I'd like the least evilest one, please (even if you are a rotten Apple)
Nook? Kobo? Kindle? iPad (mini?)? Which e-reader do you like to use?
Pros for physical books: taking a book outdoors and not having to worry about glare, thumbing through pages, sneaking to the end and flipping back, buying cute little bookmarks, having a full bookshelf, supporting my local bookstore, looking at the pretty binding/covers, that new book smell (yes, I love glue).
Cons for physical books: heavy and cumbersome to pack as a whole when moving, not travel friendly, expensive (what the heck B&N, I ain't paying $25.95 for this hardcover!), and what if you're reading a book you'd never want to admit you even own? (I'm looking at you, YA collection). Aaaand instead of supporting my local bookstore, I line the deep pockets of e-tailers... case in point below.
Begin random tangent/
In light of the recent ruling against Apple during the antitrust trial, I've become even more distrustful of book e-tailers. By colluding with 5 other American publishers, they've worked to jack up the prices of electronic books across the market ($12.99~$14.99) to attack Amazon's original $9.99 offering. By partnering with these publishing companies, Apple drove "agency pricing", leveraging their powerful relationships and brand to force Amazon to raise their prices as well.
Who's eviler? Amazon, with prices so "low" that publishers' margins are nonexistent? Apple, for their inflated prices and profit skimming? Or the middlemen, who colluded to ensure their existence as middlemen?
/end tangent
Yes, it's a necessary "evil" for me to get an e-reader. Wellll, not necessary, but looking at my bookshelf, you'd think it is. I know, huzzah for consumerism! I love buying books, none of you can knock me for it. I'm still on the fence, but now that I've got the monies, that e-reader seems pretty tempting... what do you think?
Pros for physical books: taking a book outdoors and not having to worry about glare, thumbing through pages, sneaking to the end and flipping back, buying cute little bookmarks, having a full bookshelf, supporting my local bookstore, looking at the pretty binding/covers, that new book smell (yes, I love glue).
Cons for physical books: heavy and cumbersome to pack as a whole when moving, not travel friendly, expensive (what the heck B&N, I ain't paying $25.95 for this hardcover!), and what if you're reading a book you'd never want to admit you even own? (I'm looking at you, YA collection). Aaaand instead of supporting my local bookstore, I line the deep pockets of e-tailers... case in point below.
Begin random tangent/
In light of the recent ruling against Apple during the antitrust trial, I've become even more distrustful of book e-tailers. By colluding with 5 other American publishers, they've worked to jack up the prices of electronic books across the market ($12.99~$14.99) to attack Amazon's original $9.99 offering. By partnering with these publishing companies, Apple drove "agency pricing", leveraging their powerful relationships and brand to force Amazon to raise their prices as well.
Who's eviler? Amazon, with prices so "low" that publishers' margins are nonexistent? Apple, for their inflated prices and profit skimming? Or the middlemen, who colluded to ensure their existence as middlemen?
/end tangent
Yes, it's a necessary "evil" for me to get an e-reader. Wellll, not necessary, but looking at my bookshelf, you'd think it is. I know, huzzah for consumerism! I love buying books, none of you can knock me for it. I'm still on the fence, but now that I've got the monies, that e-reader seems pretty tempting... what do you think?
Well my platform is from the perspective of an indie bookseller, so keep that in mind. I would never purchase an e-reader that requires me to my all my ebooks from the same source: Amazon. So boo to Kindles for me. Also I think Amazon is fairly evil and not a nice company.
ReplyDeleteApple may be evil for many reasons, but trust me when I say that they're not making a lot of money off of ebook sales. Most of that goes to the author and publisher. When my store sells an ebook to a customer via the Kobo app (indie booksellers in the US have a partnership with Kobo) for, say, $12.99, the profit off of that is about $1.00 for us and about $1.00 for Kobo. Which probably means that Apple, on the agency model, would get both of those dollars for the ebook sale.
FWIW, I am very much in favor of the agency model.
I was given a Kobo Glo and I use it and like it. It has the e-ink, so I can read outside (and I did on vacation just last week) and it has an integrated light that shines on the screen without backlighting the screen, so I use it for reading in bed. I don't prefer reading ebooks to physical books, but I love the Kobo better than the Nook, which I borrowed from a friend for the weekend. I think they're overall pretty comparable products, though. If you're a loyal Barnes & Noble shopper, then go for a Nook product.
I like the idea of tablets but I don't like reading on them for very long. I already have to stare at backlit stuff for work all day long. I don't really like reading that way for pleasure. I do keep books on my iPhone to read for those times when I haven't brought a physical book with me, but the screen is so small that I'm constantly turning the pages.
Also with tablet, it gets heavy to hold up. heavier than a book, or at least more cumbersome, I think.
If you're looking for a true reading experience, I recommend going with a dedicated e-reader. If you think you might want to read a little bit on it but also play games and surf the internet and do email and twitter, then go with a tablet.
Emily, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I try to stay away from Amazon, but I was wooed by their cheap cheap prices for textbooks and now with my Amazon Prime membership, I can't help but swoon at the cheap book prices. I still haven't bought any novels online because I still prefer the brick-and-mortar experience of browsing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insight on the Kobo app - I wasn't aware of that breakdown. Plus the Kobo Glo's e-ink sounds nice for the outdoors. I'll research the Kobo, since I know more about the Nook. (Then again, I am a B&N fan, so I may have to battle this out between the two...)
I have a Kindle because I'm basically The Worst. BUT I really like it and it was a reasonable price but I get the not wanting all your books from one source thing that Emily said (Emily is so smart!). ALTHOUGH if you have Amazon Prime it gives you access to a massive library of books (FOR FREE!) so that is worth thinking about too.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing I'm going to say is Apple products FTW! So the mini ipad has GOT to be good. One of the main reasons I got a fairly standard kindle though was so I wasn't distracted by internet/games instead of reading, and I know for a fact if I had a mini ipad I'd just play bloody candy crush on it all the time. And THAT is what my ipod is for! (No seriously, Apple products FTW).
Say I want to be The Worstest. How does that work? Can you use Amazon Prime to download books and read them on the iPad mini?
ReplyDeleteI spend waaaay too much time on candy crush (seriously, slacking FTW here)
I don't own an ebook myself, but my boyfriend has a kindle, my mum has a kobo, another friend has a sony reader and another has a teeny tiny nook (it's the size of a samsung S4 give or take I think)! I just use the kindle and Google book apps on my phone, either because I can't get the book in Australia, because it's been gifted by an author or for the free "old" books outside copyright.
ReplyDeleteEveryone I know has had a problem with something but for the most part I think they're probably pretty much the same. They typically have the same e-ink, optional light, immediate download features - it just depends on the actual company you want to do business with. And if you're ok without the bells and whistles of the e-reader (the e-ink really in fantastic, and the long battery life is perfect for travel) just download one of the reading apps onto your phone, laptop or tablet. Because they're pretty good, and they're free.
And Laura might like Apple products, but I HATE them. They are one of the most offensive and aggressive companies in the world and their products are rubbish. Seriously, don't buy an Ipad. You can get much better tablets for a much better price which are far more compatible with everything. (end Apple rant)
I heart my Kindle. I have an iPad mini as well but I don't use it for ebooks. I don't like the glare on the screen or the fact that staring at computer screens for long periods screws up my eyes. Though even if I did read books on my iPad I'd go with the Kindle app because, while Amazon has done its own terrible things for books, it's not like the Apple anti-trust issues.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I still buy and read more physical books than I do ebooks
I love how everyone you know has a different reader! It makes buying decisions a lot harder for you, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI recently bought my macbook pro because I fell in love with its design and UI. It's my first Apple product, and I admit that I still cringe when I look at Apple ads because they say "designed in California", because the parts are certainly not manufactured in America. Software-wise, I haven't had any issues with compatibility, but that's because I'm under the "student-discount" bubble and haven't had any financial scrapes with them lately.
I'll check out the reading apps for the phone too. I wasn't aware there were reading apps for android because I never saw the need to buy an e-book, but I'll go ahead and look into it. Thanks for commenting!
You always do those cool stats on your books - does the Kindle track any of that, or do you have to do all that research yourself? How do you like the iPad mini? I'm utilitarian in that I'd want to buy that holy grail item that does everything rather than buy a separate apps/browsing device and a separate e-reader... but also because I'm broke. I didn't know that the Kindle app is available for the iPad (I KNOW NOTHING).
ReplyDeleteIt does! They all have their issues, but I think it just comes down to personal preference in the end. The teeny nook (actually it might have been a kobo?) is great, it's like the perfect back pocket size, and can still hold something like 500 books.
ReplyDeleteDepending on what kind of Android phone you have, there should be a few readers. The google play store has a bookstore section, and I'm pretty sure the reading app comes loaded to most phones, or is easy enough to download. I think it's called Play Books? The Kindle app probably has a more intuitive UI but if you don't want to support Amazon, the play books still does the job.
sweet! Thanks, I've seen the bookstore section in google play and now that you've confirmed that it's legit, I'm going to go download something :)
ReplyDeleteThe stats I just track in a Google doc. I'm sure there's a better way to do it but eh.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind reading on a backlit screen, I would go with the iPad mini which I loooooooooooove. I used to make fun of the mini because why get that one when you could get the full sized one? But the mini fits in my purses and the regular one can get heavy to hold after awhile (I got it for Boyfriend+ so spent time playing with his before getting my own.) And really, it does make sense to use one device for everything and you could download the Kindle app to read books on the iPad instead of using Apples books. Plus Amazon does monthly and daily deals on their ebooks. Most of the time it's something I'm not interested in, but then they'll have something like Christoper Moore's Lamb for $2.