Best EBook on the market?

[DENICE M]

Looking for an EBook for xmas, kindle or similer. Dont know anythinng about it so i was hoping someone could advise any reasonably priced, good quality EBooks on the market today?

[Maria]

The Sony E-Reader PRS- 350 is their latest pocket edition. It can hold 1,200 books, has a nice touch anti-glare screen with E- ink and a note taking function, and the size is comparable to a paperback. Borders currently has them on sale through the 21st for $140.

There are also tons of free books available from Google Books which you can load onto it, and the Sony EBook store has tons of books that are priced cheaper than their paperback counterparts. Also, Borders is not going out of business, and Nook is not getting Android until January 2011.

[esmerelda]

I'd watch out for the Kindle. Amazon's TOS give them the right to take any book back anytime they like, and that's already happened at least once. Also, if you return too many items (they decide what's 'too many,' and they don't WARN you first), Amazon just cancels your account and your KIndle goes dead in the water.

Wikipedia has a spreadsheet comparison of various e-book readers, and you can probably find more info on cnet.com

Looking at the wikipedia chart, I'm appalled at the number of machines whose batteries CANNOT be replaced by the owner...

[JaKi]

Hi, DENICE M, Nook from Barnes & Noble is the best combination of price and features of the eReaders market. When choosing an eReader, you need to consider not only the physical properties of the device, but also compare eBook stores behind it. Sony has never been a contender for any comparison by anyone as they only have like 50 books in their Ebook store and their devices are way overpriced for what they offer. Borders is behind Kobo/Cruz devices in US and as you might of heard, Borders is on a brink of bankruptcy. Kindle and Nook are the only devices to be considered as their eBook stores have over a million of free public ebooks as well as over a million of ebooks that you need to pay for available.
Having that out of the way, you should then decide which screen you want: e-Ink or LCD. It depends on what you're reading. If just black & white novels then the better one would be Kindle or e-Ink Nook from Barnes & Noble. If you read electronic magazines or college text books with a lot of color graphs and charts or children’s' books with a lot of pictures then the better would be Nook Color LCD from Barnes & Noble. Then, you should understand the limitations of e-Ink eReaders - they are limited to be black & white for now they "blink" at each ebook’s page turn, they're not too good for web browsing, they need external light source for reading when dark, and they cannot handle videos.
Whichever device you choose, here's the advantages of the Nook’s (both e-Ink black & white and Nook Color) over Kindle:
- Any Barnes & Noble store provides free Wi-Fi to Nook's
- Nook allows to lend books for 2 weeks to friends or to your other devices that run B&N app (PC, MAC, Android phones, Apple iPhone and iPad, etc.) Barnes & Noble allows (when you walk in with the Nook to B&N store) to read any available eBook for free while in the store via free provided in the store Wi-Fi. With Nook, while in BN store you get exclusive articles from top authors, and great offers including cafe treats and unique deals.
- Nook (unlike Kindle) can be used for library ebooks.
- Nook (unlike Kindle) can be used for renting text-ebooks.
Nook Color is worth mentioning separately as this is a hybrid Android eReader/tablet device, something between Kindle and iPad. Even though Nook Color has LCD touchscreen, it's a new generation screen which is anti-glare coated and is better performing in sunlight and produces less glare all of which are dooming reading on iPad. Also, the screen is amazing and readable/viewable at wide angles.
Overall, Nook Color is more than e-Reader as you can also watch video and use Android applications on it. It's a hybrid device, much more than just an e-Reader but not a full tablet as it doesn't have a camera. If all you want is to read novels, Kindle (or the original e-Ink Nook) might be better for you. If you want something more from your device (color graphs and charts of college text books, childrens books, photos and videos, web sites in full color) at half of the price of iPad or Galaxy tab, then Nook Color is your best bet.
Nook Color has several apps that already come with the device (Pandora Internet radio, QuickOffice, etc.) Also, Barnes & Noble recently released Nook SDK and Nook Developer platform that will allow most of the existing 100,000 Android apps be ported to it. Also, you can use the Social Settings screen to link your NOOK Color to your Facebook account and your Twitter account. You can also import all your contacts from your Google Gmail account. Once you have linked to Facebook and Twitter and set up email contacts, you can lend and borrow books, recommend books, and share favorite quotes with your friends.