Nook vs. Kobo vs. others around 150USD

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Originally Posted by boswd

Going back to try the Kindle again and using that little joystick to navigate made it feel very "80ish like I was pac man or something.

Man but I loved Pac-Man! It's like I relive those fond memories in addition to reading!

Okay jesting aside the joystick is in a great location. I'll admit I'm guilty of reading a lot on my Kindle and take lots of notes as well as look up words regularly. Having the joystick where it is makes it real easy to keep the focus and momentum going. There is no action needed to bring up a navigation menu or start typing. Just moving the joystick immediately moves the cursor in the direction you want. Also the placement of the joystick is in the right location.

Admittedly it's not as sleek looking as the nook's touch screen. But the form factor and usability is a much better expiernece on the Kindle.

Originally Posted by boswd

to me there are just too many extra features that the Nook has that the Kindle doesn't

but again everyone has their own tastes and needs

either way whichever one you choose, this price war is just great

Right it comes down to personal taste and finding out what feature are most important to one. Like yourself Kindle has many extra feature over the nook that I cannot even start considering the nook as an option.

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[=X=]

Originally Posted by Noah98

As a new Nook owner who really has no loyalty to any company, I can tell you three advantages that the Nook has over the Kindle that many Kindle owners neglect to acknowledge.

1. User replaceable Battery
2. Micro SD card slot for extra storage
3. Adobe Digital Editions Support (Check out books from the public Library)

Add these factors plus wifi, color touchscreen (some love it, some hate it, but at the very least the page swipe option is very nice),

I don’t think "neglect to acknowledge" is the correct wording here, but rather are indifferent to. For some people the features that you listed are huge, and that is fair. But for many they are non issues.

To many a user replacable battery is just not that important for a battery, when the battery life is 5-7+ yrs. That is a huge amount of time for an electronic device. How often do you need to replace it. Secondly Amazon will to it for you, and if your more inclined to do it yourself there is a tutorial on Youtube that shows just how easy it is.

On you other two points I came from a SONY PRS-505 and had those two of those features, and they did not make a difference to me. Here’s why 2GB is a huge amount of data, on my SONY I did actually get about 1.5GB of files in there and even with collections it was sluggish and difficult to find books I wanted to read.

With the Kindle and it’s constant connection, I don’t need to carry all those books on my device, when I need a book I can go to FeedBooks, Manybooks, PG, my calibre server , mobiread, and download the book I want.

Adobe DRM a couple points, first I buy most of my books, because I like keeping most of my books around, second my local library doesn’t support ebook lending so I cannot take advantage on it. Third most libraries to date have a very meager selection of eBooks available.

There are features on the Kindle I find absolute important and must have, but I have not mentioned them because I know they are MY personal. Getting into a my device is better than yours because if Feature XYZ is just silly.
The real way to measure how good a device is is to determine you needs and find the device that suits you.

For me Text-to-Speech, Highlighting, note taking , and a selection of books I want to read are huge. Nook & B&N just don’t measure up in these areas. Am I going to say the nook is yesterdays product, no those are my needs and not necessarily everyone else.

Originally Posted by Noah98

I can't argue with your point about replacing the battery because the video you linked to makes it seem easy. However, it does require a screwdriver and minor disassembly. Certainly not as easy as the Nook.

Your point about ADE support is suspect. I suppose it could be said about every ereader in the world that all you have to do is A) Strip the DRM B) Convert in Calibre. C) Erase when you are done. Using this logic, format and store distribution are irrelevant. This process is not as easy as it sounds (and illegal). If you are going to do all that, you might as well just download a pirated copy of the book in a kindle supported format (I don't condone this).

Just an FYI legality of striping of DRM is country dependent, not illegal everywhere. For instance in the US it is legal.
[QUOTE=Noah98;986185]
Your point about Wikipedia, Google Reader, and Gmail is valid, but I believe the Nook's browser can at least do all of this over wifi, although not everywhere unless it is soft rooted. However, these are features that could be integrated with future firmware updates.
I tried to stay away from minor quibbles in my analysis, because no device is perfect, and all devices have their strengths and weaknesses

Originally Posted by Noah98

I think an easy to replace battery, Native support of library books and ADE content, and expandable memory are significant advantages. Some would even include the "Lend Me" option as significant. My old Atari 2600 was probably a more reliable piece of hardware with better construction than an XBOX 360, but I would have a hard time convincing anyone to trade with me!

Personally I really dislike when people start talking about “softrooting” as a viable alternative to adding features to a device, it void the warranty and breaks the contract the user agreed to when purchasing the device.

Secondly most people that use the “softrooting” argument start to get incongruent in their arguments.. for instance
I find it interesting that comment on how difficult format shifting a book is, but then talk as if softrooting is any easier, not only that but the risk of sofrooting a device is much larger than shifting a book format. With format shifting if something goes wrong you ruin the final book format. If softrooting goes wrong you can brick your device and are without warranty.

Second you talk about features you open up when you soft root your nook but fail to point out that the same is true with the kindle. If you want to play Soduku you can visit several web sites that have suduko on the web or you can visit the kindle hacks web site
http://www.griffin.net/2010/01/hacki...nd-sudoku.html

Aside from the few inconveniences you do bring up some valid points. Personally I fee the better device is the device that best suits the individual needs.

In the end all eInk devices are great and I believe most people would be content with any eInk they chose.
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[BenLee]

Originally Posted by Noah98

Your point about ADE support is suspect. I suppose it could be said about every ereader in the world that all you have to do is A) Strip the DRM B) Convert in Calibre. C) Erase when you are done. Using this logic, format and store distribution are irrelevant. This process is not as easy as it sounds (and illegal). If you are going to do all that, you might as well just download a pirated copy of the book in a kindle supported format (I don't condone this).

If the book is available through a library and the only thing stopping someone from reading that book is a format problem, I don't think it's really that bad. Just make sure that you really do get rid of it after you're done and follow library protocol. That's what libraries are there for anyway. To help people get a hold of books for a short time so that at least they have access to it. Only difference is now they're digital. However, they are not here for someone to build a digital library without paying, so I would not agree with doing things that way.

[Noah98]

[QUOTE==X=;986644]I don’t think "neglect to acknowledge" is the correct wording here, but rather are indifferent to. For some people the features that you listed are huge, and that is fair. But for many they are non issues.

To many a user replacable battery is just not that important for a battery, when the battery life is 5-7+ yrs. That is a huge amount of time for an electronic device. How often do you need to replace it. Secondly Amazon will to it for you, and if your more inclined to do it yourself there is a tutorial on Youtube that shows just how easy it is.

On you other two points I came from a SONY PRS-505 and had those two of those features, and they did not make a difference to me. Here’s why 2GB is a huge amount of data, on my SONY I did actually get about 1.5GB of files in there and even with collections it was sluggish and difficult to find books I wanted to read.

With the Kindle and it’s constant connection, I don’t need to carry all those books on my device, when I need a book I can go to FeedBooks, Manybooks, PG, my calibre server , mobiread, and download the book I want.

Adobe DRM a couple points, first I buy most of my books, because I like keeping most of my books around, second my local library doesn’t support ebook lending so I cannot take advantage on it. Third most libraries to date have a very meager selection of eBooks available.

There are features on the Kindle I find absolute important and must have, but I have not mentioned them because I know they are MY personal. Getting into a my device is better than yours because if Feature XYZ is just silly.
The real way to measure how good a device is is to determine you needs and find the device that suits you.

For me Text-to-Speech, Highlighting, note taking , and a selection of books I want to read are huge. Nook & B&N just don’t measure up in these areas. Am I going to say the nook is yesterdays product, no those are my needs and not necessarily everyone else.



Just an FYI legality of striping of DRM is country dependent, not illegal everywhere. For instance in the US it is legal.

Originally Posted by Noah98

Your point about Wikipedia, Google Reader, and Gmail is valid, but I believe the Nook's browser can at least do all of this over wifi, although not everywhere unless it is soft rooted. However, these are features that could be integrated with future firmware updates.
I tried to stay away from minor quibbles in my analysis, because no device is perfect, and all devices have their strengths and weaknesses
Personally I really dislike when people start talking about “softrooting” as a viable alternative to adding features to a device, it void the warranty and breaks the contract the user agreed to when purchasing the device.

Secondly most people that use the “softrooting” argument start to get incongruent in their arguments.. for instance
I find it interesting that comment on how difficult format shifting a book is, but then talk as if softrooting is any easier, not only that but the risk of sofrooting a device is much larger than shifting a book format. With format shifting if something goes wrong you ruin the final book format. If softrooting goes wrong you can brick your device and are without warranty.

Second you talk about features you open up when you soft root your nook but fail to point out that the same is true with the kindle. If you want to play Soduku you can visit several web sites that have suduko on the web or you can visit the kindle hacks web site
http://www.griffin.net/2010/01/hacki...nd-sudoku.html

Aside from the few inconveniences you do bring up some valid points. Personally I fee the better device is the device that best suits the individual needs.

In the end all eInk devices are great and I believe most people would be content with any eInk they chose.
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To respond to your response (I know sounds silly) I used the wording "neglect to acknowledge" because I have noticed that many posts about "why the Kindle is a better device" mention the minor differences between the two devices, and fail to mention the ones that I listed. They say that the Nook is a sidegrade or downgrade without giving a clear picture of all the differences.

Second, if you read my post carefully, I didn't recommend "softrooting." Where did I say that "softrooting" was easier than shifting a book format? Actually, I would personally never take the risk. What I posted was "although not everywhere unless softrooted." I was acknowledging that the Nook can't browse on 3G unless you mess with the firmware. Which is not worth the risk in my opinion. And, what features did I discuss that "softrooting" opens up?

The intention of my post was not a "Getting into a my device is better than yours because of Feature XYZ." I think that when someone is looking for advice on what device to get, they should be able to see the strengths and weaknesses from both sides. I just felt as though the features that I mentioned were being left out of many discussions. I fully acknowledge that those features will not appeal to everyone.

To give my honest, personal opinion, I prefer the Nook to the Kindle, but I don't think that it is a better device. They are both excellent ereaders. I like the Nook's features more, some of my friends like the Kindle's features more. If I am asked which one to get, I would recommend the Nook unless some of the Kindle's advantages are important to the buyer.

[Noah98]

Also, I don't have a problem with someone stripping the DRM, Coverting with Calibre, and then erasing when done. I only mentioned the legal issue because I didn't want anyone getting the impression that I was recommending it. It just seems like a lot of work when the end result is the same as pirating and then erasing. Although pirating opens up all sorts of other problems...

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by Noah98

Also, I don't have a problem with someone stripping the DRM, Coverting with Calibre, and then erasing when done. I only mentioned the legal issue because I didn't want anyone getting the impression that I was recommending it. It just seems like a lot of work when the end result is the same as pirating and then erasing. Although pirating opens up all sorts of other problems...

If a book is freely available in a library as an ebook, I wouldn't be too against pirating that title and erasing it. It's the pirating of books that are NOT available in libraries that I have a problem with.

[Noah98]

I agree with that. I think if you are doing things in the spirit of the DRM's intended effect, then why not.

[BenLee]

Originally Posted by Noah98

I agree with that. I think if you are doing things in the spirit of the DRM's intended effect, then why not.

However, you may have a point in that I don't think most piraters are doing things in that spirit. They're more likely to pirate just about any book and probably not delete them at all in the future.