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Kindle Touch vs Nook Touch (Need Advice)

B

BennyBlades

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 31, 2007
25
0
Evergreen Park, IL
I'm in the market for an e-reader. I have an iPad, enjoy reading on it but it's putting a strain on my eyes. So I'm looking at one of the $99 models out there? What do you recommend??

Thanks in advance...
 
I agree with Miles. Kindles are the only eBook readers out there worth buying. I've owned 5 myself, and will always buy them. Many family members love them too.

Nooks suck.
 
I bought one of the £89 Kindles yesterday and I love it. Nice and light, great size, fantastic screen. I used to have a Sony Reader but sold it because of the weight, the low screen contrast and the fact that it was so bloody difficult getting books for it! I'm so happy with the Kindle i've bought one for the wife too.
 
Can you load pdf's in the Kindle on a Mac?
I'd like to put my music charts and lyrics into something that would be readable .
The ipod touch is to small and I'm not ready to dish out $500+ for an iPad.
 
BennyBlades said:
I'm in the market for an e-reader. I have an iPad, enjoy reading on it but it's putting a strain on my eyes. So I'm looking at one of the $99 models out there? What do you recommend??

Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...

Get a Kindle with the keyboard (Kindle 3). Just the buttons on the side for changing pages makes it worth it.
 
I have both the touch and the keyboard both in 3g. I like them both. the keyboard model it's hard to choose the wrong thing with but it is a bit of a pain getting around. the touch when in a book is great but when you are on the main screen it is easy to choose the wrong thing. you have to swipe to change pages where on the book you can swipe or touch. I like the sliding power switch on the keyboad better in that it is impossible to turn on accidentally. The touch is lighter and You don't have to have the screen refresh on every page turn if you don't want it.
typing is far better on the touch and far faster too. overall I like the touch better I think. I don't mind the ads I think they make a better sleep screen then the stock photos that get old after a bit. Though a blind person can't use the touch though.
so my only real complaint on the touch is it is too easy to select the wrong book though if you slide your finger instead of tapping it helps. Plus the power button though so far it has not been an issue.
 
So do you guys buy ebooks?
These ereaders all seem to be hooked up with stores.
I'm not into buying ebooks.
Is it easy to get your PDFs from your Mac to the device?
thanks
 
bobsax said:
So do you guys buy ebooks?
These ereaders all seem to be hooked up with stores.
I'm not into buying ebooks.
Is it easy to get your PDFs from your Mac to the device?
thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, I use calibre - it's a free program for syncing to your Kindle - PDFs, ebooks, text documents, etc. You can use it to load up free ebooks and other documents not purchased through amazon. Highly recommended. I have a Kindle 3 and I absolutely love it, calibre makes it super easy to manage on my mac.
 
Queen of Spades said:
Yes, I use calibre - it's a free program for syncing to your Kindle - PDFs, ebooks, text documents, etc. You can use it to load up free ebooks and other documents not purchased through amazon. Highly recommended. I have a Kindle 3 and I absolutely love it, calibre makes it super easy to manage on my mac.
Click to expand...

Wow thanks
That's really good info.I'm glad to know it works okay with a Mac.
It looks like it works with all the e-readers out there also.
I'm looking at the nook touch for $100.
 
Why would you buy the Nook Simple Touch over the Kindle Touch?

And Calibre is great, I've converted hundreds of ebooks with little issues. The program has a bit of a learning curve to get everything perfect (assuming your .pdfs aren't absolutely perfect), but in the end it's worth it.
 
Abyssgh0st said:
Why would you buy the Nook Simple Touch over the Kindle Touch?

And Calibre is great, I've converted hundreds of ebooks with little issues. The program has a bit of a learning curve to get everything perfect (assuming your .pdfs aren't absolutely perfect), but in the end it's worth it.
Click to expand...

I guess the Nook over the Kindle is because I can get the Nook at Barnes&Nobel and return it easily if I don't like it. They seem pretty similar as far as I can tell except the Kindle is $139 without adds vs the Nook at $100.

How do you think Calibre will be with music , lyric and chord charts?
I hope there's a way to organize it so I can use it at rehearsals and gigs.
 
bobsax said:
I guess the Nook over the Kindle is because I can get the Nook at Barnes&Nobel and return it easily if I don't like it. They seem pretty similar as far as I can tell except the Kindle is $139 without adds vs the Nook at $100.

How do you think Calibre will be with music , lyric and chord charts?
I hope there's a way to organize it so I can use it at rehearsals and gigs.
Click to expand...

Amazon has the most pain-free returns I've ever experienced.

Also, the fact that you are concerned about "adds [sic]" is a bit confusing. Do you realize that sometimes the ads are Amazon gift cards (ex. $20) for $10? There was a laptop coupon code a few months ago for 25% of laptops, and it applied to MacBooks Airs and MacBook Pros- needless to say, people were selling the codes on eBay for $50-125. Some even bought special offer Kindles and sold the code and were able to cover the entire cost of the Kindle.
 
I just read that you can't buy books on Amazon with the Nook.
Can you buy B&N books with the Kindle?
To be honest I'm not really interested in buying things and that seems to be what all the makers of these tablets and e-readers want you to do.
They seem to be little "Buy Boxes".
I really bugs me. Itunes is like that but it can be ignored.
Do you know if you have to give credit card info just to make these things work?
 
bobsax said:
I just read that you can't buy books on Amazon with the Nook.
Can you buy B&N books with the Kindle?
To be honest I'm not really interested in buying things and that seems to be what all the makers of these tablets and e-readers want you to do.
They seem to be little "Buy Boxes".
I really bugs me. Itunes is like that but it can be ignored.
Do you know if you have to give credit card info just to make these things work?
Click to expand...

Nope, but you do have to purchase the books to go in the e readers unless you get the e books from the library. B&N doesn't sell Kindle format books and Amazon doesn't sell Nook format books. I have never seen e books to be more expensive then a physical book and they are often cheaper then a physical book. If you buy many books, an e book reader will save you money.

Note - The amount of copies of e-books in a library is constrained so there is usually a long wait to get popular titles from the library.
 
roadbloc said:
I have a Kindle Keyboard and I love it. Fully recommend.
Click to expand...

Same here, I love my Kindle Keyboard.

I would go with the Kindle. Seeing the demise of Borders, I can't help but wonder how much longer B&N would be around. It would suck to buy a Nook only to have them go down the toilet and the store shut down.
 
Plutonius said:
Nope, but you do have to purchase the books to go in the e readers unless you get the e books from the library. B&N doesn't sell Kindle format books and Amazon doesn't sell Nook format books. I have never seen e books to be more expensive then a physical book and they are often cheaper then a physical book. If you buy many books, an e book reader will save you money.

Note - The amount of copies of e-books in a library is constrained so there is usually a long wait to get popular titles from the library.
Click to expand...

I don't believe in owning books so I won't save any money;) The greatest thing about the U.S.A is the public library.
I'm hoping I can put my original lyrics and chords in an e-reader to use at gigs and rehearsals.
 
for me it was the kindle because it would sync with my iPhone. Plus it will work for a blind person and my wife is blind. I found the ads are nice as it is better then the screensavers that were getting really old.
 
steve knight said:
for me it was the kindle because it would sync with my iPhone. Plus it will work for a blind person and my wife is blind. I found the ads are nice as it is better then the screensavers that were getting really old.
Click to expand...
I've looked into the adds on the kindle and I guess it's just on the home screen (not when reading) so maybe that's not a big deal. Also a big deal is if I ever did want to buy something it would probably be cheaper at amazon and since I do shop amazon they already have my credit card and I could try out amazon-prime.
As I do more research it sounds like you have to hack these things to make them useful for things other then reading ebooks.
The guy at B&N said the color Nook could be turned into an android.
I don't think he was talking about hacking.
 
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bobsax said:
Can you load pdf's in the Kindle on a Mac?
I'd like to put my music charts and lyrics into something that would be readable .
The ipod touch is to small and I'm not ready to dish out $500+ for an iPad.
Click to expand...

Kindle will read pdf's but be prepared to do lots of zooming and scrolling. The screen is too small for a single sheet of music. Like you, I carry my charts around on my iPod Touch, but they're unusable except for reference. The iPad really would be the perfect animal. It's hard to warant the cost for just a music reader.
 
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bobsax, are you a mandolin player by any chance?
 
bjm2660 said:
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Kindle will read pdf's but be prepared to do lots of zooming and scrolling. The screen is too small for a single sheet of music. Like you, I carry my charts around on my iPod Touch, but they're unusable except for reference. The iPad really would be the perfect animal. It's hard to warant the cost for just a music reader.
Click to expand...

Not if you have a Kindle DX! :D 9.7" screen FTW.
 
yg17 said:
Same here, I love my Kindle Keyboard.

I would go with the Kindle. Seeing the demise of Borders, I can't help but wonder how much longer B&N would be around. It would suck to buy a Nook only to have them go down the toilet and the store shut down.
Click to expand...

Not to worry. B&N will still be around because of three factors:

1. They have a burgeoning online business that they've always owned since 1997.

2. B&N has a real moneymaker in the college textbook business, despite what everyone says about college textbooks being financial ripoffs.

3. B&N, like Amazon, wisely got into the e-book reader business with their own branded reader back in 2009, and designed their physical bookstores with free Wi-Fi hotspots where you can use any B&N-branded e-book reader and preview any book in their e-book catalog for free at the store.

Frankly, I like the Nook Simple Touch because it's really easy to hold and use, and it's hard to beat the US$99 price, too. :)
 
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