Kindle vs Nook

[hotrod]

Ok, thinking about christmas for the girls, whats more preferable, a kindle or a nook?? whats the difference?? opinions and critiques sought please..

[jss06]

The Nook can use a SD memory expansion card for storage. The Kindle is restricted to only what is in the device.

For reading/magazines the Nook appears to be the reader of choice. The Kindle is better liked for playing media as the controls are easier to use.


I plan on getting a Nook Tablet after Christmas. The deciding factory for me was the ability to use the SD card to expand the memory.

[wired]

I have a Kindle with WiFi and 4G (not the new Kindle Fire(?). Many times I have been places where there is no wifi available and the Kindle just uses the 4g to download. I absolutely love it. The best thing about it is that the print is actually like reading a book - very little strain on the eyes. My neighbor just got the new Kindle - again, not sure of the name (Fire?) - but it is color and can download movies,etc it is more like an Ipad or tablet type device. I helped her set it up and what I did not like about it (as with any tablet type device used for reading) is that the screen is backlit. Backlit screens cause a LOT of eyestrain. If your main use will be reading only, I would stick with the black and white, non backlit screen type like I have.
There are also lots of free books available for the Kindle from Amazon. I have read free books that I never would have purchased - the entire Tarzan series, Braham Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, The African Queen, etc. All free!
Good luck in your purchase.

[Kathy53]

I owned a nook for a day shy of a year. Until I dropped it. While I owned it it worked pretty good for me. The Nook will let you put other e books on it that you may have purchased from another source than Barns and Noble as long as the format is compatable. I have never done it but was told that I could and other people have. I am not sure Kindle lets you. I had the plain Nook not the colored one. On the reviews that I read on the Nook tablet and the Kindle Fire I would prefer the Nook tablet except You can not download movies onto it. You would only be able to watch movies on it if you had WiFi available. They are hopeing to have that feature in a year. With the Kindle you can. but Kindle has less space and does not have a sd card to expand it.

Nook seems to have more e-books for under 5 than kindle does, also free ones.

What I don't understand is why the ebooks cost the same or more than the paperbacks. Whether Nook or Kindle.

I replaced my nook with a pandigital and it has it quirks. Only thing that I really like about the pandigital is I can read at night without a light.

[deceiver]

iPad 2

[Ratkity]

The kindle fire and ipad are oranges and apples (pun, sorry). The $500 ipad runs circles around the $200 Kindle Fire. I have the e-ink Kindle and the Kindle Fire. I love the Kindle Fire, but it's taken me a while to figure out work arounds for a couple of things. Get the e-ink Kindle for ease of use!

Get the ipad if you want to run apps and surf the net and write short emails. Get a kindle if you want to read. Get both and drive yourself nuts! LOL.

Whichever you get, dropbox is a great app to get apps and sideloading books from other sources on either device.

Oh.. you asked about nook too. Go to the mobileread forums and check out their reviews of each device. I don't have any experience with the nook, sorry.

Hope I haven't thoroughly confused you by muddying the waters.

Hugs,
Ratkity

[greekspeedoman]

I've owned both a Nook & Kindle keyboard 3. Kindle is better in my opinion. I teach my classes from it everyday because I can load my own documents onto it. It responds faster than nook. The nook has expandable SD which is nice to have in the device. Kindle has a free cloud drive (not a replacement for SD but still more virtual memory).

Either of these are good readers in my opinion. What I would focus more on is not the device but the service itself. The devices will eventually wear out or become obsolete but your books are always with that service. I say that you pick the service that you want to be committed to for several years. Then buy their device.

[bonnie]

I spent months making up my mind. In the end I got a Nook Color. It allows expansion, has options for read to me books for the Grandkid, and with the exception of damages from drops is really robust. If you do something to it and the software fails, you can take it into any B&N and will be able to have the original software and updates reloaded. It reads and uses more types of ebook formats.

I also liked the page turn on it better. The Kindle was too jumpy.

I rooted my Nook. That means it now acts like a tablet. I have the Kindle app loaded along with Audible. With the new Nook Tablet, there's even more options.

I bought the best piece of equipment for what I wanted to do, which was read.

Bonnie

[eaglesdare]

nook, kindles???

what about tablets? i have no idea what these devices are, but i did order one for my grandson. i hope it is ok.

[Ratkity]

nook, kindles???

what about tablets? i have no idea what these devices are, but i did order one for my grandson. i hope it is ok.

Not to hijack the thread, but tablets are different monsters than readers (despite some cross over abilities). If you are great at exploiting operating systems (called rooting) and adding unsupported apps, you can make your nook act more like a tablet. My best friend loves his ACER tablet while my bro in law swears by his ipad2. I saw the ipad2 at Thanksgiving and liked it (so did the kiddos). The 4 yr old girl played all sorts of cute little learning games on it (was too cute to see her computer proficiency - complete with eyeroll when it was pointed out).

The ACER has a usb port for transferring files while the ipad2 lacks this. Dropbox app fixes this.

Back to the kindle vs nook - the point about the 3G/4G + WiFi Kindle (Kindle Fire is only WiFi) was a good one. When I don't have WiFi, the 3G is free and I can still download stuff (well, I can use my smart phone as a wifi hotspot and still have kindle fire connectivity if I want, but that's advanced stuff).

Hugs,
Ratkity

[packerz4]

I have the Kindle Fire. Just got it on Sunday. I love it. I can surf the internet, download a movie in a flash, and read... Had a nook, prefer the ability to surf the net too. It lets me check facebook, and email when I'm away without lugging my laptop around.

In my opinion it is compatible with the iPad without the price tag. And I'm not locked into the iTunes store... It would take hours to download a movie to my iPod touch, I can download one in 5 minutes on the Kindle Fire.

I like to grab a movie when I'm going to fly. (which I do a lot) I really like the Android operating system...

Good luck with your decision!

tk

[ParTaxer]

My wife has had both and much prefers the Kindle.

[jstrubberg]

We have and use both in our household. The Kindle has better controls and has given us less trouble, but there are more books available for the Nook.

One thing I love about the Kindle is that I'm not strapped to Amazon as my only source for books. A lot of classics are available for no charge. I can email those (or anything else) right to my Kindle instead of paying for something that is public domain. Not sure if you can do that with the Nook or not.

You can also check out ebooks from most libraries now. There's usually a waiting list just because it's a new feature and there aren't a lot of titles available yet.


I don't reccommend the Fire if you're main purpose is reading. It uses an LCD screen which is very hard to see in bright sunlight. Sunglasses, especially polarized ones, make the problem much worse.


Be warned, you will need a reading light no matter which one you buy. Neither has a built in backlight. There are good cases available for both that have a reading light built in.

[lamacose]

My son works for B & N. My wife, son & daughter love their Nooks. On Fridays a free book is offered. If I ever learn to read I will get on for myself.

[Gary and Cheri]

Both Barnes and Noble and Amazon are protecting their brand. I have talked with both and each indicated that while their top of the line readers are accepting apps but they will not accept thier competitors app. These top of the line readers are just short of a full blown tablet that will accept both B&Ns app and Amazons. Buy a tablet and you can then get your book from the cheaper of the two.

Asus has a tablet that is 10 inchs instead of the two readers 7 inch screen. It has been seen for under $300 and would allow you to read from both sellers.

If you are dead set on buying from one of the two sellers then the B&N SD card allows the greatest memory and if you are into magazines B&Ns selection is far better than Amazon.

Amazon is reportably easier for the computer challenged individual and it is $50 cheaper. Wait 6 months and I bet the Fire will have an SD card.

Gary