I am an avid reader. What’s more, I primarily read on my morning commute, which involves at least two subway lines (sometimes two subways and a bus), and I’ve long considered how much more convenient it may be to use an electronic reader rather than lug paper books in my bag to and from work each day. But with three readers competing in the market and many more on the way, which one should I choose?
I wouldn’t say I’m a Luddite, but I am also not necessarily an early adopter of most technology. I am often interested in new gadgets, but financially I often can’t justify splurging on electronics. I’ve learned to be patient and wait for a second or third generation of a new platform prior to spending my hard-earned cash to basically beta test a company’s incomplete or flawed products for them.
I’ve been coveting an Amazon Kindle almost since they were launched. This gadget envy became more intense after playing with my mother-in-law’s Kindle during a family vacation in 2008. Since I wasn’t ready to drop my own cash on one, I opted instead to put it on my Christmas and birthday wish lists, so someone else would spend their money on one for me. Sometimes in my family, this works, but this time no one bit.
As I was anticipating a modest bonus at work this spring, I decided that enough time had passed that I was finally willing to spend some money on a reader. But I still wanted to make sure I didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on something that would gravely disappoint me. I also knew that there was a large crop of readers being developed to be marketed in another year or so, but I decided to ignore these options. I’ve waited long enough, and I was going to have that bonus burning a hole in my pocket. The time for digital books in my life had come.
So I set to work comparing and contrasting, and here is what I learned about four reader options that ultimately led me to my choice. I actually feel that all of these choices would have merits for different users with different needs and preferences. I encourage your own thoughts on readers you’ve used and recommend in the comments.
Before or after you dive into my comparison below, here are some other great sources and interesting perspectives if you’re considering buying an electronic reader:
Gizmodo’s ultimate e-Reader guide is pretty comprehensive and was the starting point for my own research. It also includes some developing readers that I did not include here.
Readers Rights [Electronic Frontier Foundation]
Books in the Age of the iPad [craigmod.com]
Pros:
This is an apples-to-oranges comparison with the other readers, because it is actually a tablet computer. Therefore, the purchase price is much higher, but it offers expanded functions. I really didn’t want or need a tablet computer, so it would have to be really impressive to convince to spend two or three times what I planned to spend on a reader.
Pros:
Nook by Barnes and Noble
Pros:
I wouldn’t say I’m a Luddite, but I am also not necessarily an early adopter of most technology. I am often interested in new gadgets, but financially I often can’t justify splurging on electronics. I’ve learned to be patient and wait for a second or third generation of a new platform prior to spending my hard-earned cash to basically beta test a company’s incomplete or flawed products for them.
I’ve been coveting an Amazon Kindle almost since they were launched. This gadget envy became more intense after playing with my mother-in-law’s Kindle during a family vacation in 2008. Since I wasn’t ready to drop my own cash on one, I opted instead to put it on my Christmas and birthday wish lists, so someone else would spend their money on one for me. Sometimes in my family, this works, but this time no one bit.
As I was anticipating a modest bonus at work this spring, I decided that enough time had passed that I was finally willing to spend some money on a reader. But I still wanted to make sure I didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on something that would gravely disappoint me. I also knew that there was a large crop of readers being developed to be marketed in another year or so, but I decided to ignore these options. I’ve waited long enough, and I was going to have that bonus burning a hole in my pocket. The time for digital books in my life had come.
So I set to work comparing and contrasting, and here is what I learned about four reader options that ultimately led me to my choice. I actually feel that all of these choices would have merits for different users with different needs and preferences. I encourage your own thoughts on readers you’ve used and recommend in the comments.
Before or after you dive into my comparison below, here are some other great sources and interesting perspectives if you’re considering buying an electronic reader:
Gizmodo’s ultimate e-Reader guide is pretty comprehensive and was the starting point for my own research. It also includes some developing readers that I did not include here.
Readers Rights [Electronic Frontier Foundation]
Books in the Age of the iPad [craigmod.com]
At a quick glance, this may seem to have more Cons than Pros listed below. But to me, the cons were smaller annoyances that were easily overcome by the access to free books and a more portable size.
Pros:
- Since the touch screen required minimal additional buttons, it is more compact than the reader, and therefore a little more portable.
- This is the biggie – the reason I ultimately chose the Sony Reader. It is compatible with PDFs and ePub docs. And it supports books from the Sony Store, other e-book sellers, and free books from my Public Library or public domain books on Google Books or Gutenberg. I am a big fan of free options for books. Obviously, Sony wants to make a profit as much as its competitors, but it is helping keep books accessible. And I’m a bigger fan of this device’s support of e-books from public libraries. This enables libraries to give patrons even more reading options and may ultimately encourage more libraries to expand into digital content.
- It is decently readable. The touch screen does cause more glare than the Kindle, but it’s not bad.
Cons:
- As I kind of mentioned, the screen has some glare due to the extra screen layer required for touch functionality.
- The page refresh rate is a little bit slower and clunker than competitors, which might be annoying to some. But it is not slow every time you turn the page – just sporadically. And when I say “slow” it still takes less than two seconds.
- At $299, it is a little more expensive than a Kindle. But all I need to do is read four free books to offset that cost differential. Piece of cake.
- I needs to be plugged it into a computer to load books. (The Daily edition that was recently released does have 3G access to the Sony store, but ONLY to the Sony Store, so you would still need to plug it in to load books from other sources. And it’s $399!)
- This is one I didn’t learn until after I bought it, but it’s worth mentioning. From the Sony Reader Troubleshooting Guide:
You can borrow epub and pdf books from your library, but be careful to never have both epub and pdf library books on your reader at the same time, as there is a conflict and you will not be able to access them.
I have not yet determined if this affects only library books on the Reader (as it seems from the Troubleshooting Guide), or purchased books as well, but I will update this when I know. I learned this soon after purchasing, but decided not to return it because it still offers greater freedom of e-book sources than competitors.
Pros:
- I wouldn’t be a “beta tester”. This product has been on the market for a few years now, and already has a few generations under its belt.
- Most people I know who own a Kindle are extremely satisfied with it, and it’s e-ink technology is well-known for its readability.
- I am already familiar with the device. As I mentioned before, I had played around with a family member’s kindle and done some reading on it, and found the experience to be satisfactory.
- Amazon offers a robust selection of book titles and periodical subscriptions. Amazon.com is a site I have used for years to purchase paper books, and I would be more than comfortable purchasing electronic books from them as well. Amazon is also believed by many loyalists to have a larger selection of the newest books than competitors.
- Wireless purchasing is enabled, so I don’t need to plug the device into a computer to load books. I can hear of a new book while I’m out and about, and quickly purchase and load that book onto my Kindle wherever I am with a complimentary 3G connection.
- The device is priced competitively at $259.00.
Cons:
- Book pricing is no longer a competitive advantage. The number one reason I considered buying a Kindle was it’s policy of offering new titles for $9.99, which is less than new releases bought from competitors the majority of the time. When Kindle acquiesced to MacMillan’s demands for higher book prices on January 31st, the Kindle lost most of its appeal in my opinion. [NY Times]
- The Kindle is only compatible with purchased books from Amazon.com. (Books from Gutenberg can also be used.)
- Black and white only display.
While the list of Pros is much longer than the cons, the most important advantage to me was the $10 price tag – that may have outweighed the limitation of only using Amazon e-books. So, the Kindle lost my business with that mess.
This is an apples-to-oranges comparison with the other readers, because it is actually a tablet computer. Therefore, the purchase price is much higher, but it offers expanded functions. I really didn’t want or need a tablet computer, so it would have to be really impressive to convince to spend two or three times what I planned to spend on a reader.
Pros:
- It’s actually a tablet computer, so I could access apps, listen to music, create documents, and do much more with it than read books.
- Full-color touch display.
- I own an iPhone, so I already know how to use it since it is basically a large iPod Touch.
- Mobile access to the Apple Store via 3G or wifi would allow me to download books on the go.
Cons:
- I don’t really want a tablet computer, since I already own an iPhone and a MacBook Air. I have options to do many of these functions on the go if I choose to. I just want a lightweight way to read books – maybe many at once – on the subway. Which also means that online access won’t do much for me, either.
- It costs a lot more than a reader - $500-$800!
- Will only work with books from the iTunes store. And Apple has decided to let publishers set their prices,
- First generation is a no-no for me. My iPhone was the second generation, and I’ve owned a few iPods – they only got better after some time, consideration, feedback and additional R&D. The iPad promises to be no different.
- So I’m going to buy a tablet that can’t multi-task, isn’t compatible with Flash and has no USB port for data transfer? I don’t think so.
- I don’t trust myself with a touch screen that big without a built-in cover.
Full disclosure time: My decision to buy a Sony Reader was reached before I got the news that a family member plans to give me an iPad as a gift when it is released. I have very mixed feelings about this, and I had the option to decline the gift. On one hand, getting a reader became something I really wanted to do as a way to treat myself, and after doing the research I really wanted a Sony Reader. On the other hand, this is a generous gift and an opportunity to actually compare the Reader and the iPad in real-life situations, so I plan to use this generous gift to inform some future gadget reviews on this blog. As an aspiring librarian, I welcome the opportunity to road test something so new without having to invest my own money to do so.
And as my husband pointed out, I’ll have an additional option to buy and read e-books from the Apple Store, so if Sony/ the library/ Gutenberg doesn’t have a title I want, maybe iTunes will.
Nook by Barnes and Noble
Pros:
- Color touch screen.
- Very readable.
- Large selection of books through Barnes and Noble.
- Competitively priced at $259
Cons:
- This is a first generation product that hadn’t been proven in the marketplace yet.
- At the time of my research, Barnes and Noble had a customer service nightmare on their hands. Read one shopper’s terrible experience here. While I understand there may be glitches when a new product launches and demand is underestimated, I decided to sit this out and let B&N fix their problems without having to personally be affected by them.
- At the time of purchase, Nooks were still on backorder, and I just didn’t have enough reason to wait for one.
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