[Avista]

Does anyone have a Kindle or Nook? What do you think of it? I see they are about $250., Worth the money?

[l2ridehd]

I have the Kindle. It is great in that I now never run out of books and I can get almost any book in a couple minutes. The only downside I have found is being able to pass the books on once read. I am buying my wife a Kindle for Christmas so we can swap for that very reason. I wish they had a feature where once you buy a book, you could move it to another Kindle or device so someone else could read it. Maybe copyright laws prevent that. But having read about 20 books on it so far, would buy it again. I researched both the Kindle and Sony reader before buying, but the differences were minor. Just seemed to be more books available that I liked for the Kindle.

[RVRoadie]

Take a look at the Apple iTouch or iPhone. You can download and read Kindle books on it. I have recently read two books over 1,000 pages each, and I thought it worked just fine.

The iTouch is considerably cheaper than a Kindle, but you do need access to wi-fi to download books.

Both are a lot more versatile than the Kindle because you have access to thousands of apps.

[BogeyBoy]

I bought a Kindle for my wife which she really enjoys.

I have an ipod Touch which allows me access to Kindle and other book readers- and, as previously stated, all of the apps. I also like compact size of the ipod Touch. The ipod Touch has an illuminated display so you can read it in low or no light situations. My wife has to use a light with the Kindle.

I believe I read somewhere that you can share books with the Nook. Does anyone know about that. I agree that sharing books with others would be a very attractive feature. It would be similar to buying a printed book and passing it on to others when you have completed it. That is a feature I think would be a valuable feature.

[Avista]

I heard you can trade books if you have a Nook and the other person has a Nook. Not sure if this is true.

[Pturner]

I have the original Kindle and don't know how the Nook compares. Here are my favorite things about Kindle:

(1) download books from any location in seconds. No wires required. No wi-fi required.

(2) No backlighting is a plus to me. The e-ink is much easier on the eyes than reading from a computer screen or any backlit devise

(3) You can choose the size of the type. My senior eyes have a hard time now with some print books with tiny type.

(4) Although I have an i-Phone and read news articles on it, I wouldn't want to read a book or read for more than 10-15 minutes at a time on it. If I'm reading a real page-turner, I can read on Kindle all night without eye strain.

(5) If you get to a word of text and you are unsure of the meaning, you can look up the word on-the-spot in the Kindle dictionary, then click the back button to return to the text. I love that!

(5) You can bookmark, highlight and take notes.

(6) No matter how many different things you are reading on Kindle (books, magazines, newspapers), when you return to an item, it opens to the page you left off.

I love my Kindle. I Kindle daily. Whatever you choose, happy reading!

[Avista]

PTurner
Great recommendation! I get a lot of books from the library. I see you can get free books or ones for about $10. What does your "book bill" run? Is there a good selection?

[Pturner]

Hi Avista,

Yes, the selection is huge. Quoting from Amazon: Over 360,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. I don't know how many books my local library has, but it's not 360,000!

I probably average buying two or three books a month (sometimes more; sometimes less), so I probably average about $25 a month. I tend to alternate between fiction and non-fiction and some of the books I read are easier to find at Amazon than at my local library. That might not be the case for you.

It's true, I would save money just getting books from the library, but... I carry Kindle in my purse during the day, so I always have something to read if I'm waiting in line or whatever, don't have to make trips to the library to get and return the books and I can read at my own pace without worries about being overdue. The instant lookup dictionary feature alone makes Kindle a better read. So does setting the type size to my own preference. If I ever want to go back and find something in a book I read, I still have the book. And I didn't even kill a tree or clutter my bookshelves. (Kindle will store about 500 books; but even if you delete one, you can download it again for free from your Kindle account.)

I remember when I first got Kindle, I was close to finishing a book and I thought, oh no, I better hurry up and find another book before I finish. Then I remembered: no I didn't have to hurry. I could have another book anytime, anywhere in 45 seconds.

Love it, love it, love it.

[RVRoadie]

A feature of amazon is that they keep track of where you are in a book. So, if you sometimes read on an iTouch and sometimes read on an iPhone, you will always open to the last page read no matter which device you used.

I suspect that most people don't know that amazon is keeping track of where you are in a book, but it does make for a nice feature when using multiple devices.

[KayakerNC]

Originally Posted by Avista

Does anyone have a Kindle or Nook? What do you think of it? I see they are about $250., Worth the money?

My early Christmas present is an Amazon Kindle 1 (aka Klassic). I will be able to take it with us on our Cruise Vacation, Norwegian Jewel, next week and avoid packing any books.
I got the Original Kindle for the following reasons:
1. Replaceable battery.
2. Additional memory using SD cards.
3. Price, the refurbished Kindle 1 was only $150 and is covered by the same warranty as a new unit.

I doubt that anyone can tell you much about the Nook, as far as I know they haven't shipped any.

[nedisthatu]

I will be buying a Nook for my daughter for xmas ---(she requested it )
was leaning towards the Kindle not the sony reader - but we are aways at Barnes and Noble also online . If they (BNN) did not come out with the nook then kindle I would buy. It now comes down the personal choice and
what each can do and what you want from this new machine. I hope she likes it as she does read a lot of books -----------

[Avista]

I would have been happy with either the Nook or Kindle. My daughter, daughter in law, granddaughter all wanted the Nook. So I also bought the Nook. Am extremely happy with it. Am working on my 4th book. Read Three Cups of Tea first, the an old classic I loved when I was young--Heidi. After that I read a book about Ted Kennedy. Now I am half way through The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Just love reading my books on my Nook. Can use any size font I want. Has a borrowing feature, but can lend only once for 14 days with authors permission. Also can borrow ebooks from library.

[dominick]

I checked out the Nook while I was skulking around Barnes and Noble this rainy afternoon. They have one on display there, so you can play around with it.
The clerk, who was very helpful, said that it has 1million books available, plus newspapers, magazines, etc.
Not for nothin', but Money Magazine rated the Nook over Kindle and the others.

[elevatorman]

I have a Kindle and I love it. But I just read an article that said publishers are putting presure on Amazon to raise the price of their books. Publishers are withholding titles. Best sellers are now $9.95. Publishers want the price at $15.00. Publishers say Amazon is taking a loss on the books to get people on their site. You may want to hold off until a decision is made.