Kindle vs Nook vs.....?

[Gurn Blanston]

I saw an interesting news item yesterday. The government has given notice to Apple and 5 major publishers that they are going to sue them for price fixing over the deal that made Amazon have to raise their prices in 2010. Which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is my reason for not having a Kindle even now. It will be interesting to see if Apple just buys their way out of this one too.

[Karl Henning]

That item was sort of in my ear, as well, Gurn.

[Karl Henning]

I'm incliined to think that this will sort out. Also, I understand that I can borrow library books on the Kindle. I could see myself freeing up shelf space, which would make the missus glow . . . .

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

I have the Fire now for some months, and I am very happy with it. Its fast, good screen visibility, and easy to handle at that! Downloading books is a matter of seconds. Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens was downloaded in 8 seconds.

[DavidW]

I saw an interesting news item yesterday. The government has given notice to Apple and 5 major publishers that they are going to sue them for price fixing over the deal that made Amazon have to raise their prices in 2010. Which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is my reason for not having a Kindle even now. It will be interesting to see if Apple just buys their way out of this one too.

I saw that too.  It's interesting because I think that the anti-competitive practices of these publishers are in reaction to the anti-competitive tactics of amazon.  The difference is that the DOJ is invested in busting up unfair practices that harm the consumer, but not unfair practices that harm corporations.

The agency model sucks for us because we pay more, but if it weren't for that amazon would monopolize the distribution of ebooks because they can aggressively cut prices until they bankrupt the competition.  Apple can go toe to toe with them, but apple's model is to sell hardware, stuff like ebooks is secondary.  Barnes and Noble is only still kicking because of the agency model.  Their worth is less than a hundredth of amazon.  They do not have deep pockets.

I do think that the pricing under the agency model is terrible, and it does look like a case of unfair business practice... but if the DOJ successfully busts the big publishers for it, the ebook market will be in a steep decline for authors, publishers, and companies competing with amazon (apple, bn, kobo, sony, google etc)

So I have mixed feelings.

[DavidW]

I'm incliined to think that this will sort out. Also, I understand that I can borrow library books on the Kindle. I could see myself freeing up shelf space, which would make the missus glow . . . .

Yes... but the big publishers are starting to refuse to use overdrive citing security issues.  Overdrive is what is used with the kindle.  Adobe's system which the epub  readers use is not under attack.

Also the waits on library ebook checkouts is long... that extremely loud book that I read I waited on since November to checkout.

[SonicMan46]

I'll have to agree w/ David about OverDrive - the app is on my iPad 2 but I've not used it in months for the reasons mentioned: 1) Limited variety and number of ebooks available from my local library; 2) Newer books are often not available; 3) Long, long waits if the waiting list has more than one or two names; and 4) Only 2 weeks to read the book(s) - very annoying, especially if one has waited weeks if not a month or two and say 3 books are available all @ the same time!   

[Karl Henning]

Hmm. I wonder if libraries here in tech-savvy Boston are any better equipped for the traffic, Dave? . . .

[DavidW]

Hmm. I wonder if libraries here in tech-savvy Boston are any better equipped for the traffic, Dave? . . .

Nope.  Even the largest ebook library in the country has less than 20,000 while the small libraries in my area have five times that in paper books.  For reference I am using the Oklahoma network which is one of the top twenty in North America.

The library effort is not that mature yet, and some of the publishers won't allow the library to buy ebooks from them, others have very short checkout limits, and Random House very recently tripled the cost of a library ebook.  They are trying to make it prohibitively expensive for libraries to offer ebooks.  These publishers don't like anything that cuts into their profit.

[Karl Henning]

Oof.

[petrarch]

Gosh, should I get a Kindle?

If you like reading for hours and hours at a time, then yes. I am still using my first gen DX (for almost 3 years now) and still loving it. One thing I did last year was to cram it with music scores in PDF format (e.g. the whole of Bach's WTC, Art of Fugue, a lot of Byrd and big chunk of renaissance composers) so that I could do some analysis on vacation and read them while listening to the music on the iPhone.

My earlier comments still apply: http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,16363.msg417523.html#msg417523

If/when you decide to have that tea, I can show you the device

[Karl Henning]

If/when you decide to have that tea, I can show you the device

Hey, early this week would work.

[DavidW]

Boy I would like a DX, it's so huge!  I just can't convince myself it's worth the large price tag.

[Karl Henning]

Just got the Nook Simple Touch, $80.

[Karl Henning]

And I've already got 46 items in My Library, most of them free . . . this is going to be fun.

[Karl Henning]

On December 1, 2011 Barnes & Noble stated that NOOK and NOOK related sales for Q2 of 2011 were $920 million.

Clearly a wise business move!

[Karl Henning]

All right, it is not New York Post front-page headlines stuff . . . but I spent some time just now on a park bench reading Shakespeare.  I don't have a paperback edition of Much Ado About Nothing; nor would it be at all practical for me to traipse The Riverside Shakespeare along with me on the commute. So, sure . . . life's simple pleasures, and all.

[Bogey]

That is the key, Karl.  I got my Kindle for a reason, not just to have.  Those Howard books in hard copy would have cost me hundreds.

[Karl Henning]

I'm having the greatest time with this, Bill. It's like Library DJ . . . .

[petrarch]

I'm having the greatest time with this, Bill. It's like Library DJ . . . .

Wait until you go on vacation, when you can basically carry a lot of books just in case and no longer have to carefully think what you might be in the mood for while away. It's exhilarating.

How's the rendering of PDFs on that device? Have you tried music scores?