Kindle versus Nook

So my family went shopping yesterday, and picked me up an early father's day present. They bought me a Nook Color, Wi-Fi, 8GB. It's quite a gift. We don't usually do big ticket items like this in our family, especially not for something as minor as father's day, but both Kelly and Madison will be out of town on the actual day, so there may be some guilt involved.

It's truly a kingly gift. It's a pretty neat device.

But, that being said, I've got to spark a debate here on the old blog. I had actually been thinking of buying myself a Kindle recently. I want the el-cheapo, B&W, Wi-Fi only version. It's very reasonably priced now.

There are arguments for and against each device, and advantages to both, but let me tell you why I was leaning toward the Kindle before the Nook showed up in my house yesterday.

First things first, Amazon is a Seattle company (I'm from Seattle). I've had friends work there, and they all say it's a good company. I'm not necessarily for some of the very near monopolies they've developed lately, but it's still a company I do business with all the time, and I've never been unhappy with a transaction. But loyalty really isn't the issue here. Barnes and Noble is a decent company too, as far as I know. I don't know anyone who's worked there, but the employees seem happy enough for retail workers.

None of that really matters because it's all about the device. The Kindle is basically designed just for e-books. Even the high end worldwide 3G edition still just has the black and white e-ink technology for it's screen. That might sound like a drawback, but I would actually prefer reading an e-ink version of a book to reading on a back-lit LCD screen. I work in tech support and I stare at a back-lit LCD PC monitor ALL DAY LONG. I don't want to read books in a way that strains my eyes.

Another advantage that the Kindle seems to have is free e-book editions of books that are in the public domain. I like to try to read a classic or two each year. I have not fully researched this yet, but so far I have checked on A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and Moby Dick, or the whale, by Herman Melville. Both books are available as free Kindle editions, but the Nook Books cost $0.99. That seems a little disingenuous to me. Who exactly is profiting off of these publicly owned works? There may be some kind of third party service that will convert free e-books into Nook Books, but why should I have to go through the extra effort when the Kindle editions are free and easy?

Yet another problem seems to be the availability of certain books. Just checking briefly last night I found several books that I am interested in that are available as Kindle editions, but so far are not available at all in the Nook Book store. Cassastar, by Alex J. Cavanaugh, is not available as a Nook Book. Twisted Velvet Chains, by Jessica Bell, is not available as a Nook Book. Ghost Medicine, by Andrew Smith ... actually that one is available, but for some reason you have to go onto the internet to find it, because it does not show up on the Nook when you shop directly from the device. In the Path of Falling Objects is available directly on the device. I imagine this has a lot to do with self-publishing, and the way that Amazon's system supports independent authors, but I would rather have the device that has the most access to the most books.

So, at this point you're probably thinking I hate the Nook my family bought me. I don't. It's actually pretty cool. The one nice thing that the Nook has that the Kindle doesn't is the internet, apps, and extras like the music player, and the ability to store any kind of file. Actually, I'll have to research that, I think the Kindle can store some documents. But the internet on the Nook is pretty nice. The screen is large enough that if you turn the device sideways you can use almost any website with relative ease. I tested Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, and Le Blog. Updating anything that requires entering text is a little clunky, because often the fields show up very small, and the websites are not displaying in a special mobile format like they do on most smart phones.

All in all the extras of the Nook make it pretty attractive for the price, but there's one drawback. At the price point the Nook Color is selling at right now, it is basically trying to market itself into a position between the Kindle and the Apple iPad. The problem is that the Nook doesn't do everything the Kindle does, and the things it does do that Kindle can't, are things that are clearly outperformed by the iPad. Obviously you can't compare them directly, because of the difference in price, but my personal opinion is that if I want a full color device that reads e-books and does internet, I would prefer the larger screen, smoother interface, and reliability track record of Apple. Besides, you can get a used iPad original edition for about the same price as a Nook Color.

What do you guys think? Do you own a Nook? Do you own a Kindle? Do you own an iPad? Anyone ever switched from one to the other, or owned more than one of these devices?

I need to make a decision about whether I am going to return the Nook in favor of a Kindle, but I want to make sure I get all the information, and advice from friends, that I can, first. As I said, I haven't researched it all fully, and I was curious what all of you thought too.