Kindle 3rd Generation Review: Dislikes

You’re correct, but there are some really great downloads on the site.

The Federalist Papers being one.

Many of the books are available in HTML which includes illustrations. Not a good form to print, but certainly readable.

Yes. My Kindle's backed up on a flash drive. If it loses memory or is lost itself, I can replicate it in minutes.

Except for PDF files you've put on the thing, your Kindle is backed up at Amazon. If you lose or destroy a Kindle, you buy a new one, attach it to your account, and tell Amazon to download your books to it.

Books you buy from Amazon are encrypted and protected with some sort of digital rights management scheme. If you pick up a random Kindle and load the files onto it, you won't be able to read them because the Kindle is not attached to your Amazon account and therefore cannot decrypt/is not permitted to read them.

Fundamentally, an e-book bought from Amazon is a lease. You can only read it on machines they allow you to read it on. If Amazon goes away (as has happened for some e-music retailers in the past), you'll no longer have access to your e-books.

That said, I love the Kindle. Just wish I could buy stuff from Amazon in plaintext or an open format so I had more confidence in its permanence.

I downloaded all my Kindle books onto my computer and then downloaded them to my Kindle and moved the files to a Sony storage device on my USB port.

No matter what happens to Amazon, I have my ebooks.

I’m trying to decide whether to buy a Kindle or a Nook.

I’m stuck on deciding for two reasons, color and text clarity:

I’ve read that the Kindle text looks the most like a printed page and is easiest on the eyes, but it is only black and white.

While the Nook is in color, but its text may not look as clear.

I believe the Nook just came out with a new model—and I’m wondering if this new model has clearer text.

I’m also wondering which device is capable of displaying the largest sized text.

Any advice?

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