Kindles and Nooks

[freshstart]

Gardenarian posted a kindle Fire will be $34 on BF. I hate BF and will not be participating. I have a 1st or 2nd generation Nook, I like it, it can be read in the sun but my library rarely has the e-books I want to read and anything good has a 50 person waiting list. And to read it on the old Nook involves, Over Drive and then a wish and a prayer that Adobe Reader is going to actually work. So I buy Nook books for vacation or if I have a gift card, those load easily. But library books actually skip Adobe and just use Over Drive when using the app on my phone or iPad mini, disadvantage, no reading in sun. The Nook app is free.

I believe Kindle is the same, the app is free. So if you have an iPad mini, you should be able to buy and read Kindle books. Does that sound right? No need for an actual Kindle even if it is $34? Am I understanding this correctly? It would be nice to open up to the whole world of kindle but if I don't have to spend money and lug around another device, that would be better.

[catherine]

Yes, it's true. I do have a Kindle, but I also have a Kindle app on my iPhone that I downloaded for free, and I read my Kindle books on it in the supermarket line and other odd occasions, so I'm sure you could do the same on your iPad.

[freshstart]

I wonder why they both give the app for free, they must know it keeps people from buying there devices?

[catherine]

I wonder why they both give the app for free, they must know it keeps people from buying there devices?

Amazon really has cornered the market on e-books--so you most likely will be buying a kindle edition of a book so they don't care what device you're reading it on.

[JaneV2.0]

I have the free Kindle app for reading on my laptop and cell. I also have a Kindle, which serves as a kind of all-purpose tablet. If I had to get rid of something, it would probably be my cell (smart phone), but it came it very handy during our recent power outage.

Amazon gives away the app and undercuts every other tablet manufacturer to sell books. I only buy cheap ones (including free) but I still end up spending a few dollars a month on reading material at Amazon.

[Tradd]

I have the Kindle Paperwhite, which is a dedicated eReader. I also read on my phone. Depends on where I am and what's close at hand. Most of my books are eBooks these days.

[Williamsmith]

I really don't see why Amazon ebooks are so expensive. I can find physical copies of books I ant to read at the library or at a second hand book store for pennies to the dollar. That's the thing that drives me away from getting addicted to their site. I do love that you can purchase nearly everything with an account and gift cards not exposing your credit to ID theft.

[freshstart]

I prefer to read a book, too. But if I could get every book I request from the library in e-book format just as quickly as print requested books come in, I'd read more on my Nook. Our ebooks are good for reading NYT Bestsellers after a 40 person wait and not much else. I keep checking when there are really well-reviewed books out in paper, for them to be in e-book format, nope. I've written to ask for more literary fiction, less 10 copies of the book Gillian Flynn wrote before Gone Girl in 2005. Too expensive they say. My library's only downfall.

I have to look into spending $20 a year to have access to the Philly e-book system again, except I expect everyone has jumped on that band wagon and waits are ridiculous.

[rodeosweetheart]

I downloaded the free Kindle app on my ipad and it works flawlessly, and is in fact the primary use of the ipad, particularly when driving long distances, to have "books on tape."

They also showed up unannounced, all the books, on my iphone, so you can certainly do that, too.

[JaneV2.0]

I use my library too, but there's the expense and time (and wait) involved in doing so. I request books for purchase and use interlibrary-loan along with reading ebooks.

[ToomuchStuff]

I wonder why they both give the app for free, they must know it keeps people from buying there devices?

Pretty sure Nook as its own device, isn't what it once was, but more of a licensing deal with another manufacturer. They want the apps out there to increase both sales and profit margins (less cost to digital books). Kindle (Amazon #1 book seller) and the whole MS lawsuit, didn't help B&N any.

[freshstart]

Pretty sure Nook as its own device, isn't what it once was, but more of a licensing deal with another manufacturer. .

oddly, my library has stuck with Nook books until just very recently when they added kindle. This seemed immensely strange as a bazillion more people have kindles. I think it was because for a few years, only Nooks could "sign out" library books, then Kindle could, too and my library was so slow to make the change.

[ToomuchStuff]

freshstart. I think that has to do with licensing issues of the types of formats the Kindle will handle. Nook and most general Ereaders, will handle Epub. Amazon, bought out a format, modified it, and made it their own, without wanting to license it to other manufacturers (control content, market, prices and cost that way).

[Gardenarian]

I don't really like reading online, but I'm using my library's Hoopla app to get audio books for free.

I do sometimes get something for free from eBrary (through the library.)

There are a bunch of kindle books that Prime Customers are supposed to be able to download for free, but they are ridiculously hard to search and I've had trouble downloading, even to my Amazon device.

In the library world we are all looking forward to the time when there is a universal eBook format. Can't come soon enough for me!

It just occurred to me how incomprehensible this conversation would be 15, maybe even 10 years ago...