this easily by raising, lengthening, and widening the buttons by about 50%.
(and at the same time, I would also round their edges around the corners slightly, to match the overall styling and fashion sense of the Nook STR . . . but that's just me. )

. . . But, either way, even in it's present state, the Nook STR, with the Kindle App loaded, is damn sure a better Kindle, then the Kindle would be a Nook; BECAUSE, THE KINDLE IS NO KIND OF NOOK AT ALL.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The opposite could be true. A rooted Nook Touch could be a benefit for some B&N users who read more from B&N store but still want to be able to access Amazon's store without getting rid of their eink readers or buying a Kindle.

Or, you know, it could appeal to all the consumers who were interested in getting an e-reader but held off for a variety of reasons including the limitations of the devices and being bound to the manufacturers' stores. I would never have purchased a B&N product (Color) if it were truly locked to their store. Even stock, they take epub, which gives me access to just about every e-book retailer or library BUT Amazon.

Some people may see one store or the other as a 'feature,' but many prefer access to all stores without the hassle of format-shifting and DRM-stripping.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by taosaur

I would never have purchased a B&N product (Color) if it were truly locked to their store. Even stock, they take epub, which gives me access to just about every e-book retailer or library BUT Amazon.

See? that's the comment that non Kindle users keep repeating (and no offense) but that's not accurate. As a matter of fact, is still tied up to your the user's point of view and preferred online store. I can't find my computer books on B&N store, so I sold by Nook. That does not mean I was tied up to B&N but was easier for me buying a Kindle where I can find most of my books directly from Amazon, without the extra step of removing the DRM, etc, it's just convenience.


Both stores locked you into their store. It can be the case but they are expecting from you to buy directly from them. They really want you to buy from them directly because they make money with ebooks, not ereaders not as much as with books

Regarding side loading, you can certainly sideload on Nook and sideload on Kindle 3. There is no such thing that being locked or excessive freedom because the other reader uses ePub. Most best sellers are in Amazon store or even in mobi format, there is no issue there. I've seen cases where the opposite is also true, books on Amazon but not on B&N or with a higher price.

Library lending? Amazon will provide it at the end of the year.

Conclusion: the problem is the DRM thing and B&N and Amazon they both are "guilty" of not letting the user do whatever they want after purchasing a book, without recurring to DRM removal scripts.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by delphin

Absolutely, I am guessing that only about 95 percent of them would prefer a nice touch screen interface.

Assuming, that is, that all other things were equal.

Unfortunately, all other things are not quite equal, because I don think the page turn buttons on the nook were handled as well as they could have been, and some Kindle owners who are in love with the Kindles large buttons will single this out.

Obviously B&N was trying to address another, less desirable point, about the Kindle's and earlier Nook's page turn buttons - that you often end up turning pages by accident when picking up the device - but I think that they went a bit too far in the opposite direction, and made the buttons a little harder to use than they should be.

B&N can address this easily by raising, lengthening, and widening the buttons by about 50%.
(and at the same time, I would also round their edges around the corners slightly, to match the overall styling and fashion sense of the Nook STR . . . but that's just me. )

. . . But, either way, even in it's present state, the Nook STR, with the Kindle App loaded, is damn sure be a better Kindle, then the Kindle would be a Nook; BECAUSE, THE KINDLE IS NO KIND OF NOOK AT ALL.

or just using a very small raised rubber dot to let you know exactly where the button is would be a nice solution as well. Similiar to what they did on the original nook.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Both stores locked you into their store. It can be the case but they are expecting from you to buy directly from them. They really want you to buy from them directly because they make money with ebooks, not ereaders not as much as with books

That is somewhat true of an unrooted Nook Touch, but not true of a Nook Color (which can download from any web-based store via the browser and read immediately), and not remotely true of either device once rooted or running a custom ROM, at which point they can download and read any format, DRMed or not, via the various Android apps.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by jocampo

. . . Both stores locked you into their store. It can be the case but they are expecting from you to buy directly from them. They really want you to buy from them directly because they make money with ebooks, not ereaders not as much as with books

Regarding side loading, you can certainly sideload on Nook and sideload on Kindle 3. There is no such thing that being locked or excessive freedom because the other reader uses ePub. Most best sellers are in Amazon store or even in mobi format, there is no issue there. I've seen cases where the opposite is also true, books on Amazon but not on B&N or with a higher price.

Library lending? Amazon will provide it at the end of the year.

Conclusion: the problem is the DRM thing and B&N and Amazon they both are "guilty" of not letting the user do whatever they want after purchasing a book, without recurring to DRM removal scripts.

No both are NOT the same, because ALL of the Nooks can now read DRM protected books purchased not only from B&N, but also from Kobo, Google, Sony, and Borders, WITHOUT having to resort to removing the DRM.

NONE of the Kindle models can read ANY books from ANY other DRM protected source.

Kindle owners like to bather on about the fact that there are "jus hudreds and hudreds" of books stores were you can buy "praticly anythin you want" in MOBI format without DRM (assuming that you don't want to do business with Amazon for some silly reason), but this is just a flat out lie.

If not a lie, then tell me all the Stores selling Harper Collins, Doubleday, Picket, Penguin, Scribners or ANY other mainstream publishers titles, for mainstream authors like Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, John Grisham, Lee Child, James Patterson, etc, WITHOUT DRM.

If you own a Nook, you can buy books published by EVERY SINGLE ONE of the above publishers, from EVERY SINGLE ONE of the above authors, from AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT MAJOR ONLINE BOOKSTORES, B&N, Sony, Borders, Google, and Kobo (just to name a few, there may be others); Then you can very easily sideload these books onto a Nook WITHOUT REMOVING THE DRM.

If you own a Kindle, ANY KIND OF KINDLE, so far as I know, for ALL of the above listed publishers and authors (as well as 98 percent of the current mainstream books) you are only able to buy from ONE SOURCE WITHOUT REMOVING DRM - and that source is AMAZON.

Please! Stop with this "Kindle is really just as good" stuff, you're killing me!

EDIT: Before someone points this out, the above situation is mainly true for the U.S. market. Outside the U.S. B&N can be a real pain, because you need both a credit card with a U.S. billing address, and internet proxy software to buy books. This is also true of the Kindle for most areas outside the U.S. (with the exception of Canada, the U.K. and Australia, which have direct Amazon Kindle Store access, except that you have to accept a much more limited selection of books and higher prices).

[Ditchleyportrait]

Originally Posted by delphin

No both are NOT the same, because ALL of the Nooks can now read DRM protected books purchased not only from B&N, but also from Kobo, Google, Sony, and Borders, WITHOUT having to resort to removing the DRM.

NONE of the Kindle models can read ANY books from ANY other DRM protected source.

Kindle owners like to bather on about the fact that there are "jus hudreds and hudreds" of books stores were you can buy "praticly anythin you want" in MOBI format without DRM, (assuming that you don't want to do business with Amazon for some silly reason) but this is a silly stupid lie.

If not a stupid lie, then tell me all the Stores selling Harper Collins, Doubleday, Picket, Penguin, Scribners or ANY other mainstream publishers titles, for mainstream authors like Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, John Grisham, Lee Child, James Patterson, etc, WITHOUT DRM.

If you own a Nook, you can buy books published by EVERY SINGLE ONE of the above publishers, from EVERY SINGLE ONE of the above authors, from AT LEAST FIVE DIFFERENT MAJOR ONLINE BOOKSTORES, B&N, Sony, Borders, Google, and Kobo (just to name a few, there may be others); Then you can very easily sideload these books onto a Nook WITHOUT REMOVING THE DRM.

If you own a Kindle, ANY KIND OF KINDLE, so far as I know, for ALL of the above listed publishers and authors (as well as 98 percent of the current mainstream books) you are only able to buy from ONE SOURCE WITHOUT REMOVING DRM - and that source is AMAZON.

Please! Stop with this "Kindle is really just as good" stuff, you're killing me!

but the kindle store has better selection and better prices than anybody else.