Do you have a Nook or a Kindle? Why?

[BarryEM]

I have a Kindle and I do think of myself as a Kindle user but a couple weeks ago I bought a Nook Glowlight Plus, their new ereader. I don't, and won't, buy books from B&N but I convert my Kindle books to epub to read them on the Nook.

I seem to be reading more on the Kindle still but I go back and forth with them. There's no question in my mind the Kindle is the better device but the Nook is better than I expected. The big problem is that N button that takes me back to the home screen. It's now capactive and it's right where I want to hold the book so I'll be reading along and find myself back at the home screen. You don't have to press it. You just have to barely touch it. It's certainly the dumbest design decision in the history of technology. But other than that it's a pretty nice device.

Barry

[FlorilegiumNYC]

So one lovely Christmas, the person I had been dating thought that it would do well to gift me a Kindle...not just any kindle those fancy, tablet like device thing kind. I was excited, literally a light read to hold close everywhere I go...those are the benefits....being able to basically carry around an entire library of books with you at all times so whatever your reading taste of the moment may be, you can find perhaps (if not on a train) you can download and begin your reading.

What I did not enjoy, was having it die on me while I was invested in a story. Or seeing the glimmering reflections of light bounce off this tablet like device that is better suited for movies and games then it had been for books. I think this one was the Kindle Fire edition. And nothing is worse than having had enjoyed a book in its entirety, even having nice highlight marks on it (thank you kindle) but not having the actual book on your shelf...you know the one you look at every so often like a visual memory of emotions that hand at your sight. No, if you want to remember or look back at what you had read and which moments you enjoyed you will need to keep that tablet charged and ready !

[ccrogers]

I have both. I got a Nook to read on an eInk screen, which I find more comfortable for long sessions of reading. I got a Kindle Fire because it also runs apps. I actually read my Kindle books more on my iPhone, because it's lighter. It's funny how many people I've known that didn't know they could read ebooks without buying an eReader device (because they already had smart phones)!

[doyle5]

I don't have a Nook or a Kindle. I prefer paper. But, considering how much cheaper the electronic books versions are. I'm probably going to get a Kindle soon...

[BarryEM]

I had a paperback book in my pocket for probably the first 50 years of my life. Then in the mid 1980s a lot of people on Compuserve, this was before the internet was publicly available, began scanning books and exchanging them to read on pocket devices such as the HP LX Dos computer (it weighed 11 ounces and used 2 AA batteries and got about 30 hours with them) and the Tandy Zoomer and the Apple Newton.

Anyway I began scanning and exchanging books and reading on my LX and i never looked back. It's been decades since I read a paper book.

These days I have 4 e-ink Kindles, a Nook Glowlight Plus, 3 Kobos, a few Kindle fires ( don't consider those reading devices) and a phone to read on.

My preference is the Kindle Voyage but these days I read more on my phone than on the Kindle.

Barry

[TashaS]

I just purchased the Kindle Fire. My intention was to give it to my kids to use, but after receiving it I'm keeping it for myself and letting them use my trusty(5yr old) iPad. I've never liked e-books and in think that is my iPads fault. I enjoy reading on my new kindle, so much so that I've read three books in as many days. It tells me how much time I have left based on my reading speed, which leads me to say...I have four hours, I can keep reading. On second thought maybe this is a bad idea !
I don't love the keyboard, which I'm using now to write this. But I don't really need the keyboard for reading! I doubt anything will truly ever replace the feeling a good print version in my hands gives me, but this kindle is pretty close!

[J+R]

I have a Kindle for PC on both my laptops. I just didn't want to carry around another device. One small laptop goes everywhere I go, campus and travel. It helps to have less weight to carry around, both in terms of numbers of devices to carry and number of books especially on long distance travels.

[doyle5]

Does anyone have suggestion as to what e-book device to get? I haven't ever used one. I'd like to get one.

[BarryEM]

I have a number of them, Kindles, Nooks and Kobos. I don't think I'd recommend the Nook unless you have a lot of ebooks already at B&N. It's a really nice device with a couple of bothersome flaws but more than that B&N's future is in doubt. Also B&N only lets you download your books to the device itself, not to your PC, so you can't make an unprotected backup should you choose to do so.

My personal preference is for the Kindle. I have the Voyage and all three generations of Paperwhite. They're excellent devices and Amazon has a great bookstore and probably the best customer service of any large company of any kind. They also have the best sales on books.

I also have a three Kobos and they're also excellent. Their store is harder to shop in but they have plenty of books and if you're looking for a particular book you can find it in Kobo's store or Amazon's. Their customer service, in my experience, is extremely difficult to get hold of but once you do they tend to be pretty helpful.

While it's hard for me to recommend the new Nook, it really is a nice device. I do use mine and I like it. The only serious problem I have with it is that the home button is capacative so if I touch the front in just the wrong place I'm out of the book and back at the home screen. That can be irritating. If I used it exclusively I'd probably learn not to do that but I rotate among my devices and it just keeps happening.

One thing I would recommend is a reader with a front light. All these come with front lights but some older models and some currently available models (the Kobo Touch and the plain vanilla Kindle) don't have lights. If you get one without a light you probably won't mind not having it unless you've used one with a light before. Once you've used the light to see how huge an improvement it really is you'll never want to go back. The light isn't so much to replace room light as to increase the contrast on the page. Whites are truly white and blacks are dark and deep.

A good scientific way to pick an ereader, if you can't make up your mind based on the specs and reviews, is to flip a coin. When you're talking about devices that are all this good there's no chance of getting a wrong one.

Barry

[PoeticJava]

I have a basic Kindle because I had the Nook and didn't need all the bells and whistles it offered since I also have a tablet. My other reason for letting the Nook go is because I am always in fear that Barnes and Noble will go by the wayside like my favorite bookstore, Borders, did and then I will be up a creek without a paddle because Nook is attached to BN.

[CataclysmicKnight]

Oh my goodness, I've already voted but just had to come back and say.... Ever since I started using my phone or kindle to read, I can't go back to physical books. I read one recently and it was so much more difficult! Holding it awkwardly, lighting difficulties, lack of highlighting and jumping around so easily (I never write in physical books...). It's just not for me anymore, nope!

[meggy101]

I have a nook and a kindle. I like the kindle because you can pay 10 a month and have so many books to choose from. It's cheaper, which is good for me. The nook was good but i had a hard time with barnes and noble.

[Aanaren]

I have a Nook GlowLight and a Kindle Fire. Honestly, I find the Kindle to be far superior for a few reasons.
1. Books tend to be significantly cheaper from Amazon than Barnes and Noble.
2. In my opinion, there are more free or low cost books available on the Kindle.
3. Kindle Unlimited. While it started off seeming a bit limited, at least in the genre's I prefer, the selection has really increased over time. Given the amount that myself, my husband, and my grandmother-in-law read on our Unlimited account the savings is outrageous for us compared to buying each book separately. We easily read over fifty books per month via Unlimited.

[Lezer]

Kindle, because they are very easy to use, but i still prefer paperback books.

[ryne_57]

I actually use the Kindle app on my Microsoft Surface tablet. In the past, I've used both the Nook and the Kindle apps because sometimes there is content that may be easier to find on one rather than the other. I'm limiting myself to Kindle right now, because I've found it very useful and thrifty to rent the Kindle versions of my college textbooks.

As for why I use it in the first place, I much prefer the feel of a physical book in my hand, but, as I said, it's sometimes more inexpensive to buy the e-book version. And unlike going to the bookstore or the library, downloading a book also doesn't require me having to make a trip out of the house, either. Additionally, I do travel quite a bit and it's a lot easier to download additional e-books prior to leaving than to take up valuable real estate in my suit case with paperbacks.