Kindle Electronic Reader vs Nook?

[Zen]

I like the device known as the library.

It's free

[papaver]

I love my books, I've got hundreds of them...

Imagine you have that Klindle thing, you read a book you really love... in 15 years time you remember that book and you want to read it again... do you honestly think it will be possible after the x-million upgrades of the software?

My books don't need upgrading... just a little dusting from time to time.


But that's just me, i'm really really a book lover. Love reading them, looking at them, touching them...

[MartianDestiny]

I think I'd have about the same chance of having a book after 15 years and God only knows how many moves, etc. on a Nook as in hardcopy.

Grant if I really *love* it and want to keep it forever and ever, then I'd probably buy a hardcopy (more for display purposes than fear of the digital copy vanishing). The vast majority of my books aren't that special to me (but I still have a HUGE collection that is), however, and they get discarded, given to friends, sold, etc as I move around whereas I might have kept them and even read them again if they were on a harddrive. Physical books are expensive, heavy, and bulky to ship around the country.

Just saying that both options have their drawbacks and I don't think either will replace the other.

Having just reviewed the Nook's specs on the website I will most likely be buying one when they come out. Just the fact that it will natively store, organize, search, and allow me to mark up PDFs for my research is worth more to me than the asking price. I'm tired of printing off 30 page papers only to have a very poor organization (and FORGET trying to remember what quote was in what paper a year or even a month later) especially when I know I should be keeping up with all of it.

The newspaper and periodical reading feature is also very nice. No one wants to keep those forever excepting maybe an article or two (which you could print or store) and the paper savings from reading them digitally could be enormous.

Maybe I'll even grab a book or two that I otherwise wouldn't have purchased too, maybe not.

[jobob]

I like the device known as the library.

It's free

Knew you'd chime in with that.

[papaver]

Like I said, i'm a maniac when it comes to books.

But one serious piece of advice though. I would never buy the first model of anything new. I would at least wait six months before I buy a 'gadget' so they get the chance to optimize it.

[Pax]

I like the device known as the library.

It's free

I love my books, I've got hundreds of them...

Imagine you have that Klindle thing, you read a book you really love... in 15 years time you remember that book and you want to read it again... do you honestly think it will be possible after the x-million upgrades of the software?

My books don't need upgrading... just a little dusting from time to time.


But that's just me, i'm really really a book lover. Love reading them, looking at them, touching them...

Amen sistahs! And I get to spend my days in amongst 6 million of them!

[smilingcat]

Hi all,

My name is smilingcat. I have an addiction. Walls of my living room used to be a giant book case, floor to ceiling... Now I just occupy only half a wall. Lately though, I think my addiction has crept back. I've added at least a half a dozen books onto the shelves. and I'm needing more shelf space... sigh...

Someways, Kindle or Nook would be nice. Sure beats carrying several tomes around. But then I can't do some of the favorite things. skip around read a passage or two further down or go back and re-read some of my favorite passages. Doesn't nook or kindle sort of force you to read linearly from the front to the back cover. What if I want to skim through or thumb through... I also like to dog ear pages. How do you dog ear on a kindle or nook. Be pretty hard to dog ear the reader not to mention breaking the device...

I also prefer reading print rather than staring at a screen.

If nothing else, we will have choices on how we want to read.

I'll stay with books for now.

[Pedal Wench]

My mom is an "enthusiastic" reader. But as she's gotten older, I'm glad she's discovered Kindle. She travels, for months, and I'm glad she's not lugging around a suitcase just for her books. Plus, she can adjust the size of the print and the brightness for her eyes.

And you can bookmark pages for the equivalent of dog-earing the pages.

[MartianDestiny]

Hi all,
Someways, Kindle or Nook would be nice. Sure beats carrying several tomes around. But then I can't do some of the favorite things. skip around read a passage or two further down or go back and re-read some of my favorite passages. Doesn't nook or kindle sort of force you to read linearly from the front to the back cover. What if I want to skim through or thumb through... I also like to dog ear pages. How do you dog ear on a kindle or nook. Be pretty hard to dog ear the reader not to mention breaking the device...

I also prefer reading print rather than staring at a screen.

If nothing else, we will have choices on how we want to read.

I'll stay with books for now.

I don't see how it would force you to read linearly; though it may be harder to skip through pages than just grabbing a handful. I have not played with one, but I suspect they will have ways to jump to chapters or other breaks (and from there it's not too many pages to flip), if this generation doesn't then it's coming.

Nook claims it can add notes (maybe like Mac "stickies") or comments, maybe you can flip to commented sections, which would be one way to sudo dog ear. But again, I haven't seen or played with one of these things.

Nook also claims that you will be able to search by keyword. Whether that's searching a list of books for author generated keywords or if you will be able to search within books and flip to relevant sections was unclear (I hope it's the later)

The screen is supposedly much more eye-friendly than a computer monitor, trying to get closer to the paper look. Again, haven't seen one, but that's what they claim.

Not defending them in anyway (heck haven't even seen one) just pointing out some things. I agree, at least we have choices. I suspect I'll continue reading some things on paper, but that I'll end up with one of these gadgets as well sooner or later. I bet it will beat the heck out of my computer monitor, if for no other reason than it will be much easier to curl up with.

[7rider]

I've been looking at the Sony reader. I have been reading about the Nook. The Nook looks really cool. I can totally see carting one of those around on a business trip vs. a book. I guess obsolesence would be a worry. I imagine all those albums that folks bought on 8-track tape have to be bought again in some other format. Such is the nature of changing technology. Nothing to get out of date about a book. Books are wonderful. I think an e-reader would be a great alternative (kind of like cars and bikes are alternatives to each other, but neither will necessarily replace the other. Hmmmm).

[Ritamarie]

I like the device known as the library.

It's free

Me too. When the library goes digital and I can download a book to an electronic reader, then I will buy one!

[7rider]

Me too. When the library goes digital and I can download a book to an electronic reader, then I will buy one!

The library did go digital*. And you can down load it onto a reader. Looks like you'll have to get one now! Actually, Google Books has a bunch of books that are in the public domain and available free for download. A good time to catch up on Poe, Twain, and all of the old classics that I never read (but told my lit. teachers I did!) in high school!

* Besides, you can't take the library with you when you're stuck in an airport waiting for your connection.....