Comments on: Kindle vs. iPad: You’re Both Winners

By: Kevin

Kevin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 04:12:56 +0000

Excellent article, helps me understand the strong points of ipad and kindle

By: TheGooch

TheGooch — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:12:48 +0000

Nice post! I like open products, especially if you can read books that you already own on them. ePub is my format of choice..can the nook ready them?

Currently my eReaders are my iPhone(Stanza) and Netbook(PDF reader/Calibre )
Selection isn’t important if you only read free ePub formatted titles.

By: Stewie

Stewie — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:47:42 +0000

Can you say that again? I did not hear you.

By: William

William — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:30:05 +0000

The iPad is not a “Kindle Killer” because the Kindle is, by design, set to self-destruct. For Jeff Bezos and Amazon, “It’s about the economy of electronic content, stupid!” I am convinced he realized all along that Apple and others would inevitably incorporate and dominate the ebook’s physical form factor in ONE ubiquitous device. In any event, both Bezos and Steve Jobs are worthy succesors to Gutenberg.

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:44:49 +0000

You can email or copy books on to your Kindle so you are not “stuck” buying from Amazon.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 04:16:34 +0000

How many books have you seen that have coloured text??

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:12:53 +0000

Can you listen to books on IPAD like you can on Kindle?

By: Leask

Leask — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:26:02 +0000

I’ve already commented above in regards to another poster, but I’ll more or less repeat my reply here: I think it’s important to consider Amazon’s RESPONSE to the issue when making a decision. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos admitted what the company did was “stupid” and “thoughtless,” and said they’d make efforts to ensure this doesn’t (and can’t) happen again. To this effect, they’ve changed the terms of service to guarantee the user a non-exclusive right to a permanent copy of what they purchase. They’ve added a clause that says they can’t remotely delete or modify purchased content unless the user consents/requests, if they’re legally obligated to by judicial order, or if the material contains malicious code. And they offered to return the deleted material or give owners a $30 gift certificate or cheque for $30.

It’s that kind of response that DOES make me trust Amazon more, however slightly, than any other large corporation. Only time will tell if they repeat their crass mistake again. I hope they don’t, but anything can happen.

By: Leask

Leask — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:59:47 +0000

Amazon’s actions re: the recall of “1984″ were certainly a boneheaded mistake, but their CEO also gave one of the most forthright apologies for it I’ve seen from a major corporation, admitting fault and calling their actions “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.” They changed their customer terms of service to guarantee a non-exclusive right to a permanent copy and to protect the user against any remote content deletion unless they consent to it, request it (i.e. as part of a refund) or if the book has harmful or malicious code.

I held off on getting a Kindle until this happened, at which point I felt comfortable enough with my ownership rights to proceed. Then again, I also buy things from Apple’s App Store even though they still retain the ability to remotely delete apps, so I guess I’m not being entirely consistent…

By: jick

jick — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:57:12 +0000

well i think that some people want a device that reads like a book: black and white. That is the whole point of the Kindle and Nook. They are electronic readers. Pure and simple. They aren’t even trying to compete directly with the iPad.

Most real readers, don’t buy a book for the covers or in most cases for the illustrations. (there are some exceptions if it is done for art or childrens books) The e readers are for people who want to do ONE thing well, read.
The iPad is for browsing the web. Ask most people what they get an ereader for and they will tell you it is for reading. Ask most people what they get an ipad for and it is not for reading, but other things like browsing the web and watching movies…

By: KsbjA

KsbjA — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:37:53 +0000

I dislike Amazon’s policy regarding the ownership of my books. They’re DRMed, and the license agreement has some horrible points about Amazon being able to remotely kill all of my books, which actually aren’t mine, they just allow me to read them. Apple’s policy isn’t worse than Amazon’s!

Also, by 2010, Amazon should have figured out that people like color screens. The Kindle has no book covers, no colorful illustrations, just plain text. And by text, I mean black on white text, not nicely colored text on a nice paper texture. I’m not saying the Kindle is bad, but it just doesn’t appeal to me at all.

By: Blunker

Blunker — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:14:40 +0000

There are over a million titles available for the Nook, generally cheaper than on the Ipad and Kindle. You can also check out new ebooks from the library for free on the Nook. I don’t think selection is a problem for the Nook, and I don’t see that they are a loser. There are a lot of people who support B and N and I think you will see it gather more support for the hardware and the apps, whatever platform it may be on.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:00:13 +0000

The B&N reader software (or nook software you’re referring to) is available on iPad, PC, Mac OSX, iPhone OS, iPod Touch, BlackBerry & Android Devices. What platform is it not available on that you need?

Let’s not also forget that Nook has a Try Before You buy for EVERY ebook available and the LendMe feature, which yes, is more of a gimmick at this point, but is still a nice feature to have nonetheless. Kindle is the big dog here, but only because it’s been around for a long time. As more people realize the additional features and flexibility they get with the Nook, they’ll switch. Some already have.

By: Adam Jackson

Adam Jackson — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:56:42 +0000

I addressed that here – http://theappleblog.com/2010/07/29/kindle-vs-ipad/#comment-92640

Thanks!

By: Adam Jackson

Adam Jackson — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:55:52 +0000

Maybe I can point out (without sounding too defensive) that Barnes & Noble Nook software isn’t available on as many platforms as Kindle. As a service, Kindle is winning. As a hardware unit that also has iPad integration, Nook is doing quite well but faring much worse than the Kindle.

I also didn’t get into the issue of selection. iBooks titles are expensive, Kindle has the most books and Nook doesn’t. I hope that better explains things.

By: Warren

Warren — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:04:02 +0000

Right on jennifer. Additionaly there is another major point being ignored. People will not be owning an ereader and a tablet like the iPad. When I get on a plane I’m only bringing one or the other. I read tons, but my content is very diverse and a lot of it is in apps like Instapaper or magazines like zinio. The iPad is a convergence device that gives me everything in a similar form factor to an ereader.

Ereaders are cool but they wont be around in 5 years. It’s an intermediary tech.