Monday, January 17, 2011

Trapped by indecision

My Dad got a Kindle for Christmas. I didn’t feel an e-reader was something I had to have until I saw it yesterday mornng. I fell in love. I went home with the intention of going right to Amazon and ordering me up a Kindle. They’re only $139! I haven’t spent a penny of my Christmas cash! Amazon has a ton of free books!

Of course, I had to do some cursory comparisons between the Nook (non-color) and the Kindle, just to make sure I wanted the Kindle. Thomas and my brother-in-law both have Nook Colors, although my brother-in-law really bought his as more of a mini-iPad than an e-reader. (Because it is a mini-iPad, which is awesome.) However, I’m still holding out for a real (2nd generation) iPad because I want to watch Hulu and Netflix, which you can’t do on a Nook Color.

I was still going to go with Kindle, until he reminded me you can check books out of the library on a Nook, but not on a Kindle. So I went on the library website to see what they had for e-books and WOW. I have a list a page long of e-books I want to check out (FOR FREE). And that’s just after looking for a half hour. Plus, if I got the Nook, Thomas and I could share purchased books. I was all set to buy the regular Nook, until Thomas began the campaign for a Color.

The Nook Color has full internet. It has an Android operating system, so it can easily be turned into a bigger version of my phone (including all the apps). Doing this is not sanctioned by Barnes and Noble, but they’re working on it. The Nook Color is projected to get Android 2.2 in Feburary and apps in March. (Until then you can just do it illegally.) But since I have all this on my phone, do I need a bigger version? I didn’t think so, until I borrowed Thomas’ for the night. I love the Google feed reader app on my phone, but when I read archives (I’m always working on someone’s archives) the phone isn’t so great. On the Nook Color, it was AWESOME. It’s the perfect size for blogs.

Of course, the reason I want an e-reader is to READ and if I’m actually going to read books primarily on the device instead of paper I think I want e-ink (regular Nook), not a mini-computer (Nook Color). Of course, I probably spend more time reading blogs than books (oops), so shouldn’t I get the device that’s better for blogs? But I still want an iPad. An Android phone, an iPad, AND a Nook Color is overkill. BUT, I won’t get the iPad until my birthday, which is in eight months. AND, with a backlit reader (the Color), I can read while sitting in Meg’s room at naptime and bedtime, which can be up to three hours a day total (a booklight doesn’t fly – you can barely get away with a phone or Nook Color).

I went in circles all day yesterday and I CANNOT DECIDE. I have bought NOTHING because I can’t choose.

3 comments:

  1. I love my Nook, but I know plenty of people that adore their Kindles so its definitely personal preference. My reasons for the Nook were the Lend Me feature (which they just started offering for Kindle) and being able to borrow from the library. You definitely want the same brand as your husband so you can use share an account and share all the same books (Lend Me only applies to some books, not all)

    I also like that BNN does "Free Fridays" offering a different book every Friday (some are just highlighted books which were already free, and sometimes not), and they do promotions which are only available to Nook owners (like free small smoothie around Christmas).

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  2. I hear you. I had the same conflicting feelings about all this technology. My husband is going to give me his old iPad when he upgrades to the new version whenever it comes out. So yes, I have to wait, but I don't want to buy something I don't need. Good luck with deciding.

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  3. I love my Kindle and I read blogs o it all the time (the experimental feature has a web-browser). But I mostly use it for reading books or playing word games. but then, I am the type who always carries a book and this is just so much easier than carting a book around.

    I was going to get a Nook but it was right around the time that B&N was talking about going bankrupt or something and I was worried about the availability, etc. that seems to be improving, so...

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