[GreenTeaYum]

So, I'm looking for a fairly large reward for myself when I get to Onederland. (Crossing my fingers it will be in the next week or two). It's such a big milestone for me.

I have been looking into the Kindle for awhile now and they just lowered the price for the non 3G, Wi-Fi version. ($139) I love to read, but my husband says I can't get anymore books until I get rid of some old ones. (They are toppling over in 3 bookshelves throughout the house, but I just can't part with them!)I love the idea of having my entire book collection in a single unit that I can stick in my purse. And the idea of being able to change the fonts and sizes, being able to read the classics for free, and managing my collection from a computer.

It would be a little reminder every time I use it for how far I've come. I'll always think of my progress when I sit down to read and promise not to go above that 200# mark again.

Does anyone else have a Kindle? (Or even a Nook) Do you love it, or is it just a waste of money?

[suetalks]

My daughter has a Kindle and has loved it since she got it last Christmas. It goes everywhere with her, in her purse. She has a cute pink cover for it. (she is a grown grandma...45yr. old)
I must admit I am thinking of getting one and would like to hear about all the others too. I will be keeping an eye on this thread!
Congrats on your progress by the way!!

[4star]

My hubby has one and he loves it. They are pretty neat little gadgets.

[Sunshine73]

I've been researching and trying to decide between the Kindle and the Nook (mostly because my book habit has outgrown the space allotted to it in my apartment). I've pretty much decided on the Nook because the Kindle does not have a user changeable battery so you have to send it in to Amazon to get it changed. That's a HUGE negative for me. No way could I be without my books while they change the battery. Also, the Nook has expandable memory which, for me, is a big thing as well. I'm such a bibliophile that, at last inventory, I had over 1,000 books on my shelves (yes, I realize I have an issue) so being able to expand my digital storage space is a nice plus.

Having said that, the people I know who have either the Kindle or the Nook all seem very happy with the e-reader devices. It allows them to carry their entire library with them and buy new books when they want/need them without trying to make a run to the book store and hoping that they have a copy of the book they want.

[GreenTeaYum]

Originally Posted by Sunshine73

I've been researching and trying to decide between the Kindle and the Nook (mostly because my book habit has outgrown the space allotted to it in my apartment). I've pretty much decided on the Nook because the Kindle does not have a user changeable battery so you have to send it in to Amazon to get it changed. That's a HUGE negative for me. No way could I be without my books while they change the battery. Also, the Nook has expandable memory which, for me, is a big thing as well.

I've been looking into the Nook for similar reasons. There's also a rumor on the internet that Nook is going to come out with a full-color screen later next week ($239). I just like the idea of going through Amazon, because I use them so frequently anyway and it seems as through they have a slightly larger/cheaper selection of books. But, I wasn't aware of the battery issue- that's no good.

Ohhhh now I can't decide.

[tea2]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Kindle. I got one for the same reason...house overflowing with books.

The battery life is excellent. I read every day for an hour or two and leave it on (with the screensaver). I have to charge every 1.5 weeks or two or so. That's without the 3G running, but really you just surf for half an hour or so if you want to buy books and then turn 3G off. I've had it for almost a year with no probs. I have the Kindle 2. Haven't read anything about the new 3rd gen.

p.s. I found a reviewer's comparison on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YVZNK...R2YVZNKUMWGYJ4



First, reasons why we prefer the kindle over nook:

* Page refresh speed
Kindle 2 was twice as fast as nook, Kindle 3 is slightly faster yet. However, I read a whole book on the nook and didn't find page refresh to be so slow as to be annoying. You get used to it, and automatically develop the habit of pressing the page turn button a second before you need it.

* Navigation speed
Here is where the kindle has a huge advantage. Moving the cursor around the screen (e.g. to select things) is way, way, way better on kindle than nook. When you use the rocker button (on kindle 3, or the joystick on kindle 2), the cursor moves almost immediately. In contrast, when you use the "virtual rocker button" on nook's color touch screen, there's a noticeable lag before the cursor moves. Plus, just to get to the cursor control on the nook, you have to turn on its color touch screen (which is normally off when not in use, to save battery power). This adds to the lag time.

* Screen contrast
You've seen Amazon's claims that the Kindle 3 e-ink has 50% better contrast. I can tell you, it makes a difference, particularly in low light conditions, when you have to strain a little to make out the not quite as dark characters on Kindle 2 and Nook. When lighting is not ideal, it's much easier and more pleasant to read on Kindle 3 and Kindle DX than on Nook or Kindle 2.

* Battery life
The nook's color LCD touch screen drains its battery quickly - I could never get more than 5 days out of a charge. We got at least 7 days or more on the Kindle 2, and supposedly the Kindle 3's battery lasts slightly longer between charges than Kindle 2.

* Weight
Nook weighs about 3 ounces more than the new Kindle, and you can really feel the difference. Without a case, Nook is still light enough to hold in one hand for long reading sessions without fatigue. But in a case, Nook is a heavy sucker and wears you out after a while. I found myself taking Nook out of its case when I was reading Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. The new Kindle 3 is so light, even in a case, my wife and I read on our new kindles until quite last last night, each holding them in their lighted leather case with one hand (we are such an old married couple!).

Reasons some people might prefer the nook:

* In-store experience
If you need help with your nook, you can take it to any barnes and noble and get a real human to help. You can take your nook into the coffee shop section of your local B&N store and read any book for free for up to one hour per day. When you take your nook to B&N, some in-store special deals and the occasional free book pop up on your screen.

* User-replaceable battery
After a year or two of moderate use, the battery will start to lose its ability to hold a charge. Nook's battery is user-replaceable and relatively inexpensive. To replace Kindle's battery, you must ship your Kindle to Amazon. Amazon's customer service told me that they ship you back a DIFFERENT kindle (though the same model as yours) with a new battery inside. I really don't like this, at all.

* ePub and loaning e-books
Nook uses the ePub format, a widely used open format. Amazon uses a proprietary ebook format. Many libraries will "lend" ebooks in the ePub format, which works with nook but not kindle. Nook owners can "loan" ebooks they purchased to other nook owners for up to two weeks. You can't do this with kindle.

* Nook's color LCD touchscreen
This could be a pro or con, depending on your preferences. It makes nook hipper and less drab than kindle. Some people enjoy using the color LCD to view their library or navigate. I did, at first. But after two weeks of use, and comparisons with my wife's kindle, I found the dedicated buttons of the kindle easier and far quicker to use than the nook's color touchscreen. I also found the bright light from the color screen distracting when I was trying to read a book or newspaper (though when not in use, it shuts off after a minute or so to conserve battery).

[Rosinante]

Me! I've had it about 10 days and I love it! I've got the wifi and 3G version and it's amazing. I'm finding books I never knew of before. There is the amazing facility to download samples of any of them, try before you buy.
Best of all, when you're away on a trip, you can take any number of books with you to suit all holiday reading moods, for the weight of only one small one. I love it!

[Shannon in ATL]

DH & I both have Kindle 2, my MIL has the Kindle 1 - we bought it for her for Christmas the day it went on sale. She uses it every day and hasn't had any trouble with the battery. She plugs it in and charges it when it gets low and she is good.

We love them. we disqualified the Nook for the same reasons tea2 listed above.

[mandalinn82]

I'm another happy Kindle 3 owner who disqualified the Nook for the reasons above...mostly the lower contrast (I tried both, and my eyes did not care for the Nook).

[Onederchic]

I ♥ my Kindle

[nelie]

I recently did a lot of research between the Kindle, Nook and Sony eReader. I wanted to be able to check out books online from the library which narrowed it down to the Nook and Sony eReader. I ended up going with the Sony eReader. I really like the ePub support. If the Kindle had ePub support, I think I would've looked closer at the Kindle.

[alinnell]

I've had my Kindle 2 since it came out and I love it. I got one for DH for Christmas last year and he loves it--especially since he can increase the font size and read without his reading glasses.

[evilwomaniamshe]

I have kindle downloaded on my ipad!

[GreenTeaYum]

Thank you so much everyone for your input and suggestions. tea2 that review was awesome, it really helped me decide against getting a Nook- I think the Kindle is just a much better fit for me.

It came in the mail yesterday and I don't think it left my hands last night except for 15 minutes to eat dinner. I love it. It's so easy to hold onto and read- the eInk really does jump out at you.

(On a side note, the first book I purchased for it is the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and I am HOOKED! I mentioned this in another thread, but I highly recommend it. She describes it as "Gladiator" meets "Project Runway", and as strange as that sounds, I completely agree. It's absolutely brutal, but I love it.)

[piper10]

I have a Kindle AND a Sony eReader (the pocket edition). My DH has the Nook. We love them all. That said, the Kindle is considered the gold standard of ereaders. That one gets my vote, a hundred times over!!

I can see that you've already done your research on ereaders, so I'll just pass along my 2 favorite free book sites. 1. http://manybooks.net -- pre-1923 out of copyright books. I prefer this site over gutenberg because it includes reviews of the books. 2. http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/ -- this one is an update on all the free *new* titles that come up from Amazon and other sites. There are a million out there, and this site points out the new ones as they come up.

You will LOVE your Kindle. And I think the idea of rewarding yourself with one, and having it as a reminder of how far you've come, is just terrific. I'm excited for you! And congrats on your weight loss!