Kindle vs Nook vs.....?

[Karl Henning]

I'm aware of technicians who will try to fix an iPhone, etc, outside the ecosystem of Apple stores. Perhaps a little googling will turn up someone in your area who works on other gadgets.

Thanks!

[j winter]

I currently have a Kobo Libra 2 and love it to death, just a simple, well designed piece of tech.  Kobo's ebook store can't match Amazon's, but I like the fact that it can read lots of different formats, can hold 32 gb of ebooks (for reference I have over 2,500 epub books, and the thing is barely a third full), works smoothly with my local library, and ergonomically it's very comfortable to use, fits right in your hand.  I greatly prefer it to reading on a tablet or phone -- I don't like the glare from reading from a shiny glass surface, I deal with enough of that looking at my laptop for work.  I've used Kobos for about 10 years, before that I had a few Nooks but gave up on them as Barnes & Noble's tech just couldn't keep up.

I still prefer a paper book if I'm reading something with maps or illustrations, if I'll need to consult footnotes or endnotes, or if it's an old favorite.  But for most books, especially fiction, it works just fine, saves shelf space, and is the ideal option for carrying around thousands of reading options on vacation, or even on a lunch break. 

[DavidW]

Almost certainly not worth it (the warranty's long expired) the power button seems to have recessed into the case. Nothing for it but to get a fresh device, meseems.

The Glowlight 4 is great, I highly recommend it.  If your old one was the Nook Simple Touch the huge jump in resolution and having that warm frontlight really makes a difference.

[Karl Henning]

The Glowlight 4 is great, I highly recommend it.  If your old one was the Nook Simple Touch the huge jump in resolution and having that warm frontlight really makes a difference.

I think I'll go ahead with that.

[DavidW]

I bought a Kindle in 2010.  It was interesting that I found a post here that I made in 2011 saying that I was drifting back into physical books.  But eventually more and more of my reading became ebooks due to limited space in my apartment and then later presbyopia.  I now live in a house and wear progressive lenses.  Over the course of the past year or so since I could comfortably read normal and fine print again, and found myself reading ebooks less and less often.  It is just a nicer experience to read print books and to own them (actually own them).

I think it was inevitable, but a few things have made up my mind to ditch ebooks a little bit earlier.  Amazon has made a critical change to close the exploit people (like myself) were using to strip the DRM off the ebooks they paid for.  The second is the Roald Dahl controversy.  You've most likely heard of it.  But what you might not know is that the publisher pushed the censored version out to Kindle, Kobo etc. to replace the original version.  I didn't "own" any of those ebooks, but it is just too much.  Paying full price for a license to own something that could change at the drop of a hat... it is just ridiculous.  And I'm not taking it anymore.

So I'm calling quits on ebooks.  I'm reading one now, and it will be the last one.

What about everyone else?

[Jo498]

I got a kindle around 2012. I bought comparably few books, but use it mostly for public domain books (e.g. the last batch I got were lots of CS Lewis whose stuff is available from Australian Gutenberg or so).
The most annoying thing for me is that when I don't use it for weeks it nevertheless discharges so I have to think about re-charging even if I don't use it.
I am also appalled at the schoolmarmish Dahl censorship (ironic and somewhat fitting that these Dolores Umbridge types (of both sexes) hate on Dahl) and I like physical books too much to go all kindle.

[Spotted Horses]

I bought a Kindle in 2010.  It was interesting that I found a post here that I made in 2011 saying that I was drifting back into physical books.  But eventually more and more of my reading became ebooks due to limited space in my apartment and then later presbyopia.  I now live in a house and wear progressive lenses.  Over the course of the past year or so since I could comfortably read normal and fine print again, and found myself reading ebooks less and less often.  It is just a nicer experience to read print books and to own them (actually own them).

I think it was inevitable, but a few things have made up my mind to ditch ebooks a little bit earlier.  Amazon has made a critical change to close the exploit people (like myself) were using to strip the DRM off the ebooks they paid for.  The second is the Roald Dahl controversy.  You've most likely heard of it.  But what you might not know is that the publisher pushed the censored version out to Kindle, Kobo etc. to replace the original version.  I didn't "own" any of those ebooks, but it is just too much.  Paying full price for a license to own something that could change at the drop of a hat... it is just ridiculous.  And I'm not taking it anymore.

So I'm calling quits on ebooks.  I'm reading one now, and it will be the last one.

What about everyone else?

I bought a Kindle around the same time, still works although 99% of my reading is on the Kindle App for iPad or iPhone.

The Dahl controversy is outrageous, but it is not that new or unique to ebooks. I read complaints from enthusiasts that the publishers of the Poirot books edited the new editions of the books to remove the old-fashioned writing style in favor of a more contemporary style. (Isn't that the whole point of reading an old book?) Faulkner's book The Mosquitos was edited by the publishers to remove what was considered unacceptable sexual references. That made the plot development disjointed. The fact that Amazon can modify the text you've already purchased is something new and clearly outrageous. It has not happened to any Kindle book that I own.

That said, I'm not going back to physical books anytime soon. The time I have available to sit down with a physical book in good lighting with my reading glasses is basically zero. If I read physical books I'd be able to read maybe one book per decade. The other factor is that I've signed up with bookbub.com, which scans amazon for discounts and sends you a daily email. You can specify a genre, and you can create a list of authors you are interested in. Turns out there are more $1.99 offers on my favorite authors than I can ever read. It is very rare that I pay full price for an ebook, the only exception being the occasional new release by a favorite author that I don't want to wait for.