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Kindle vs iPad

Mongrel said:
My GF has the Sony e-book and she loves it. Reads PDFs fine and there's a few bits of software that'll convert most book formats to straight HTML (which it handles fine). Weighs less, superior battery life, easier on the eyes for long periods and fits better into small bags :)
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I love my nook for text. But gaming books need the formatting that I would be concerned about losing in converting.
 
elgarak said:
The iPad has a 9.7" screen. The DX Kindle has the same size, and costs $489. Comparable to the cheapest iPad.

Only the 6" Kindle is nearly half the price (and has other specs lower beside the screen size, like memory). But Apple does not make a 6" device -- the next thing lower are the iPhone and iPod touch, which have a 3.5" screen.

Difficult to compare when key specs are different.
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As for size I can put micro SD cards(something I am sure apple will never permit, when they can charge more for a model with internal flash memory) in my nook, and add plenty of space of a few thousand books. At that point the organizing software is the real limit. But a few hundred or so books is trivial. And keep in mind that the base Ipad is not the one to use, as you need one that has some way to get books over wireless phone networks.

If what you want is to read books then the ereaders are better for straight text. Magazines and such might be better on the Ipad.
 
ponderingturtle said:
And keep in mind that the base Ipad is not the one to use, as you need one that has some way to get books over wireless phone networks.
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All iPads have WiFi and you can access their bookstore that way. But the Kindle (and the Nook, too, right?) has the advantage of it downloading over a cellular phone network without any fees whatsoever.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. I think I will defy the kids and go for the smaller, cheaper Kindle.
 
ponderingturtle said:
If what you want is to read books then the ereaders are better for straight text. Magazines and such might be better on the Ipad.
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I just read a PC World article (comparing the iPad to "everything") and they point out that magazines on the iPad vary widely in that they have separate applications, often one for each magazine (and some of them apparently stink); Time actually has a separate application for each issue. Magazines are still obviously better in color, but the article in question pretty much recommends just sticking with web versions, even on the iPad.
 
HarryKeogh said:
All iPads have WiFi and you can access their bookstore that way. But the Kindle (and the Nook, too, right?) has the advantage of it downloading over a cellular phone network without any fees whatsoever.
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That is true. My nook is also Wifi capable.
 
lionking said:
A final bump before I send my order off to Amazon.;)
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I would say take an in depth look at what the features on the Nook vs Kindle are and which fits you better. Also look the books you read and which has them available on their sites.

It is nice to be able to download books from google books for free.
 
ponderingturtle said:
I would say take an in depth look at what the features on the Nook vs Kindle are and which fits you better. Also look the books you read and which has them available on their sites.

It is nice to be able to download books from google books for free.
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Whoah, you can do that with a Nook? Tell me more.
 
ponderingturtle said:
I would say take an in depth look at what the features on the Nook vs Kindle are and which fits you better. Also look the books you read and which has them available on their sites.

It is nice to be able to download books from google books for free.
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You can do this on the Kindle as well.

Linda
 
fls said:
You can do this on the Kindle as well.

Linda
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Learning more and more. Not that I would ever, ever download material without paying....and not that I have ever downloaded music or videos illegally. I would never do that. But just hypothetically would it be possible to download a book without paying for it? I understood that this was not possible.
 
lionking said:
Learning more and more. Not that I would ever, ever download material without paying....and not that I have ever downloaded music or videos illegally. I would never do that. But just hypothetically would it be possible to download a book without paying for it? I understood that this was not possible.
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Project Gutenberg has over 30,000 free ebooks to download. This is perfectly legal the copyright on them has expired and anybody is free to copy them. Well, at least in the US, I don't know how it works in Australia.
 
lionking said:
Learning more and more. Not that I would ever, ever download material without paying....and not that I have ever downloaded music or videos illegally. I would never do that. But just hypothetically would it be possible to download a book without paying for it? I understood that this was not possible.
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This is content made available through Google books legally. Either it is no longer under copyright protection (in which case this content is available free or very cheap in multiple places including Amazon - like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, for example), or Google has made arrangements with the publisher to make the book available for those with Google accounts (i.e your regular gmail account).

It's not bestsellers or new releases.

Linda
 
lionking said:
Hoookay. You guys are awesome. I didn't realise there was a return policy.
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Hmm, I didn't realize you were in Australia, that might impact how they each function as well. You should look into that for potential issues as well.

For example I don't know about international versions of the nook or kindle. The nook has the additional nice thing that if you are in a Barns and Noble store you can read a book for free for 1 hour a day over their wireless. This is any title they have available for the nook.

I like to read the ebooks I got with some Baen books on mine. Baen puts a cd with for example all the previous books in a series in some of their hardcovers. It is nice that the nook reads them naively with out having to convert them. Not sure that the kindle does this or not.

I am happy with my nook, but am not sure it was a better purchase than a kindle.
 
Seems to me the main issue of relevance to e-book readers is what's available and in what format.
This depends on where you are.
Compare the Amazon US site with Amazon UK and you will find far fewer books available on the UK site.

I don't know about Australia.

I'd like an ebook reader, but
1) I don't want to have to spend hundreds of pounds rebuying books I own in hardcopy
and
2) I do want to be able to choose from a similar range, especially in science, SF etc, to what's available in paper.
I'm not seeing anything like that for the kindle in the UK.
The Sony seems to have more options, but not enough to push my "must have" button.
 
Soapy Sam said:
Compare the Amazon US site with Amazon UK and you will find far fewer books available on the UK site.
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Now, that brings up a question.

Being registered on one nation's Amazon site automatically registers you on all the others (or, it did a couple of years ago), and an American can order physical items from Amazon.uk/ca/de, etc.

What about ebooks, esp for Kindle?
 
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