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kindle app DESTROYS ibooks imo
- Thread starter robinfish
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Wow. This thread has really degraded into a which app "pwns" which. To me, that's silliness. Ebooks are comprised of words. Both apps display words with equal capability...page curl effect be damned.
For the burgeoning ebook market to ever gain traction it has to have competitive pricing and a selection that matches B&M stores. The iBook store offers neither. The kindle and nook app don't either, but they come a lot closer than what the ibook offers.
For the burgeoning ebook market to ever gain traction it has to have competitive pricing and a selection that matches B&M stores. The iBook store offers neither. The kindle and nook app don't either, but they come a lot closer than what the ibook offers.
I will echo the OP.
I want to use iBooks, but there are no books that i want in the store yet.
I think I even just looked up Steven King (cuz everyone has Steven King) and didn't find anything.....maybe it's cuz i'm in Canada>??
regardless....the book store for iBooks is crap.
Kindle had everything i wanted. And they got my money.
reading Eldest on the Kindle/iPad has been very nice indeed. I have TOO MANY books. all over my tiny apartment, this is why i prefer the eBook.
and think of the Trees !! not that i really do ...but some people do !
I want to use iBooks, but there are no books that i want in the store yet.
I think I even just looked up Steven King (cuz everyone has Steven King) and didn't find anything.....maybe it's cuz i'm in Canada>??
regardless....the book store for iBooks is crap.
Kindle had everything i wanted. And they got my money.
reading Eldest on the Kindle/iPad has been very nice indeed. I have TOO MANY books. all over my tiny apartment, this is why i prefer the eBook.
and think of the Trees !! not that i really do ...but some people do !
You'd get even less tired reading an actual Kindle. I've had a Kindle DX since last September and have torn through quite a few books with it. High resolution, easy on the eyes.
When the iPad came out I worried I made a mistake--but I think the two will live nicely together, with the Kindle being a very good book reader and the iPad being good for most everything else.
Reading books on a computer screen? Ouch.
As to the apps--I haven't downloaded the Kindle app . . but the iPad/iBook thing is a pretty slick implementation.
I put an anti-glare film on my iPad. With that the display quality for reading is very good. There is no way I want both a Kindle an an iPad.
I like elegant simplicity so I want my entire library in one app, I don't want some of my books in one app and others in another. I'm hoping that iBooks will win but I have concerns.
Right now the range of books is pitiful vs the competition but it is early days so maybe it is too early to be really concerned about this as a long-term issue.
It does worry me though when I see horrible and pervasive bugs in the iBook store. The display on book synopses (in the UK store at least) is totally broken and has gone unfixed since launch. For instance something in a synopsis like ' "Magnificent" says the Times ' is displayed as something like ' &rquoMagnificent&lquo says the Times '. It's not difficult to see what's going on but it totally scrambles many of the synopses and the fact that it's not been fixed makes me worry about how much Apple really cares and whether they've put the right level of dedicated and passionate staff in place to make this a success. If this was my project that would never have happened or would at least have been fixed quickly.
Also, when Engadget was live blogging on the iOS 4 event they even mentioned that Steve Jobs didn't seem too excited when he got to talking about the "tent pole" that is iBooks on the iPhone. I really worry that there isn't full support from the top to make iBooks win the format wars and, unless they're really trying, they won't beat a competitor like Amazon.
- Julian
Right now the range of books is pitiful vs the competition but it is early days so maybe it is too early to be really concerned about this as a long-term issue.
It does worry me though when I see horrible and pervasive bugs in the iBook store. The display on book synopses (in the UK store at least) is totally broken and has gone unfixed since launch. For instance something in a synopsis like ' "Magnificent" says the Times ' is displayed as something like ' &rquoMagnificent&lquo says the Times '. It's not difficult to see what's going on but it totally scrambles many of the synopses and the fact that it's not been fixed makes me worry about how much Apple really cares and whether they've put the right level of dedicated and passionate staff in place to make this a success. If this was my project that would never have happened or would at least have been fixed quickly.
Also, when Engadget was live blogging on the iOS 4 event they even mentioned that Steve Jobs didn't seem too excited when he got to talking about the "tent pole" that is iBooks on the iPhone. I really worry that there isn't full support from the top to make iBooks win the format wars and, unless they're really trying, they won't beat a competitor like Amazon.
- Julian
My wife and I are both able to read the same books through Amazon on our iPads.
Right now I use the Kindle app because of the selection. The difference in the reading experience from my perspective is minimal now...
I am curious how you have that set up. It could be my wife and I have separate Amazon.com accounts and got off on the wrong foot. But still I don't have my iPad and iPhone synced either with Amazon.com. We sync our iPads and my iPhone through my MacBook Pro iTunes account.
With B&N it is much more seamless. If I buy a book on my iPad it automatically loads to my wife's iPad and my iPhone without having to sync back through iTunes as we have to do for Apple iBooks. Interestingly, the last three books I bought were only available at B&N. I am beginning to think they have the better selection.
This is worth repeating. If you only had the Nook or the Kindle you would not only be captive to one choice of store but your selection would be limited as well. The iPad gives you a choice. It would be nice if someday you could also read books from Amazon.com, B&N, Borders and Apple with on convenient universal e-reader.
It would be nicer if they all stopped using DRM and you could just install your eBook in whatever reader you like, regardless of where you bought it. O'Reilly Media does that. You buy an eBook & you download any combination of all the formats they provide and use it where you want.
Boo apps
As an Online student, the number one deciding factor for me is that Kindle and B&N both allow you to read the books on multiple devices and platforms. I really like iBooks, but being able to access my books from any computer and search, copy, and paste quotes and citations into research papers makes life so much easier. For just sitting and reading as well as travel, I want to read on my iPad. I sure hope Apple soon lets us access iBook purchases from within multiple OS computers and mobile devices. I also hope all the stores start carrying more ebook education textbooks. Right now, many e-texts are limited to CourseSmart and they have a terrible interface.
As an Online student, the number one deciding factor for me is that Kindle and B&N both allow you to read the books on multiple devices and platforms. I really like iBooks, but being able to access my books from any computer and search, copy, and paste quotes and citations into research papers makes life so much easier. For just sitting and reading as well as travel, I want to read on my iPad. I sure hope Apple soon lets us access iBook purchases from within multiple OS computers and mobile devices. I also hope all the stores start carrying more ebook education textbooks. Right now, many e-texts are limited to CourseSmart and they have a terrible interface.
Book apps
As an Online student, the number one deciding factor for me is that Kindle and B&N both allow you to read the books on multiple devices and platforms. I really like iBooks, but being able to access my books from any computer and search, copy, and paste quotes and citations into research papers makes life so much easier. For just sitting and reading as well as travel, I want to read on my iPad. I sure hope Apple soon lets us access iBook purchases from within multiple OS computers and mobile devices. I also hope all the stores start carrying more ebook education textbooks. Right now, many e-texts are limited to CourseSmart and they have a terrible interface.
As an Online student, the number one deciding factor for me is that Kindle and B&N both allow you to read the books on multiple devices and platforms. I really like iBooks, but being able to access my books from any computer and search, copy, and paste quotes and citations into research papers makes life so much easier. For just sitting and reading as well as travel, I want to read on my iPad. I sure hope Apple soon lets us access iBook purchases from within multiple OS computers and mobile devices. I also hope all the stores start carrying more ebook education textbooks. Right now, many e-texts are limited to CourseSmart and they have a terrible interface.
I kind of guessed that. That's what we do with Apple and B&N but long before iPad my wife and I had separate Amazon.com accounts.
I agree. That's why epub support is a must and why the Kindle app is a non-starter.
Many people's problems have been addressed with 1.1 (sync, sepia, etc.) but certainly building a compatible catalog will take some time. Especially with Amazon strong-arming publishers.
For me, as I read a lot of older (Project Gutenberg/Google Books) books, the Kindle app is just awful. Even though Amazon has many of the books for free just like iBooks, the formatting is almost unreadable. I've purchased newer books on Amazon with formatting that was just as bad. If it's just about reading, that's a problem.
Regardless of whether it's "respectable" to have pictures in books, a vast amount of books have them. Indeed, some books are completely useless without them (some textbooks, technical manuals, cookbooks, children's books, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, etc.). If Apple doesn't have some of the books you want it's a travesty, but if amazon doesn't (or just has an inferior version) then they're respectable?
I have about 20 ePub books in iBooks and have added about as many PDF books/magazines. The performance is a lot worse than with version 1.0, although I am glad for the notes and sepia features.
I have about 75 epubs and a couple PDFs. I haven't seen a slowdown yet. Hopefully 1.1.1 will come out soon for those who experience this.
I like the page ribbon. I wasn't too fond of selecting a word as a bookmark. Another annoyance though, is how you change the highlight color or remove it. Seems unresponsive...
iBooks can now be read in sepia, and the Kindle app can do the fancy page curl too and you can highlight a word...so they are equal in these regards. The Kindle app's next update will also include an inline dictionary as does iBooks. However, Kindle currently has more books available (though I understand that is not going to be the case within a year according to Apple). One other factor that gives Kindle an edge is the lower cost of books. I absolutely love the iBooks app, but I first check out Amazon when looking for a book ONLY because of the price difference. Don't know if that will ever change. Nonetheless, it is the only issue that makes me give Kindle a very small favor over iBooks. I like and use them both...Kindle more so only because I have over 100 books there and 4 on iBooks. But who knows, I may be thinking differently next year!
I just like the super-simple interface of the Kindle app, works better for my reading comfort. The iBooks interface is very distracting to me, too fancy, too much going on trying to make an iPad screen "look like a book." If I want a book, I'll pick up a book.
I'll have to see how many (if any) of the bells and whistles can be turned off in the new iBooks version.
I'll have to see how many (if any) of the bells and whistles can be turned off in the new iBooks version.
My biggest issue with the Kindle app is the lack of page numbers. I never know exactly how much I have read, and more importantly how much I have left. I know they have some goofy location thing but the exact page numbers in iBooks is far superior. I buy the majority of my books through Kindle because of their superior selection but it would be nice to have this feature.