The publishing world was abuzz yesterday with news of B&N’s new ebook reader, the Nook (seriously, where do they get these names?). And from everything I’ve seen and read, it looks pretty darn cool.
The B&N site does a nice comparison of Nook vs. Kindle, but I’ve recently been looking at upgrading my Palm to an iPod Touch. So I did my own comparison:
iPod Nook
- Ebooks yes yes
- epub no yes
- eReader yes yes
- Kindle yes no
- Music yes yes
- Movies yes no
- Word doc yes* no
- pdf yes* yes
- wireless download yes yes
- Wi-fi capable yes yes
- operating sys Mac Android (Google)
- eInk (good for sun) no yes
- backlit (good for dark) yes no
- screen size 3.5″ diag 6″ diag.
- loan books no yes
- price $199 8G/$299 32G $259
- expansion slot no yes
- replaceable bat. no yes
- Web browsing yes ?
* requires app at additional charge
The biggest questions for me come down to screen size and backlit vs. eInk. I’m having a real hard time deciding because on one hand, I love to read on our sunny terrace (which gives backlit devices a terrible glare), but I also like reading in bed and not having the light on to bother the DH (eInk requires a separate light source).
Also, how functional is the Nook at web browsing in a wireless hotspot?
The Nook is available for preorder now and will start shipping Nov. 30. At that time, it will also be in stores for customers to demo.
