Thoughts on the Nook/Kindle Six Months Later

For our anniversary, my wife purchased me a wifi-only nook (she’d been listening to my frustrations about library books on the Kindle). I purchased an M-Edge Executive leather case for it and slipped in the M-Edge e-Lumiator light I had been using on my Kindle (which had an M-Edge Go!Jacket). Here are my thoughts after using both devices extensively.

Things that annoy me about the nook:

• The navigation on the little LCD screen of the nook is a complete mess. It makes no sense and there are way too many steps involved from the time I turn it on to when I get reading.
• For some reason you can only see that neat little cover flow display on books purchased from Barnes & Noble, not books you added with your PC.
• Books you added with your PC end up in a totally separate section of the nook than books you’ve bought. This is odd and adds an unnecessary level of complexity to the user interface.
• If you buy the nook at a retail store you have to go to the website and add a credit card to your B&N account (or create one if you don’t already have it) before you can download any of the free titles in-store. The Kindle comes to your door pre-configured to your account.
• There seems to be no way currently to delete titles you added yourself from the nook without hooking it up to a computer.

Now, the things I like better about the nook over the Kindle:

• Access to Overdrive ePUB books (Adobe Digital Editions format) from my local branch library, which means more popular fiction for free. ePUB is also popular on many indie booksellers’ websites. Also, unlike the library’s MOBI files, the ePUB files I checked out didn’t require any legally-shady DRM-removal to work on the nook.
• The screen on the nook wifi seems sharper to me (but this could just be my imagination)
• Expandable memory. I don’t use it now, but it’s good to know should I decide to give my nook some music files I don’t have to worry about space constraints.
• Retail experience. It’s fun to go into a B&N book store and browse the in-store freebies.
• The wifi radio on the nook is smart enough to turn itself off when I’m not in a section of the device that needs it (such as shopping or The Daily).
• There are more cases and accessories in retail stores around me for the nook than the Kindle.
• You can use your own custom wallpapers and screensavers on the nook without a hack. Also, the included screensavers (pictures of authors) look a lot less creepy than the ones on the Kindle IMO.
• Turning the page with a flick on the LCD touchscreen feels good to me.

Things I prefer about the Kindle over the nook:

• The interface is much simpler and the time it takes to navigate is drastically reduced.
• Collections. The ability to group books by whatever criteria I want and clean up my list of titles is wonderful.
• Less distracting look of the device. The Kindle is simpler. It has no colors, no shiny LCD screen, and fewer UI distractions between me and my reading.
• The dictionary seems much better at finding words than the one on the nook. I don’t use it all the time, but Terry Pratchett sometimes stumps me.
• The integration with the Amazon store, and the overall experience of Amazon versus the B&N store is much better, IMO. I feel more comfortable browsing and purchasing books on the Amazon store than B&N, and since I shop a lot on Amazon for other things anyway it’s an easy jump.
• Battery life is significantly better on the Kindle. It’s not a huge deal (we’re talking about charging once a week rather than once every 2 weks) but it’s noticeable.

What does this all mean? Well, for me personally I enjoy both devices, and I greatly enjoy the idea of electronic books in general. There are strengths in both, but for what I read most often right now the nook is the better choice. Until Overdrive and my local library start carrying more MOBI-format books (and ones that work without modification on the Kindle) I don’t see myself looking back.