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Kindle or Nook?
I'm trying to decide between a Kindle and a Nook. The Nook seems to win on all issues important to me, but, and this is the biggest thing against it: it's not available locally, and I can't get it even with a credit card because it only accepts US billing addresses. (the second biggest issue: I'd have trouble exchanging it in case I ran into warranty issues)
I can, however get the Kindle. My biggest reason for avoiding the Kindle is that it doesn't support epubs. And yes I know that I can use Calibre to convert, but that's a bit like telling me I can run a program by compiling it from source. I appreciate the possibility is there, and sometimes I may even want to use it, but I don't want to have it as my first step. (this is the same reason I avoid DRM'd ebooks)
Besides, I'd rather support the book publishers selling epubs already, and then just drop it in, not have to fiddle with dog-slow conversion each time.
But my issue now basically is: international support or epub support? And if I get the Nook can I use it without registering anyway? And if I get the Kindle, will I ever get past my annoyance at its nonsupport of epubs to ever use it? Which is the lesser of two evils? Oy.
I can, however get the Kindle. My biggest reason for avoiding the Kindle is that it doesn't support epubs. And yes I know that I can use Calibre to convert, but that's a bit like telling me I can run a program by compiling it from source. I appreciate the possibility is there, and sometimes I may even want to use it, but I don't want to have it as my first step. (this is the same reason I avoid DRM'd ebooks)
Besides, I'd rather support the book publishers selling epubs already, and then just drop it in, not have to fiddle with dog-slow conversion each time.
But my issue now basically is: international support or epub support? And if I get the Nook can I use it without registering anyway? And if I get the Kindle, will I ever get past my annoyance at its nonsupport of epubs to ever use it? Which is the lesser of two evils? Oy.
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Unfortunately, epub support's not a big priority for Amazon. Fortunately, that requirement will probably become less and less important in the future, as Amazon takes over the world and the Kindle takes over your reading life. Unfortunately, that brings its own drawbacks.
I'm sorry about the international activation thing, but I don't know the answer to that part of it. I seem to recall
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I ended up with the Nook Touch. I'm not certain whether the Kindle will eventually push everything else out of the market, but so far it looks like the Nook has the strongest chance of standing up to the Kindle, so I'm crossing my fingers!
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Is there the possibility of finding a brand that is sold locally that supports epubs? I know that people in Europe, for example, have a completely different range of options than I had when I was looking.
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Most people seem to end up adoring their ereaders, whichever one they chose. Which is great.
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I will say, though, that I love my Kindle with the passion of a thousand fiery passions. It's an amazing device and I'm so incredibly happy with it. It's on par with Apple's iPad for how well it feels in my hands and how useful it is for me. I don't do epubs though so I haven't run into that.
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I've actually been buying books from B&N instead of Amazon lately (when those are my only options) because of the epub thing -- after I crack the DRM, if I need to make any adjustments to the layout (hardcoded font sizes or faces are the worst offenders), I can easily open up an epub to do so. Not so much with a .mobi. And DRM-free epubs are made of hearts and unicorns!
As for Calibre conversion... it exists... but I have been very dissatisfied with the results. Throw something in one format into Calibre, and it comes out with 9000000 separate styles (imagine <span style="calibre-26"> going on to infinity, for every... single... element, styled or not) and hardcoded line spacing. Auuuugh.
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And... ew for that with Calibre! I've had much less problems, but I think that once, long ago, I went through Calibre and took out as much of the style-generating stuff as I could. I have no idea how or what though; as powerful as it is, the interface is a *pain*.
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Personally, I haven't missed epubs. MobileRead has an extensive catalog of Kindle-format public domain books (in fact, that catalog can be downloaded directly to the Kindle: http://mobileread.com/mobiguide ), Project Gutenberg now has well-formatted .mobi files (so you don't have to deal with the word wrap issues anymore), and the Kindle store has an ever-growing selection.
That said, if you're set on the Nook, maybe I can help. I have a US credit card and billing address. I can order and have it shipped to you, and you can reimburse me. We'll work out the details.
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I friend of mine has a Nook and I know she's really happy with it as well, and I'd say that the interface is probably even better than that of the kindle, but on the other hand her device is much more prone to bugs and freezes than mine (and we have the same generation kindle/nook, roughly). So I'd say if warranty and repairs are an issue the Nook might be more problematic.
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Calibre is a bear on the Mac, more so even than on other OSes as far as I can tell :( But I've had things set up more or less the way I need them in Calibre and it is awesome.
I ended up with the Nook and so far no issues with freezing, though there are some hilarious software bugs. (my favorite is how it forgets what page I'm on. Oh *nook* you silly thing)
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to anythingto most English resources. So if you ever want help/books/whatever in that department, I'm totally here for that.Nook! \o/ A reading device (with e-ink!) really does change one's life. Congrats!
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I will probably haunt your journal in case you ever have anything specific, but right now I'm overloaded with books! ...admittedly some I'm going to have to throw away (and I'm wincing at that thought, even when I know that I really wouldn't enjoy reading these specific books. But but. Books. Man)
And yes it does! So much joy and happiness. Thank you \o/
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I have a nook simple touch, and I really like it. You can adjust the font style and size on epubs, so I always go for those instead of the epdfs. I can't remember if I HAD to register it or not. But I do know that in order to even borrow "free" lendme books, I had to input a valid credit card... which meant putting in an address. This may or may not be an issue in the future.
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I ended up with the Nook and so far it has been amazing *_* Simply awesome. I can't get even the free books because of the credit card billing address thing, and that's a bit meh, but I have so many other books to get through, I don't feel the loss even *g*
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KINDLE TOUCH
- list organization (I found I prefer this for some reason. if I had the option to shrink down the book covers for the nook, I might prefer visual mode instead)
- you can delete books on the device
- has instances of being not sensitive or over sensitive
- has a pretty usable browser as long as you know the url for mobile versions of stuff. I can read ffnet, AO3, and gmail, but it crashes in gdocs.
- don't bother trying to read pdfs on this thing.
- ragged right edge - doesn't hyphenate and instead, starts the next line with a whole word (I prefer this to the justified edge/hyphenation of the nook)
- cries if you try to load and organize 80 books at once. Load the books a few at a time, organizing as you go. Loading time also lags slightly once you hit the 60-70 book mark. No issues with performance, but there is a slight hitch when books load up
- no actual page numbers, just some bizarro area number that makes no sense to me
- quality control issues from reader to reader. I got two and one had a very light/white screen with crisp black text that showed ghosting. Another had a slightly greener, and also greyer screen that barely showed any ghosting.
- closed system and mobi
- audio options - either for audio books or to get the reader to computer-voice read the book to you. It's not perfect, but it's a little better or at least on par with a gps type voice. You have options for male and female
- lighter/smaller for small hands
- touch zones and pinching is pretty intuitive to use.
- Ads
- doesn't come with an adaptor
- no side buttons (was once a con, but I've discovered I don't really need them)
NOOK SIMPLE TOUCH
- you have to go out of the device to delete books (either from the B&N account or on the computer)
- you have to set it so that it asks for a password every time you buy a book, otherwise you can accidentally buy something without any warning - they sometimes drop books in your shelf that aren't actual books but advertisements. And if you tend to skim really fast like I do, it's easy to miss the small type telling you it's an ad.
- lending books are in the same shelf as the regular book, so looking at the shelf means seeing double the books if you are buying through their store
- screen has instances of being not sensitive or over sensitive
- got rid of its browser
- power button scares me sometimes because it feels like it doesn't want to turn back on sometimes
- screens from nook to nook seems more consistently whiter than the kindles' which lends black text more visibility - but any grey text is more difficult to read because it's lighter
- no more pdf support, which isn't so bad. it sucked at it anyway
- hyphenates at the end of a line if a word is cut off for a justified look
- has page numbers and a percentage bar
- most of the advertised 2 gigs is devoted to the OS. It's fine, though, because, like the kindle, it doesn't handle a huge number of books as well anyway
- size and shape, imo is good for people with large hands
- open system and epub only
- you can organize in the regular bookshelf mode. I don't think you can do so in list or author mode
- doesn't seem to have the horizontal mode anymore? Which is hella disappointing. That was one of the good points, imo. They got rid of a lot of stuff to speed up performance.
- side buttons are useless for weak-grip, small handed me. My dad also had problems using them. They're very stiff and require real pressure to toggle. Good for when you want to feel like you're physically handling something, but not so good if you want effortless page flipping.
Both fonts are about the same/standard. I honestly wouldn't recommend storing massive amounts of books on either device. One bonus is that both of them fit my charger for my phone, so I don't have to carry around 2 sets of adapters. Amazon customer service was great - I had to return a device and they swapped it out without too many questions. I hear the B&N customer service isn't nearly as good, but they do have helpful booths at their physical stores. One negative is that B&N has recently been investigating options re: selling the Nook off to another company while still providing books, because Nook development is a lot more expensive than they were expecting. Amazon is selling at a loss, forcing the B&N to as well.
If wifi is off, battery usage occurs when you turn the page I think. So they tested page turns at some point - from that test at least (can't seem to find the link anymore) the nook touch has better battery life than the kindle. Kindle lasts at least 3 weeks with spotty use, though. Three 400page books before I got around halfway-3/4 way down on the power bar. The free books available for Kindle and B&N mostly suck, though every once in awhile you get something off a pro-author that's good. Martha Wells had one of her Raskura books up for free at one point. I haven't tried the lending option for either yet.
You can't really use either device without registering. The first screen you see when turning on the Nook is the registration screen. You can get away without registering with the Kindle, but I think it doesn't allow you to organize any books or something? It might possibly block sideloading as well. I can't remember.
Calibre is horrible for me - I found that sites like 2epub.com is actually significantly faster, and I can load up several at once.
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AZW is an evil format, though, and I refuse to use it. Mobi is being sold in many places, so I don't mind.
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This was a very useful list of pros and cons -- I decided on the Nook in the end :D
The one thing I noticed that wasn't the same as yours: the nook has some basic PDF support, where it reflows the text. Probably not very good for reading image-heavy books or ones where the formatting is important, but decent for reading things like scientific papers or the like that are out in PDF form.
I find myself using different ways to flip through pages, depending on whether I'm one-handed or two handed, and whether I'm reading standing up or lying down -- weirdly enough, the side buttons seem to be less hard to press when I'm in one position but not in another o_O really nothing like the responsive of the Kindle though (at least not the one of my friend's I managed to play with *g*)
I do wish I'd paid more attention to it when you said that most of the 2GB was for the OS though *rueful* that one came as an unpleasant shock!
Calibre is super slow, but somewhat manageable if I'm using the commandline most of the time, which I am \o/
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Is there a reason you aren't considering other e-book readers such as Kobo, Sony, or BeBook? Do they also refuse to sell to the Philippines?
One thing: no matter what e-book reader you get, get an e-ink one, not a colour one. E-ink is so much more readable, and the battery lasts a lot longer with E-ink.
Me, I have a BeBook Neo, which I love using, but wouldn't actually recommend to anyone, because it was very expensive. Various features that I thought would be really nifty and useful turned out not to be: Wi-Fi is a waste of money; the annotation features are pretty useless if one can't get the data off the device, and the annotation only works for PDF and EPUB anyway.
But from my experience with the BeBook Neo, perhaps a BeBook Club might be worth looking at. Or, even more to the point, an Onyx Boox, which is the original Bebook Neo device before BeBook re-branded it and doubled the price... (googles around; here's the Boox 60: http://www.onyxboox.com/product_info.php?products_id=28 - they claim to have free shipping anywhere in the world!) If only I'd found out about the Boox before I bought my BeBook!
Okay, why do I love my BeBook Neo?
* the E-ink is really readable
* really light (as most EBook readers are) easily held with one hand.
* SDHC card slot means that I can have
hundredsthousands of books without any problems.(*) Just copy them onto the card and plug the card in.* The interface for looking at the books is basically a directory browser, which has advantages and disadvantages. Advantage: you can organize your books however you darn well please. Disadvantage: you can't search for a particular book, you have to browse for it.(**)
* LOTS of formats that it supports. I mainly use EPUB, PDF and HTML.
* one can use the touchscreen with stylus, or one can use the control buttons at the bottom, or both. It's nice to have a choice. I tend to use the buttons for page-turns (which one can do one-handed) and the touchscreen when I am browsing for books.
* Which means that one can read one-handed, which is an advantage that physical books don't have.
* one can zoom the fonts pretty easily (three clicks: menu -> font-size-window -> font-size)
* one can set the device to always open up your current book on the current page when you turn it on.
* unexpected fun with the "scribble" app, which basically allows you to make doodles with the stylus. You can export them as JPG files.
* the PDF support is good; a lot of ebook readers nominally support PDF but do a crappy job; I've had no problems with this one.
On the downside:
* the Wi-Fi isn't really very useful. Trying to browse the internet on a slow tiny black-and-white screen is a painful experience. And I've never tried to use the WiFi to update the content on the device; it's easier to just drop things onto the SDHC card.
* the annotation isn't as useful as I thought it would be; that could be because I use Linux and therefore can't run the Official Windows App which could quite possibly export the annotations, I don't know. As it is, I can make annotations, but they stay on the device. The actual annotations aren't bad; one can highlight a passage, write a note, and it is saved as a bookmark. Mind you, trying to type the notes is also a bit painful, since it's basically hunt-and-peck-with-the-stylus on a "soft" keyboard. As I said, not as useful as I thought it would be.
* one can't set the default font size; for each new book one has to set the font-size anew. Since I prefer reading at 150% rather than at 100%, it is a bit annoying.
* sometimes I accidentally hit the "back" button while browsing, which kicks you out of the current book to the browse-for-books screen... and there isn't a "forward" button to undo that.
I can't comment on the pain or non-pain of using the device with DRM, because I never buy DRMed ebooks.
I also can't comment on the MP3 playing, because when I listen to MP3s I'd rather use an MP3 player, so I haven't tried it with the BeBook.
I tried their text-to-speech function a couple of times but decided I would rather use espeak to make my own text-to-speech files instead(***). Which I play on my MP3 player. While doing crochet.
(*) 1085 books in my "profic" folder, 1746 stories in my "fanfic" folder. Ah, Project Gutenberg, how I love thee. (+)
(**) I solved that by writing my own searcher, a HTML page which has the whole catalogue on it, and does the searching with Javascript. Since the device has a web-browser (WebKit based) it has no problems with HTML and Javascript. I built the whole thing with IkiWiki and lots of custom plugins written by me.
(+) I also wrote my own script for downloading fanfic and converting it into EPUB. WWW::FetchStory on CPAN.
(***) Yes, I wrote a script for that as well. Me geek!
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I am sad to say that no one here seems to have heard of the other ebook readers; the Nook and Kindle were the only ones I could find information on that didn't need to be special-ordered, and that cut down my options considerably.
I heard from a friend of mine who also has it that the Boox is awesome :D
Completely agree re: e-ink versus not. There are a lot of things I love LCDs for, and I can read a book on one in a pinch, but the Nook (simple touch -- e-ink) has basically gotten me to acknowledge how much I was compromising reading on my phone/tablet screens before.
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8-D
I am sad to say that no one here seems to have heard of the other ebook readers; the Nook and Kindle were the only ones I could find information on that didn't need to be special-ordered, and that cut down my options considerably.
Well, I'm glad that you're enjoying your Nook.
Completely agree re: e-ink versus not. There are a lot of things I love LCDs for, and I can read a book on one in a pinch, but the Nook (simple touch -- e-ink) has basically gotten me to acknowledge how much I was compromising reading on my phone/tablet screens before.
I was really amazed at how crisp and clear the e-ink was.
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