Kindle or Nook? Nook or Kindle?
Which would you prefer to own (or to buy as a gift): a Kindle or a Nook? As you most likely know (if you've logged onto Amazon and BN.com to buy gifts this holiday season), both Amazon and BN.com are hyping their ereaders with all their virtual might. Both the Kindle and the Nook are featured on Amazon and BN.com's home pages, respectively. And both boast the same selling price ($259 and free shipping).
For those of us who haven't compared the Kindle and the Nook for ourselves (and I believe you'd have to "live" with both for awhile to really be able to do that), the Kindle and the Nook would appear similarly attractive to shoppers except for one key difference. The Kindle is currently available (in fact, Amazon is apparently claiming that the Kindle is outselling any of its books), and the Nook is not. A quick click from BN.com's home page to the Nook page itself indicates that the Nook, which it calls the "hottest holiday gift," is out of stock.
As someone who has spent an hour or three hunting down a Zhu Zhu Pet (don't ask), I can tell you that an item isn't much of a hot holiday gift if it's out of stock.
So I think the "Kindle vs. Nook" dilemma is solved, for now. Next up: are book lovers really ready to trade in their anytime, anywhere, no-batteries-needed hard copies for an ebook reader experience?
Maybe, but this book publicist isn't quite ready to go there yet. And, for my book promotion campaigns, I'm still sending out hard copies of books instead of presuming that TV and radio producers, and newspaper and magazine editors, have ebook readers and would except a digital book from my clients.
So I'm not morally convinced that the ebook reader's time is at hand quite yet. But talk to me next year when everything might be different ... and, most likely, will be.
Comments
Great service to track out of stock items on Amazon:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5680413_notified-amazon-product-stock.html
It works!
Posted by: Brenda Sullivan | December 6, 2009 3:15 PM
I owned a Kindle 1, and now a Kindle 2. I bought the Kindle 1 specifically because I was about to deploy to Afghanistan. I bought the K1 on March 08 and spent the next couple of months until deployment buying books and getting familiar with the device.
Compared to my previous deployment to Iraq Kindle-less and hauling a ton of books with me, the Kindle was the solution I was looking for. The unit performed superbly. No resets and no battery issues for the entire six month deployment. It always worked and my books always available. Some of my co-workers were so impressed, they bought K1's of their own. Of course the Whispernet was not avaialble in Afghanistan, but otherwise, it was the best deployment toy ever.
Shortly before I left Afghanistan, the Kindle 2 was introduced. Being a K1 owner, I ordered the K2 right away, and it was waiting on me when I got home. I am even more impressed with the K2! The button placement and re-positioned click areas are well-considered (I can't tell you how many times I would show someone my K1 and they would accidentally flip pages with the right-hand page bar). The new format is much nicer, and it almost encourages you to pick it up.
The K2 display seems more readable than the K1. The keypad is still fairly easy to use, and the 5-position button is a nice improvement. The power button 4-second delay takes some getting used to, but not enough to drop my review. Pages do turn noticeably faster. The entire device feels more substantial somehow.
Overall, Amazon hit this one out of the park. Transferring my K1 to my wife was quick and painless, and none of my books on the K1 went away when we transferred it. She will be upgrading to a K2 soon as well.
Posted by: R. Dolan | December 13, 2009 11:42 PM