Touchscreen readers - Kindle, Kobo, Nook. Can't decide please help.

[corb]

I'm stumped. I really can't deiced which one of these three readers to buy.

What I'll use the reader for :
READING BOOKS. Almost exclusively. Extras like text processors and the like do not interest me all that much although a sketching/drawing app would be kinda nice.


What I like about the said three devices :
Kindle has a community of devs doing 3rd party apps. Which is good because out of the box it's kinda bland and mediocre. Amazon bookstore is probably the best on the net.

Nook has the best design, I think the buttons on the sides are ingenious, the squarish format does not bother me.

Kobo is least obstructive drm wise and some recent updates adding a lot of text formating tweaks has made it pretty much the perfect reader softwarewise as far as I'm concerned.


What I DO NOT like about the said three devices :

DRM. Especially on Kindle.

Lack of page turning buttons on Kindle and Kobo.


I'm kinda leaning towards Nook and Kobo but Kindle isn't all that much worse really. Any opinion is welcomed.

[ProDigit]

You'll find a lot of DRM free material (almost everything) once you focus on books for a reader that can't read DRM anyways... (all DRM can be removed from your books anyway).

The capability of reading DRM, does not restrict it from reading DRM free books. It's merely an unused gadget on your device.
Though when you buy a kindle, you'll step into a one way world, like apple, where you're expected to buy books from a DRM flooded website.
Which may be ok for as long as you have the machine, but once your kindle breaks, and you decide to buy another device (say Sony, or Nook), you will lose all those books you previously purchased, unless you find a way to strip the DRM before you lose them!


Kobo library is significantly smaller than the Nooks!

I'd go with the Nook!

[HarryT]

Amazon sell a hell of a lot of DRM-free books; it's entirely the publisher's choice whether or not a Kindle book has DRM. Amazon certainly don't insist on it.

[corb]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Kobo library is significantly smaller than the Nooks!

The thing is ... I kinda live in Europe, so... I can't really benefit from the nook library .
As far as I know anyway (if I need a credit card from a us bank I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do in my country) , I might be wrong. You tell me.

I guess I should've started with me being european. I kinda forgot the whole - can't buy books abroad part.

[HarryT]

You should add your location to your profile, so that everyone can see it. It's difficult to give you meaningful advice if we don't know where you live.

[corb]

Yeah, my bad.
I guess in hindsight the kindle makes more sense now, since I can buy books from the international Amazon site here. But the thing is I really don't like some things about the kindle besides the restrictive drm and format :
There is little to no choice of fonts and the design of the software is bleak and unintuitive.

Truth be told If I hadn't read some bad reviews about Kobo's sturdiness I would've already bought one - getting a replacement when you order out of country is tedious at best and as I've understood kobo's customer service isn't all that stellar to begin with . In comparison Amazon is known for their customer support.

Oh well, I think I might have to make a compromise and get a kindle, but it's definitely not my first choice. Of course I could always just buy a Nook and convert all the books I buy off amazon to epub, but that seems a bit tedious.

[geertm]

Originally Posted by corb

The thing is ... I kinda live in Europe, so... I can't really benefit from the nook library .
As far as I know anyway (if I need a credit card from a us bank I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do in my country) , I might be wrong. You tell me.

I guess I should've started with me being european. I kinda forgot the whole - can't buy books abroad part.

You can buy books from B&N using your PC.
Register your B&N account with an US shipping and billing address. You can use any valid US address, just Google something. The billing address is not checked, so you can use your own non-US credit card.
Install an US VPN on your PC, like Hotspot Shield (free) or alwaysVPN ($8.50).
Before buying book first start the VPN, when the VPN is active buy the books.

Books can be downloaded anywhere in the world. So if you Nook has a Wifi connection just sync your library, and you books will be downloaded to the Nook.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by geertm

Books can be downloaded anywhere in the world. So if you Nook has a Wifi connection just sync your library, and you books will be downloaded to the Nook.

There's still the hassle though, of getting things sorted out if your reader develops a fault, and it's not officially sold in the country that you're in. This is a risk I'm running myself - I have a Kindle Touch, which is only currently sold in the US, so I'd have to return it to the US and get it shipped back from there should it need repair.

[corb]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's still the hassle though, of getting things sorted out if your reader develops a fault, and it's not officially sold in the country that you're in.

That's something I've already reconciled with. Apart from some russian and obscure chinese knockoffs, you really can't get any ebook reader with official support in eastern europe.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by corb

That's something I've already reconciled with. Apart from some russian and obscure chinese knockoffs, you really can't get anything with official support in eastern europe.

Have you looked at Pocketbook devices? They are based in Ukraine, and have excellent support - both in software terms and in physical customer service - in Eastern Europe.

[corb]

I have.
I find the price of 170$ for a vizplex non touchscreen reader, quite steep.

Ironically I'd pay much less if I order a Kobo from the UK.
The Nook and the Kindle both cost as mush as the Pocketbook if I buy them from a local retailer. But I can always get the Kindle from Amazon with super saver shipping that's still much less than 170$.
Hell I can buy a car for that much here. Granted it'll be a cold war era Лада, but that's still a car. Has four wheels and an engine and whatnot.

[HarryT]

Sure, I appreciate that. It was just a suggestion . I don't know if you read Russian books or not, but that's Pocketbook's real strength.

[robko]

I won't defend Kobo customer service, but I really don't think it is any less sturdy than any of the others. I think maybe more people bitch about it because they aren't as generous as Amazon seems to be (no personal experience on that) in replacing Kindles no questions asked. I've had all 3 e-ink versions of the Kobo and as long as you treat it reasonably (like any other reader) it will last for you.

[Billi]

corb: Onyx Boox 60/x60/a60 have very good language support too but I'm afraid it's in the same price range as the Pocketbook.

Harry: corb's mother tongue Bulgarian also uses cyrillic letters, so that feature should be interesting for him anyway.

[corb]

Originally Posted by robko

I won't defend Kobo customer service, but I really don't think it is any less sturdy than any of the others. I think maybe more people bitch about it because they aren't as generous as Amazon seems to be (no personal experience on that) in replacing Kindles no questions asked. I've had all 3 e-ink versions of the Kobo and as long as you treat it reasonably (like any other reader) it will last for you.

I'm still leaning towards the Kobo, it doesn't limit me with the amount of non kobo epubs I put on it, unlike the Nook (240 megs won't even cover my A to C collection ) and it has way more text formating options than the Kindle - I prefer to read my books in style - props to forum devs for adding Palatino typeface.

I didn't get a Kobo outright because it's hardest to come by in Europe. I always have the option of making my Canadian relatives send me a late Christmas gift but I prefer not to bother them if I don't have too.

Originally Posted by Billi

very good language support

That won't be quite as beneficial for me as you'd think - I'm a purist and I prefer reading my books in the language they were written in. Less subtle nuances lost that way.
Non english books still read better when they are translated in english too, the quality of editorial work of US publishers is better than what I get here, sadly.