Amazon Kindle is the way to go. We own three of them, including the original and original Fire.
Google is your friend. There is ton of reviews of all such devices. And toasters too.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Support-NOOK-Tablet/379003185/
Lots of free books can be downloaded from archive.org or gutenberg.org
This thread has a real possibility of NOT ending well. ;)
I’m new to E readers too, TJI. I have a Kindle fire and have to figure out how to set it up.
Wherever the Nook came from(Barnes and Noble) can help you too..You’ll have to have WiFi and a password.
As for using both, I think that’s fine. There are games that they can play on the Nook too.
My ten year old granddaughter still reads voraciously. But the Nook is a fun change of pace and good for travel.
Kindle & Kindle Fire here.
The Kindle is much lighter than the Fire and more comfortable for just sitting and reading if that’s your main use. I chose Kindle over Nook, just because I felt it had more popularity & therefore staying power.
Backlights (like on a laptop) give some people major headaches, and the Kindle’s e-ink looks like paper. You need light to read it, but no backlight.
It pays to look into content. See what newspapers and magazines are available for the different companies. E-readers aren’t just for books.
Finally purchased the Kindle. Liked the keyboard, the 3G for free if I allowed what are really unobtrusive ads, and the ease of downloading from Amazon. Didn't go for the Kindle Fire. Wasn't really interested in e-magazines or other features. Just wanted access to literature. Amazon has a library of free books published prior to 1913.
So, I've downloaded all my favorite authors and some that I hadn't read! Regular sales and I scour the $.99 books for new authors. I also have some great games that were really inexpensive. All in all, I love the thing! Happy hunting for your device!
I have a first generation kindle, a kindle fire and I’m typing this on a Nexus 7. I love the Nexus unless I have to read outside. I use the amazon kindle app on my nexus and if I go to the beach I charge up my original kindle because it has the ink screen and bring that one because I can read easily in the sunlight. As for the Nook, I have only briefly looked at it in the store. You should go to a Barnes and Noble and check it out.
I am an 80 year old and have had a Kindle for almost 2 years.
If I can do it anyone can.
I also can download from my public library. (It is like a loan and disappears after 3 weeks).
Good luck !
,
I have a Nook Color. I’m basically happy with it, it’s a “walled garden” Android Tablet. That means I can get apps for it, but only at the Nook App store. They do need to be recharged every few days, especially if you’re using the built-in WiFi a lot.
If you buy an ebook at Barnes and Noble, AND have your Nook registered to the same account, it will download automatically to your Nook next time it’s in wifi range (and at any Barnes and Noble bookstore)
There are less expensive versions, black and white with “E-paper” displays that positively SIP power, I had an e-paper Kobo that I literally charged every other month for 6 hours, and was good to go.
You can also load books via the USB cable that comes with the Nook, and in any case I highly recommend you get the free “Calibre” library manager software, to manage all your ebooks, on and off your reader. It also allows you to convert between formats: default for a Nook is the open-specification EPUB format: if you buy a Kindle, the default format is the Amazon-proprietary Kindle MZW format, and often has Digital Right Management in it. DRM means they can remotely delete your book. The Calibre software CAN remove the DRM and convert to the open EPUB format.
Calibre can be downloaded from:
Nooks yes crannies not so much
I have a Nook. Probably the original version or close to it ! It works well for novels and similar, where it falls down is on text books, guidebooks and the like where you typically want to quickly flip between pages to see a map or diagram that’s being referenced on other page(s). A royal pain !
Maybe later versions do that better but I don’t think so, a friend with a Kindle had the same criticism.
One thing that’s great is the amount of free books available including lots of classics.
I’ve had a Kindle for about 2 years, my wife and daughter both just bought a Nook. Hardware wise, they are essentially the same; they got the Nook for Barnes & Chernobyl inventory. It really boils down to what type of book you plan on reading. It seems that students can access more textbooks with the Nook.
I think you would like either of them.
They are absolutely easy to use.
Buy the Kindle Fire HD
Amazon IS the future.
They will eventually take over the world.
Barnes and Noble does not have a chance.
I have the Nook color and since I am connected to Wireless for my computer I can also watch some things on my Nook. Barnes and Noble is pretty good at helping you get set up. But thank goodness I have a grandson who knows this stuff and when I don’t know what to do he comes and helps me out.
I recently bought the base model Kindle. No keyboard - no backlighting. I had need of the keyboard (there is still one you can pull up on the screen) exactly one time which was to set up the wifi connection.
I work on computer all day and have a problem with eyestrain. The Kindle (non-backlit) is the eye-friendliest screen I get to look at. If I want to read I night, I use a lamp same as I would for a paper book.
Now this Kindle is strictly an E-book reader. It has a beta web browser that does not work very well. So what. I’ve got all kinds of computers and whatever for that.
The Kindle is very easy to use, including buying and downloading books directly from Amazon or if you have some, you just copy them from a computer same as you would to a USB drive.
Price is another plus. I bought mine in Thailand but I think they are something like $80 plus tax in the US.
She likes the fact she can adjust the print size (being over age “21”). Holds a battery charge like crazy if you have the wifi/3G turned off (which she does most of the time unless she is downloading stuff to read). The beauty of the thing is the simplicity - it's for reading and does that with out buzzers and bells to clog up the works.
The only problem is that she licks her fingers before turning the pages. This has shorted out a few units (ha ha).
I like my Nook I got last Christmas. I don’t use it as much as I like. You can jailbreak it to run like a normal tablet. It runs on the Android operating system. I didn’t jailbreak mine as it will void the warranty and it works fine like it is...surfing the net and all...