E Book readers

Maybe someone will know the answer, but about 6 or 8 months ago when I bought my wife one I was about to pick up a Kindle when someone pointed out to me that you could not go online and 'borrow' books from the library with the Kindle. With the Nook you can.

Therefore, I bought her a Nook. My wife is an extremely prolific reader. When I say prolific, I mean she reads between 5 to 7 books a week. I'd be broke with a Kindle. Actually, it would have ended up sitting on the shelf and would just be collecting dust. With the Nook, she logs onto our local library's website and loads 8 or 10 books on her Nook at a time and is on her merry way about 15 minutes later.

Someone told me that you still cannot 'borrow' E-Books with the Kindle, iPad etc. I sort of find that hard to believe. Personally, with as many books as my wife reads and her ability to read literally any book she wants free, I can't imagine any other brands selling at all if Nook has a lock on borrowing from libraries. So, does anyone know if you can borrow books free from your library while in the comfort of your home with the other E-Book readers? If not, you may want to take a serious look at the Nook.

Hmm, I just called a lady I know who works at one of our public libraries and she told me that the Kindle, Google and iPad do not work with their free lending programs. Wow!! That fact alone just baffles me as to how Kindle has any share of the market. I suppose that shows advertising works.

My daughter has expressed an interest in an E-Book reader. There's no way I can even remotely consider anything but the Nook. This is really baffling how the others can even compete on the most basic level without being able to borrow books free from any public library.

Dargo said:

My daughter has expressed an interest in an E-Book reader. There's no way I can even remotely consider anything but the Nook. This is really baffling how the others can even compete on the most basic level without being able to borrow books free from any public library.

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Take a look at the links I posted. Many (most?) libraries use Overdrive and/or the Adobe ePub format for lending books as the books are unreadable after you are done with them (which makes the publishers happy). They have an ipod app and claim that an app for the iPad is forthcoming.

Aaron Z

picker77 said:

There is currently a war going on between Amazon (Kindle) and Google to win the e-book market. Google's main weapon is deliberately making their entire library incompatible with Kindle, but compatible with everything else. Kindle, OTOH, already owns the lion's share of the e-book reader market. Betamax vs VHS all over again, I guess.

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Nope, it is the other way around, Google uses the common standard that Nook and Sony use. Kindle is a closed standard.

jinjimbob said:

Nope, it is the other way around, Google uses the common standard that Nook and Sony use. Kindle is a closed standard.

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Ayep. Look at the list of compatible ebook readers for most libraries. The common DRM protected standard for ebooks is epub. Most everything BUT the kindle supports it.

Aaron Z

For those who've said they don't understand why anybody would buy a Kindle instead of other types of e-readers, look at this web page carefully and then think about it:

Amazon.com: Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" Display, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation: Kindle Store

After a year of use, I'm getting ready to buy a second one so my wife will quit borrowing mine. FWIW over that year I've spend a total of $20 on books. The staggering selection of books (especially nearly two million free ones), instant 3G download with no PC required, the fact that I permanently OWN (in my online Kindle archives) every book I've ever downloaded in case I want to download it and read it again someday or transfer it to a new Kindle, plus the sharpest and clearest text display around and a ridiculously long battery life, are all pretty strong selling points, I think.

Dargo said:

Hmm, I just called a lady I know who works at one of our public libraries and she told me that the Kindle, Google and iPad do not work with their free lending programs. Wow!! That fact alone just baffles me as to how Kindle has any share of the market. I suppose that shows advertising works.

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That and they were the second one to market with the new screen technology after the Sony Reader. But Amazon was in such a better position to market the device to readers and make ebooks available that the Sony device never really stood a chance.

Dargo said:

Hmm, I just called a lady I know who works at one of our public libraries and she told me that the Kindle, Google and iPad do not work with their free lending programs. Wow!! That fact alone just baffles me as to how Kindle has any share of the market. I suppose that shows advertising works.

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I'm sure it depends on whom you speak with but I have not found our local library people to be knowledgeable about ebooks (and they admit that). I was told that it did not work at all with Macintosh, which is wrong. There are ways to get public library/Overdrive books to an iPad but it's not totally simple.

Ken

Ken45101 said:

There are ways to get public library/Overdrive books to an iPad but it's not totally simple.

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Which is really the key, they are not tech support, they are not going to spend hours trying to show someone how to convert, transfer, modify, whatever.... if it is not a straight forward deal they are going to tell you 'No, it doesn't work'.

Well, I'll have to decide real soon, I was real close to choosing the Kindle when I asked the question, but now because of Dargo's posts here and in another thread, the Nook is looking like the better choice. I like the idea of free reading from the library. I bought the wife and IPod Touch for her birthday and I have read that it will work as an ereader, have to check into that some more too.