Thinking about adding a Kindle.....

[geko29]

Put me down firmly in the Kindle camp. I own two Kindle devices (K1 and K3), and have the app for my personal iPhone and a work iPad (16GB WiFi) that I can pilfer at my leisure. Thus far, I've read 112 Kindle books--one on the iP4, half of one on the iPad, and the remaining 110 and change on the dedicated readers.

For ME, the e-ink is so much sharper and easier on the eyes than the LCD screens are. I find this to be the case in nearly all lighting conditions except very low light. In the past, I've used a Mighty brite LED light that clipped to my Kindle on those rare occasions, but with the Kindle 3 I just got the Amazon cover with the built-in light. It takes up basically no space, and requires no batteries, since it runs off the Kindle.

Interestingly enough, I actually find the iP4 a significantly better reader than the iPad, largely because of the higher resolution and the ease with which I can hold it in a position where I'm less likely to be distracted by the smudges (and it's easier to keep clean). I have 20/10 vision (corrected) and can literally see every pixel that makes up a letter on the iPad's screen, which is both distracting and strains my eyes. In moderate lighting with the sepia color scheme, I find the iP4 only slightly more tiring than e-ink.

So my order, for reading:

Kindle >> iPhone 4 >>>>>> iPad

 

[EricNau]

Again, I've got both (plus a Nook as well) and will reach for either the Kindle or the Nook anytime I am going to do extended reading. The iPad is my last choice for reading ONLY. I will say, however, one nice feature of the iPad is to read something technical and then hop out to Safari to do a little more research (or Wiki or whatever) and then come back and read some more.

But for straight novel reading....my iPad takes last place.

I'm genuinely curious: why do you use both a Kindle and a Nook? Don't they serve exactly the same purpose, and don't they use different, incompatible formats? What am I missing?

 

[infosprt]

I own the iPad and the Kindle 2 (with the Kindle 3 on order).

I prefer the Kindle for reading for four reasons.

1. Screen is perfect for bright sunlight. The brighter the sun the better the screen looks. I walk and read alot.
2. When reading you don't want to be concerned with inadvertent screen touches. Switches in my opinion are better.
3. Better battery life on the Kindle although this is a minor point.
4. You can put the Kindle in your pocket.

 

[bri1212]

add it if you want it

I use to have a kindle, and found it less then inspiring.
That's not to say it wasn't a great device, but I didn't learn to like to read on it.
I ended up leaving it at home a lot on business trips, because I did not have room for it in my backpack/briefcase.
When I bought my Ipad, I did not buy it for reading. But I nonetheless, downloaded a few classics, and they have come in handy for those times stuck in the airport and at the doctors office. I like the ipad as a reading device because I do have the ability to look things up as I read. I agree the weight is better on the kindle, but I would rather have an all in one device, and carry one device, then have to carry one more device, and have to decide whether I have the room to take it with me.
I am not saying the kindle is a bad device, but I am saying it is still sitting on my book case collecting dust with all of the hard backs and paperbacks I used to read.

 

[PrestonCrawford]

Honestly, that sounds like you just don't have time, energy or interest in reading. I've been there. Between playing around with new software tools and languages and playing video games, whatever reading can sometimes take a back seat. I find I read more with the Kindle, though. At least the small one. Mostly because if I leave my other devices at home I will end up less distracted and the Kindle (leather cover on) feels "book-y" to me. We'll see how the DX is.

 

[PrestonCrawford]

Well, I saw how the DX was. Not good. PDFs of tech books were HARDER to read. The font was too small, it's hard to flip pages, you can't scroll. When it comes to what I original wanted the iPad for (reading tech books) it wins. Wow.

 

[Jaro65]

I sold my Kindle 2 and DX after being thoroughly disappointed with how graphs and diagrams were rendered in some of my technical books. I tried to squint, but it just wasn't worth it. Kindle is indeed superb in bright daylight (no contest there), but other than that, I enjoy reading through the Kindle app on my iPad.

 

[Elise]

I've tried a Kindle but I much prefer my iPad. I read 2/3 books a week and I have no problems reading them on my iPad at all. I do most of my reading indoors (commuting or at home) so the bright light issue, isn't an issue for me. In any case, I prefer to have a multi platform device, as it just offers more value for me personally.

 

[TheMacBookPro]

I own the iPad and the Kindle 2 (with the Kindle 3 on order).

I prefer the Kindle for reading for four reasons.

1. Screen is perfect for bright sunlight. The brighter the sun the better the screen looks. I walk and read alot.
2. When reading you don't want to be concerned with inadvertent screen touches. Switches in my opinion are better.
3. Better battery life on the Kindle although this is a minor point.
4. You can put the Kindle in your pocket.

1. 2. Agreed.

3. Major point actually. 3 weeks of reading on one charge is way better than 10 hours.

4. ...wait what? Unless you have big gangsta jeans I'm not sure how a 6 inch Kindle would slip into your pocket. I have difficulty stuffing my HD2 (WM equiv of the HTC Evo) into the pocket of some of my (normal) jeans...

 

[3lionsbecks]

1. 2. Agreed.

3. Major point actually. 3 weeks of reading on one charge is way better than 10 hours.

4. ...wait what? Unless you have big gangsta jeans I'm not sure how a 6 inch Kindle would slip into your pocket. I have difficulty stuffing my HD2 (WM equiv of the HTC Evo) into the pocket of some of my (normal) jeans...

+1. I can barely get my blackberry curve into my jeans or flat front dress pants let alone a 6" kindle!

But I do believe the Kindle is much lighter to throw into a backpack or laptop bag and especially to hold when reading.

I read a lot on the iPad but it is a bit cumbersome after an hour or so......

 

[PanAm-L1011]

I read far more on my iPad than I ever did on my kindle. I love reading on the iPad. The get more words on the screen with the iPad and it has pages numbers. I hated that the kindle doesn't. If I'm reading a1,500 page book what good does telling me I'm 30% through.

The huge advantage to the iPad is the ereader apps. I can get almost any book on iBooks, Nook or Kindle.

No contest IMO.

I also love that I can read in bed at night with no light.

 

[circularforward]

I opened up my kindle 3 late last night, and it is rather early but so far I am underwhelmed. I have a lot of PDFs, especially of textbooks, and I'm finding that the kindle 3 is not too good for those. The zoom is limited to 50% increments, and that is just nowhere near precise enough to detail the view I would like. There is either too restricted a view (even in landscape view), and I must SLOWLY scroll to the right, or there is too much of a view with wasted white space. I also find that it'll cut off the last line, for example the last line will have 1/2 of the top showing and then the next page will have the other 1/2 at the top when you advance in page. Furthermore, diagrams look bad. The pdf to kindle converters are also useless for many of my pdfs with multiple columns and asides in the margins.

Maybe I just don't know enough about the settings, and I need to learn how to finetune them. I guess the DX will better suit my needs, but at that price point, I would rather get an iPad.

I also must add that I love Amazon's frustration-free packaging and their 30-day return policy with no restocking fee. Though I'm finding the kindle not so great for my specific needs, I am impressed with its value, weight, and e-ink pros, and I would have been satisfied if I were to use it solely to read conventional ebooks.

 

[Tankfantry]

I think the E-Readers will become more and more popular in the coming years. Case & Point my wife just got a new Nook and she hasn't put it down. What I am waiting on is if she will steal my iPad 2nd Gen when it comes out first quarter of next year. If all you plan on doing is reading then the Nook / Kindle is all you need. Just my thought but if you do decide to spring for the iPad then you will find yourself doing a lot more then just reading.

 

[3lionsbecks]

I think the E-Readers will become more and more popular in the coming years. Case & Point my wife just got a new Nook and she hasn't put it down. What I am waiting on is if she will steal my iPad 2nd Gen when it comes out first quarter of next year. If all you plan on doing is reading then the Nook / Kindle is all you need. Just my thought but if you do decide to spring for the iPad then you will find yourself doing a lot more then just reading.

I know this thread is 5 pages deep but if you re-read my OP you'll see I already have an iPad, iPod Touch and MBP. So you can see why I have opted to add just the e-reader my gadget family.

I should be getting the Kindle on Monday (delivery is scheduled from amazon for Sept 20th) so I'll make sure I write a small review here after I use it for a few days. I have now read 8 books on the iPad since July so I think I'll be able to make a fair comparison.

I already know where the iPad is much better than the kindle (variety of different apps and media programs) but I am curious to see how I like reading on the Kindle compared to the iPad. I know I liked the $140 price tag!

 

[JBazz]

I didnt read all 5 pages so I may be repeating, but I genuinely enjoy reading and the Kindle is a much, much, muchmuchmuch better choice for me. Not only is it easier for me to read, but it will READ TO ME. I often listen to my newspapers in the morning while walking or using the gym.

Also, I have never had a situation where I could not use my Kindle, but I have had a few situations where I could not use my iPad (like out on a ramp during daylight).

I love my iPad and my Kindle but I love them for what they do best...their primary function, not for their ability to do many things mediocre.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I'm genuinely curious: why do you use both a Kindle and a Nook? Don't they serve exactly the same purpose, and don't they use different, incompatible formats? What am I missing?

Honest answer: I fell for the hype. It was getting lots of kudo's for embracing ePub format, lending features, etc. I also (mistakenly) thought I could share books between it and iBook but the DRM appears to be different. So I bought one anticipating replacing my first-gen Kindle with the device. I had already soured on the reading experience on the iPad and the Kindle 3 wasn't announced yet soooo....

Its a good reader, much better than the Kindle 1. But the features that were so well hyped turned out to be just "meh" and now that the B&N future is questionable, who knows. For now, its fine. But if Barnes and Noble goes away, its fairly useless.

I do give it credit for lowering the price of the Kindle, however. They were the first to offer it at the lower price point.

We still use it....my wife has found some books on the Nook that she can't get via Amazon. So between the Nook and the Nook app (just like the Kindle and the Kindle app), no matter which device we pick up we can access our library. The iPad just doesn't get used for a lot reading....gets used a ton, but not for that purpose.

 

[circularforward]

I think the E-Readers will become more and more popular in the coming years.

I agree. With the rate they have been decreasing in price and advancing in improvements, it wouldn't surprise me if either Amazon or B&N get to the $99 pricepoint by the end of this year. At that point, it really should open up to mass adoption.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

I agree. With the rate they have been decreasing in price and advancing in improvements, it wouldn't surprise me if either Amazon or B&N get to the $99 pricepoint by the end of this year. At that point, it really should open up to mass adoption.

I'm betting you'll see it for free with a/subscription model prior to seeing it dip below the $100 mark. Could be wrong, but I've seen the teardown reports for the Kindle that showed it costs about $185 in parts to build. Although Amazon is reported to have sold over 22Million ebooks this year thus far, they typically are losing $1-1.50 per ebook sold/downloaded as they pay as much (or more) for the ebooks than they sell them for.

If you take a loss leader of the reader coupled with a loss leader of the ebooks....there has to be some room in there somewhere.

A subscription model makes far more sense than to keep dropping the price of the units. Sign up for a $25/month ebook program that gives you 3 books per month, maybe discounts on additional purchases, with a 3 year contract. Now they have an annuity model in place to help cover the up-front losses of the hardware. Then they could erode the price further...even give it away.

 

[EricNau]

Honest answer: I fell for the hype...

Ahh, that makes sense. The Nook does have some nice features. Thanks for the reply.

Its a good reader, much better than the Kindle 1. But the features that were so well hyped turned out to be just "meh" and now that the B&N future is questionable, who knows. For now, its fine. But if Barnes and Noble goes away, its fairly useless.

You never know; the closing of a major reseller of DRMed materials might make for an interesting court case, one that would hopefully end with the rights to the materials being given to the customers.

I mean, if Apple were to go bankrupt tomorrow (I'm biting my tongue! ), would my iTunes movie library "disappear"?

 

[circularforward]

I'm betting you'll see it for free with a/subscription model prior to seeing it dip below the $100 mark.

You may be right! It could be like Audible, an Amazon company. =)

They used to offer a $100 subsidy to purchase an mp3 player when people signed up for the yearly subscription.

 

[akm3]

I love my iPad and added the newest Kindle as a supplement.

Kindle has advantages over the iPad in some departments as an eReader...reading a novel I prefer the kindle.

Pretty much everything else I prefer the iPad.

 

[Seamaster]

Books, serious magazines, newspapers ... Kindle

Everything else ... iPad

Ask yourself which of these you spend most time on, and choose accordingly. Having said that, as I keep arguing here, and on the Kindle forums, there's no need to be tribal about this. There are perfectly good reasons for owning both.