Reader Ebook

The two most talking ebook readers right now are the Barnes and Nobles Nook and the Amazon Kindle. They can both download stuffs from PC.

I’ve compared the Nook and the Kindle, so let me tell you my findings. From the official page of B&N, here is how the Nook compares with the Kindle:

Since Barnes and Noble page is only mentioning the advantage of the Nook over the Kindle, let me try to tell more about the benefit of the Kindle 2 over the Nook:

- There is no internet browser for the Nook. So even with Wi-Fi, you can only use it to purchase book. You cannot do searching in Google, Wikipedia, check email, etc., like what you can do with the Kindle.

- The Amazon Kindle has international free 3G wireless which covers over 100 countries. So even if you’re in places like the UK or Australia, you can access the internet with the Kindle free of charge. The Nook has wireless only within the U.S., and is limited for use of buying books only

- The Kindle is available outside the U.S. (it ships to 176 countries), while the Nook only ship within the U.S. at this moment.

- The Kindle has text-to-speech function, so it can treat an ebook like audio book. This function is not present on the Nook.

- The price of ebooks for the Nook on Barnes and Nobles are more expensive than the ebooks on the Kindle. This can make quite a difference in long term, the price difference adds up as you buy more books.

- Amazon is already doing some change after the Nook is announced (still more than one month for it to be available). They dropped the price of their International Kindle even further. And they are going to release a PC software which can read their Kindle books. They also added native PDF support for their Kindle 2.

One more thing to be aware is that, at first glance you may think the Nook can read ebooks with color touch screen. But indeed the color touch screen is only a small screen beneath the greyscale eink screen, and seems it is only used to browse the cover of ebooks.

In my opinion, it is a tie between the Kindle and the Barnes and Noble. But if you may travel and you enjoy reading during your trip, you should go for the Kindle for sure. Moreover, I trust the Kindle will come up with some strategies very soon, like improving their lending book function. The Kindle is the biggest player in the ereader market right now, and I believe it will put enormous effort to hold its position. Finally, if you’re an avid reader, price of ebooks will also be a big concern, as ebooks on the Nook are more expensive.

I recommend this article as well, it is the best review on ebook readers I’ve ever read:

Just check up their homepage to see the latest price of the devices. The price is most up-to-date, and if there is any price change it will be reflected immediately on their homepage. BTW, the Nook seems to be in stock only in Jan 2010, so you’ll not be able to get it in X’mas…

Hope this helps you decide.