Skip to main content

E-Readers for Excellent-Readers

Happy Monday! Please check out our Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop at the end of this post.

The time has come. I've waited long enough to purchase an e-reader, and I wanted to pick your brain about which e-reader you like the best. The big three that I'm aware of are the Kindle, the Nook, and the Sony E-Reader. Any more I should know about? What are the pros and cons of each one?

You'd have to be living in a cave not to know about Amazon's Kindle. The library of e-books is extensive, and my novel With Good Behavior has been available on Kindle since its release date HERE

However, I don't think Kindle is for me since you can't read PDF's or library books on it.

Barnes & Noble's Nook is more appealing to me. From what I understand, there may be fewer e-books available but they seem to be less pricey and you can read non-proprietary books in PDF formats. And, I'm very excited that Omnific Publishing just made With Good Behavior available for the Nook HERE!

I don't know as much about Sony's E-Reader but I've heard good things from customers.

I'm leaning toward buying the Nook and curling up into a nook in my condo to read e-books galore! But I want to hear your opinion before I lay down the cash. Do you own an e-reader? If not, do you plan to buy one and which one looks most appealing to you? If you own one, how do you feel about your purchase? (typical psychologist "How do you feel" question :-)

Finally, did you buy the Wi-Fi or 3G version? Pros/Cons?

Thank you! Jennifer Lane

It's time for Meet an Author Monday Blog Hop.

Comments

I have this exact dilemma, the reviews online have not been very helpful. My friend has a nook and she swears by it.
Jennifer Lane said…
Thanks, Joanna. I have friends who are Nook devotees as well. Hopefully we'll hear from some e-reader owners and get the real scoop.
Amos Keppler said…
I don't think any E-Reader format is good enough yet, so I'm waiting patiently for it to be so, and am currently content with publishing good ol' paper books.

Even teenagers I talk to prefer reading a book on paper, anyway, and I agree.
Nicki Elson said…
Thanks for asking the question, Jen. I'm getting closer to an e-reader, but I think I'm w/ Amos as far a waiting for the bugs to be worked out and improvements to show themselves.

As with all brand new technology, it evolves quickly...and gets cheaper. ;)
Jennifer Lane said…
Hi Amos and Nicki, thanks for your comments. I've seen the prices drop substantially already so I think you're wise to wait. For me I'm taking the plunge now for two reasons: 1) The e-books are less expensive and 2) I often don't have time to go out and buy print books for my book club, so the convenience of getting the book instantly would be quite attractive. But I might struggle to adapt to the e-reader.
Marie Harte said…
Hey Jennifer.

I have a Nook, and I like it, but I've been salivating over the Kindle 2. The Nook has great e-ink technology, but the lag time between page-throughs can get annoying until you get used to it. I still love being able to download with the touch of a button. And the B&N library is quite extensive. I write, and I also download my files in PDF to my Nook, so I can read my stuff for edits without being stuck behind my computer. And a lot of the ebooks I purchase for pleasure I get straight from smaller press epublishers. Loose Id and Samhain offer the EPUB format, and I buy a lot of stuff from them. But any place that offers PDF works on my Nook too. Another thing, there's a touch screen at the bottom of the Nook which offers the covers in color. It's nice, but not a necessity. My biggest complaint--I wished the battery charge lasted longer.
Marie
Jennifer Lane said…
Marie, thanks for the helpful info! That would be lovely to be able to read your edits without being stuck on a computer. A few folks commented on this post over on goodreads and one said that her Sony e-reader can read word documents--I'm guessing the Nook can't do that? Another reader, nicekittyRAWR said that she CAN read pdfs on the Kindle. How long does the battery charge last for the Nook? And what is making you salivate over the Kindle 2?
Unknown said…
Excellent question, Jen! One I'd like answered myself. As much as I love paperbacks, ereaders sound heavenly convenient. ...That said, I might be tempted to go for a device that allows you to browze the internet (like an iPad?)... suppose I wouldn't get much reading done then! :P
Jennifer Lane said…
Yeah, an iPad would be far superior to surfing the web on your phone. Hearing e-reader owner opinions, I feel like I'm left with even more questions about which one to buy. ;) Thanks, Janine.
I have a nook, and so far I really enjoy it (although I get iPad envy). It's small, portable - I recently got a cover for it, so it's protected and feels more bookish. As far as PDFs - yes and no. I found that files really need to be in EPUB format to reflow on the nook, and though you can read PDFs, they don't flow like they should. However, the best part about the nook - ELEND! My mom and neices all have nooks and we swap books - it's awesome, because we all live in different states and wouldn't be able to otherwise.
Jennifer Lane said…
Good to know about PDF's and the Nook, Sue. So how does ELEND work?

I'm learning so much--thank you, everyone!
You can lend an e-book for up to two weeks (I think) to up to 5 different people - sequentially. And you don't have access to it while it's on "lend" just like a real book.
Jennifer Lane said…
Wow! How cool! So that's what you were talking about when you wanted to lend me The Hunger Games. :)
Exactly! Ok, you must have thought I was crazy. :)