E-Reader Questions

[happi]

Do you have one? What do you have? I am thinking I might like to get one, but just not sure. Where do you get your books and how much are they? I don't want to spend alot on the books. Do some sites have specials on the books?
Thanks for your help.

[lizzywednesday]

I have a Nook Color because it can also handle magazines and kids' books.

The Nook uses Adobe Reader as its display method, so many books available in PDF format are readable on a Nook.

Pricing is roughly the same as a hardcover might be at Target - a new book will be about $13, maybe less if it's on the bestseller list - but Barnes & Noble has a decent selection of free books as well with their "Barnes & Noble Classics" line, which has allowed me to catch up on quite a few of the novels I was supposed to read in high school, but never bothered to, like Pride and Prejudice.

It is also the format that public libraries use, so you can get a number of books for free from your library system.

Lastly, because it uses PDF, a great many of the books available from Google Books are going to be compatible with Nook.

The sole drawback is the backlit screen; it can be hard to read a backlit screen in a room that's very bright. (It's also tempting to read in the dark.)

[cckwmh]

I have the regular nook (black and white, no backlit screen). I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. I get most of my books from the library. I just have a wish list and add myself to the wait list for a new book when I start another one. I have kids books on my nook, but there is no illustrations. I read them to DD all the time. She doesn't mind that there is no pictures, but we make up stories together all the time, so she is used to no pictures.

I recently saw a review of the kindle versus the new black and white nook. I thought it was a good review.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/06/23/barnes__noble_wins_one_over_amazon_with_nook/

[brittone2]

DS1 just got the new e-ink (non color, touch-screen) Nook, using some of his money combined w/ several GCs.

DH and I are about to buy one as well but I wanted to see how we liked his first ;)

So far we are using mostly library e-books (from our library system, and then through Free Library of Philadelphia, which I found out about here)

We've also found a good number of public domain books (out of copyright) through Gutenberg and other sites. That has been great. DS1 loves all of the Burgess books for example, and there are lots available in the public domain. He's also been reading the Bobbsey Twins, Aesop's Fabels, and lots of other older classic lit (Lang's fairy tales, Nesbit's Railway Children, etc.).

We haven't had to purchase anything for him yet.

eta: you can search B&N for 0.00 books and find some freebies there too IIRC.

As PPs said, there are also a good number of older classics available for free in the public domain.

[elliput]

I have a Nook Color and love, love, love it! Books, magazines, newspapers, interactive children's books, apps, email, internet, etc. Basically, it is a tablet.

[TwinFoxes]

FYI, I posted in another thread, starting in a few months you'll be able to read library books on Kindles. (I don't have an e-reader, but thought that was interesting).

[lowrioh]

I have a Nook Color and love, love, love it! Books, magazines, newspapers, interactive children's books, apps, email, internet, etc. Basically, it is a tablet.

:yeahthat:

[BayGirl2]

I have an iPad but use it a lot as a reader with the iBooks and Kindle apps.

I like the backlit screen because I do the majority of reading in bed and now don't have to keep a light on. The screen dims to very low and it really doesn't bother me.

Books on Kindle are about the same or cheaper than paper books. There are a lot of classics available for free if their copyright period has expired. I finally got around to reading Little Women recently, now checking out the Scarlet Letter. But if you want more recent releases you may need to buy them. Our library does have some eBooks available to borrow online, I just haven't tried that yet.

If you read a lot its definitely a good way to avoid clutter - I don't have a bunch of unfinished and finished books sitting around that I need to get rid of. And although I like the concept of using the library, I don't tend to go there as often as I should and would end up buying from Amazon anyway.

ETA: I use the iPad to read a lot more than books too. I have a newspaper-like app that aggregates the entries from blogs I follow and several magazine apps that complement my paper subscriptions.

[BabyBearsMom]

I have a Kindle and love it. It is lighter than the Nook, plus I was just too uncoordinated for the Nook screen (it is 50/50 touch screen, not touch screen. I was always touching the wrong screen). I really like how light weight the Kindle is. The books are inexpensive (anywhere from free to $12). Any of the classic books are free. Most books are $9.99. This fall you will be able to take books out of the library.

[wildfire]

I have the first version of the nook (with the touch screen at the bottom), if I were going to buy now I'd get the newest touch screen one. I tried it out in the store and it looks great! It also is lighter and has a longer battery life than the previous eInk model.

I read a TON of library books on it. I have paid for it twice over just saving money by going through library books. I also have a lot of free books on there. If you like sci-fi or fantasy, Baen has a lot of free books out there.

My advice is always look for the features you want, then try out the ones that fit what you are looking for. Best Buy is a good place to try out a bunch in one spot. I like the lightness and battery life of the Kindle, but I wanted to read library books and I didn't like the Kindle keyboard so I went with the nook. If you go with the nook or another one that can read epub (everything except the Kindle), Kobo sometimes has coupon codes. Unfortunately a lot of the book prices are set by the publishers so what you can use those coupons for is pretty limited. But I've used some for $2 off a book.

[3blackcats]

Love my Kindle :heartbeat:
Amazon had a big summer sale where they had a ton of books for really cheap. I bought a lot then. Books are around $9.99 on average - which is usually what I paid at Costco.

What I love about Kindle:
-lightweight
-it's simple to use doesn't try to do too much
-battery lasts forever (like a month)
-can read pdf files. There are a lot of books that are pdf format and they can be read on the Kindle
-library books this fall
-tons of free books classics/stuff that is in the public domain
-some authors self-publish to Kindle, so there are some really cheap books out there

[daniele_ut]

I have a Nook Color and I LOVE it. It was great while I was traveling earlier week. I didn't have to pull out my laptop while I was delayed in the airport and wanted to get online. I love being able to read children's books with my kids in color and get magazine content in color as well.

I often turn the brightness all the way down and read in the dark. I love that I can do that and not disturb dh if he's already asleep. Really it's only drawback is that you can't really read in direct sunlight. I've toyed with the idea of getting one of the just-released touch screen e-ink Nooks so I could have that option too.