Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy?

CRAVE - CNET ^ | September 4, 2010 6:29 PM PDT | John P. Falcone

[vidbizz]

I have a kindle. I can sync to where I read in my iPhone, pc & kindle. Battery lasts for about 2 weeks w/o recharge. Free Internet for download. And one of the coolest parts is finding many self published authors. Many sell their books for less
than $2, just to get their name out. It has introduced me to many new titles. Oh, it weights about 6 oz & I can read it in sunlight.

[Larry Lucido]

Books? You spoiled young whipper snappers. Give me a worn out scroll any day. Or a chiseled stone!

[JerseyHighlander]

I use Calibre to maintain my EBook library.. even with a Q8200 CPU it takes a long time to convert a book from PDF or a DRM format into EPUB format with Calibre.

If you plan ahead of time this isn’t a problem... if you convert every new book as you acquire it, it isn’t a problem.
if you are trying to pick a few books the night before a trip while trying to pack, it is a big problem.

[Kirkwood]

I’ve gone to 95% audiobooks. The 5% is for those books I can’t get in the audio format. Carrying an ipod/mp3 device is much easier than a kindle or ipad, plus I can listen to books while doing other things, or switch over to music. I go through a book a week on average.

[Rome2000]

The Iphone kindle app works just fine. Reading Teddy Roosevelts extraordinary account of his South American explorations, free of charge.
Stark contrast to the post Potus exploits of recent times.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...somebody might want to know about it...found this at Crave-Cnet:

Alex eReader now shipping

[aft_lizard]

I think iPad has many benefits but for reading the e-paper readers are far far superior on the eyes. If you plan on reading lots of magazines and other color driven platforms iPad all the way but if it is just books then you are doing your eyes are severe disservice by going with the iPad.

[aviator]

I have both a Kindle and iPad. I prefer to read on the Kindle, but it is limited in what you can place on it. The iPad is more flexible with an ability to download documents in .pdf or .doc without being limited to Amazon. Also, one can do email and web browsing on the iPad.

[JerseyHighlander]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/04/09/ereader-mega-roundup-spring-design-alex-vs-barnes-noble-nook-vs-amazon-kindle-2-vs-kindle-dx-detailed-comparison/

So, my personal list of drawbacks,
Kindle, no EPUB, no microSD
Nook, no web browser without rooting, which voids the warranty.
Alex EReader, doesn’t support mobi format. No auto rotation (huge downside, wtf, accelerometers are so cheap). NO 3G/4G etc yet.

And the Alex EReader can be rooted to custom Android 2.2 ROMs which then adds a web browser which I need for some of my EBook formats (technical manuals written in HTML), you can buy books through Borders bookstore, and once rooted to Android I can do much more with it than any other EReader... including the IPad.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Nothing wrong with that...got a lot of books around here.

Working my way thru Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel...The Fates of human Societies at the moment.

Was getting an eye exam and had the book with me and the medical gal had read it and said he had three followon books.

Going to check on whether he has done Ebook versions now.

AND:

Diamond - Guns, Germs and Steel torrent

Not sure what this torrent website is about.

[Domandred]

Third party ebook reader for smart devices. Java based (I believe) so should work on anything that supports Java. Free download.

Have it on a PDA, my cell phone, my notebook computer, and desktop. All synced so if I read on one and move to a different one my bookmarks also stay.

Good for just reading, however won’t do things like the personal annotations and such.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Let me see if I can find that thread about the tablet coming out this fall that has a display that can do both color and eInk...Company from India....thread has some video of it.

[SkyDancer]

Most libraries use Nook for their E-books .....

[BunnySlippers]

I love audiobooks too. Going hog wild on Audible this month!

[MrEdd]

You might like one of these:

http://www.pocketables.net/2010/08/toshiba-libretto-w100-unboxing-and-first-impressions.html

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Kindle should be used to replace school and college textbooks. But I agree with you on books for like summer reading.

[Mamzelle]

Blockbuster is busting, but I haven’t heard about B&N yet. I’m sure it’s got problems like every retailer. Every B&N I go into seems to have plenty of Starbucks-slurping customers.

[BunnySlippers]

I like reading on the iPad but my gripe is that Apple has neglected the iPad bookstore.

Harumph!

[MrEdd]

Willo stick with My Aztak Pocketpro and my wife’s Sony Prs-505 for now.

I will probably get a Samsung Tab when they hit the US, unless I can get a US version Dell Streak in red.

I am hoping large color E-paper units hit the market in a couple years for comics - say a 13 inch mirasol screen.

Good times for readers, however awful the political situation is.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Here we go:

iPad killer from, uh, India? - But is there a market for a tablet computer?

*******************************EXCERPT INTRO*****************************************

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- A new round of pad computers with various features all missing from Apple Inc.'s iPad is coming. Curiously, the most interesting one appears to be coming out of India using the hottest new Nvidia Corp. chip to power it.

Already previewed at various international trade shows, a look at the specifications tells me that unless the thing simply does not work as advertised this could be the hottest and most usable pad computer on the market.

From a company called Notion Ink, it's called the Adam. Compared to an iPad it has a bigger screen, twice the battery life, all sorts of needed connectors including an HDMI connection, camera, multi-tasking and more.

And it is supposed to come out at $350.

What's interesting about this machine is the fact that it will be the first great test of the newest Nvidia Tegra cpu/gpu chip which technically should be an ideal chip for this sort of machine.

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And from post #27.....

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Pixel Qi have announced that their first batch of production displays will be ready shortly, and confirmed that the first recipients for the panels will be “specialized tablet devices with multi-touch”.  Project lead Mary Lou Jepsen does not reveal the identity of the manufacturer using the Pixel Qi screens – which work as color LCDs in regular lighting, but can be read as easily as e-ink panels in direct sunlight – but did say that the company’s customers will be at CES with her company.

She also says that “increasingly these screens will be super-slim, but some customers prefer the standard thickness”. It seems likely that one or more or Pixel Qi’s initial customers would use the displays for ebook readers, since the technology would both support video and low-power text display.