Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Kindle Korner & eReader Price Wars...


Interested in a eReader? This may be the time to buy. Yesterday, there was a bit of a price war going on in the eReader market... First Barnes & Noble announced their Nook eReader with Wi-Fi & 3G would be priced at $199 (down from $259). And the Nook with Wi-Fi only price is $149. No sooner did Barnes & Noble make their announcement, then Amazon jumped on the band wagon. The Kindle 2, the latest generation model, with global 3G coverage is now priced at $189 (down from $249)! And of course the Kobo eReader, Borders new eReader offering, is priced at $149. With those eReaders, you still have more choices- The Sony Touch priced at $199 (down from $250), The Sony Pocket priced at $170, and coming soon the Aluratek Libre (7/20 from Borders) so far priced at $120. Here are the links to check out all these great bargains...

  • Nook eReader with Wi-Fi & 3G($199) & Wi-Fi only($149)... Barnes & Noble
  • Kindle 2 with Global 3G Coverage ($189).... Amazon
  • Kobo eReader ($149)................................... Borders
*Update on the Kobo eReader! As of 6/22 until ? you should get a $20 gift card with your Kobo eReader purchase. Look for it when ordering.
  • The Sony Touch eReader ($199)................. Sony
  • The Sony Pocket eReader ($170)................ Sony
  • The Aluratek Libre (coming 7/20 "$120"). Borders
While you are at the websites, you can find more information on what each of these eReaders offers. The Nook, Kobo, Sony & Aluratek eReaders are ePub friendly. ePub (electronic publication) seems to be the standard form for eBooks. Kindle does not support ePub, they have their own format supported by books you buy at the Amazon site.

Do I have a preference? I love my Kindle 2, but if I want to read books in the ePub format I needed another eReader. I bought a Sony Pocket eReader for that purpose, and have enjoyed using it. I decided I would try the Kobo eReader because it's design is similar to the Kindle2, and I really like the Kobo book site to buy eBooks. I just received my Kobo eReader in the mail on thursday (review coming soon...) and I really am liking it. There are some draw backs, such as speed ( it is SLOW when loading your books), but the feel is similar to the Kindle and it is light! Do you have an eReader yet?! Share what one you like and why!

*Oh and just a note here, if you are interested in buying the Sony Pocket eReader after looking into all the choices, you can buy the Sony eReaders from Borders, BUT the price reduction (for now) on the Sony Pocket eReader is only if you buy it directly from the Sony Store.

11 comments:

s7anna said...

I always have one question when it comes to the Kindle/Nook...how easy is it to transfer your .pdf books from other sources into the device? How do you transfer? How does it appear on your screen? Do you have to read and scroll from side to side to read every sentence or is it automatically adjusted to your screen?

I don't know anyone in my everyday life who owns an electronic device so I'm always left with a huge bunch of questions and no answers.

I currently own an eBookwise reader and it's perfect for all my Fictionwise purchases but otherwise useless for all my 1000+ .pdf ebooks so I definitely need to get another more flexible device and the Kindle really resonates with me. I just need to know more about it from someone who uses it so that I can go ahead and make the purchase.

fantasylover12001 said...

;sigh; Prices WOULD go down after I finally broke down and bought one six months ago. It just figures, right?

Aisle B said...

the price war is on and this is to the advantage of the reader... Still have yet to make the jump though.. love the smell of my books to give them up... I might consider it with an IPAD! Love anything Apple related.

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi s7anna,
PDF management is one of those things I wish were easier to handle too! With a Kindle, you can send PDF's to your Kindle and have them convert them. There is also a free program from Calibre that converts PDF's so you can read them on your Kindle. Sometimes the PDF when transfered to my Kindle is too small to read anyway. When PDF transfers come out well, it appears just like any book on your reader. Here's a shout out for PDF Transfer help! Can anyone share their successes?!

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi fantasylover!
That's the kind of luck I usually have! Which one did you buy?

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi PK!
You are absolutely right that this price war can only benefit the reader! I still buy books, but my DH is a total Kindle convert and will only buy the "real" thing when it's not available on Kindle!

P.S. I love Apple too! And I did get an iPad... (I love it)

Julie P said...

Really thinking hard about buying a Nook.....

Suzanne Yester said...

Hi Julie!
My DH thinks the Nook is better than the other ePub eReaders. He thought the screen was the sharpest, and he liked the fact that it has a Wi-Fi connection. When I had mine, they had just come out and all the kinks weren't out of them yet and I was having some problems accessing my books, but just like all new technology, it all works out in the end. You definitely can't go wrong with these prices! Let me know what you finally decide to go with!

carla said...

Very interesting comparisons, good to learn about. I'm thinking the Kobo sounds pretty good but not quite ready to get one.
I'd like to get one that I can use with the Overdrive Media program that my library uses.

Aisle B said...

Hi Suzanne!

Absolutely JEALOUS OF YOUR IPAD!
You will have to do one of those comparisons of E readers out today.

Living vicariously through you :)

fantasylover12001 said...

I ended up getting the second gen Kindle that recently came out. I am happy with it though, it's just annoying that now I know I could've waited a bit more to get it cheaper...oh well.

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