Ask HN: which ebook reader to buy?

[vijayr]

which is better, kindle or nook? Aesthetically, nook seems better, but kindle has far more books in its store and with Amazon behind it, its only going to get better.

Which one would you recommend?

Edit: Looks like nook has other apps (chess etc, I didn't know that). Also there is an expandable memory slot in nook, but not in kindle.

[roger455]

With the new Kindle being 139, and the weight, I would pick that up over the Nook. The bookstore size is the killer for me, I would always go where Amazon goes.

[vijayr]

There isn't much price difference between kindle and nook. From what I've read so far

1. cost is almost the same

2. nook can play video, is touch screen, runs on android while kindle doesn't

3. kindle is faster than nook

4. kindle keyboard is ugly (I actually saw my colleague using it, it does look ugly, but it was previous gen kindle, may be the new one is better)

5. nook can expand upto 16 GB, kindle is fixed at 2 GB

6. kindle doesn't read epub, while nook does

7. Amazon seems to have more books than nook

may be it isn't worth spending too much time thinking about it (its not very expensive, like say iPad that one will regret picking the wrong hardware).

[frossie]

You are not buying a reader. You are "buying" a content provider. Think about this carefully.

Although I am an enthusiastic Amazon customer, I have a nook and I hope this is a fight that Amazon doesn't win. I hate the fact that Amazon has adopted an essentially closed format, whose licence forbids it from being on the same device as any other format. B&N has made a lot of efforts to be reasonably open, adopting ePUB, encouraging Adobe to adopt so-called "social DRM" and so on.

Principles aside, I really like my nook, and haven't noticed any availability issues with respect to the B&N selection - perhaps I am a boring reader.

[perivamsi]

I've tried both Kindle and Nook and my experience with Kindle was a lot better than my experience with Nook.

Kindle is user friendly and it gets out of the way as an electronic device once you start reading a book. Nook feels unpolished and awkward in your hands.

Sure, Nook has some edge over kindle with things like a small touch screen (which I found is rather unusable), expandable memory and android. But Kindle does a much better job at being an e-reader than Nook does.

[willheim]

Neither.

I have a tablet PC(Lenovo) which is near perfect for ebook reading. Why?

1) I can have Kindle for PC on it. 2) I can have Nook for PC on it. 3) I can read any PDF well 4) I can read all sorts of comics well. 5) I can continue reading on my iPhone (don't have an iPad but if I did then Kindle works great on that, too)

What it won't do well: 1) Battery life isn't as great but it's no trouble being plugged in when needed most times. 2) Can't get iBooks on PC and there are some titles that are iBooks exclusives.

And finally, what none of these do well and why paperbacks won't be squashed: 1) You can't take them to the beach or anywhere sand/grit/or water may get them.

So if you really, really, really want an ebook reader (which we're talking hardware alone) then go for the one that gives you the most freedom, a regular PC (ideally a tablet).

Asus makes a small 10.1" and a 8.9" one that is around $400 and is far better than an iPad and far more useful than a standalone ebook reader.

[fr0man]

The problem with this is reading a 400 page book on a tablet is a problem for those of use who experience eye strain. The refresh rate and the backlight really fatigue my eyes after more than a half hour or so. Also, the Kindle and Nook are now priced way WAY below even the budget tablets and have much better displays for reading.

[vijayr]

but it is much heavier, I can't read it all the time because of battery life, and it costs like 4 times more than a ebook reader.

[bemmu]

Last time I did this comparison about 6 months ago, Bebook emerged as the winner for me. It works in a very simple fashion, just like an MP3 player. Just put .pdf / .txt / .djvu files on a memory card, put card on the device and they appear there. For me the Kindle wasn't even an option though, as it isn't supported in my country.

I find it pretty comfortable to read, although contrast isn't as good as a real book, but less straining than a monitor. It weighs less than many books too. It isn't practical to read anything with illustrations or fancy layouts with this device, I wouldn't try to read something like "tcp/ip illustrated" on this. Also the page turning delays make it difficult to browse quickly, so mostly it is suitable for fiction, not as reference or study. Battery life is amazing.

[NewHighScore]

Wow, after seeing this info I would have to go with the one that has the expandable memory slot and allows an open format. I refuse to get locked into buying from one company in a closed format.

So if you buy a kindle ebook on amazon.com can you only read it with a kindle or kindle app? I am really enjoying Calibre on my netbook (calibre-ebook.com)

[underdesign]

Hell, I'm waiting until my gigabytes of legacy PDF documents can open and be legible on screen, instead of converted to some CRM format. And the iPad isn't the answer.

[lionhearted]

I have the last generation Kindle, and it handles most PDFs fine. It does poorly on the ones with very small font or if they're on a grey background or some such, but otherwise very good. If you can read the pdf a few feet back from a normal sized monitor after hitting control+l (fullscreen), you can probably read it on the Kindle.