E Readers a hit for the holidays

By Thomas J. Dragani

If you have an avid reader on your list this holiday season, there are millions of books in print to choose from, but why risk getting them one they won’t enjoy?
Luckily, there are alternatives on the market.
In recent years, booksellers such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com have come out with a revolutionary E Reader you can take on the go and read. The two companies have released the Nook© and Kindle©, respectively, to provide a new dynamic to reading.
The E Readers allow people to store, read and download a multitude of popular titles and classics with simple clicks.
“My favorite feature about the Kindle is that I can store so many books on such a slim device,” said Ryan Nolan, a Kindle owner, “similar to the way I first felt about storing music on an iPod.”
The Nook performs the same functions as the Amazon Kindle and both devices can also store and play music, audio books and games, browse the web, and download emails.
“The Nook allows users the ability to download books and magazines and other available content directly from the device or by connecting it to the computer,” says Linda Barry, who works in Barnes and Noble’s community relations department.

The Debate
So with both devices doing mostly the same thing, how do you choose the perfect device?
Amazon.com retails their Kindle for $139, with a $189 version available that includes 3G internet connectivity, while Barnes and Noble’s Nook sells for $149 with a 3G version available for $199. The 3G connectivity of the devices works similarly to cell phones and allows users to access the bookstore from anywhere.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) estimates that sales of E Readers will double by the end 2010 and again in 2012, after doubling from the 2002 numbers. At the end of 2009 it was estimated that the sale of E Readers were 3 million units worldwide.
The Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook aren’t the only E Readers on the market. Sony also makes a version of the device, but the Nook and Kindle are the most popular with consumers.
The advantage the Amazon Kindle has is it’s time on the market. The first version of the Kindle was released in November of 2007, more than two years before the Nook’s November 2009 release.
Because it is a newer device, the Nook was received with mixed reviews. It was featured as number two on TIME Magazine’s Top 10 Gadgets of 2009 shortly after its release.
Still many reviews, such as David Pogue’s in the New York Times, felt the device, which runs on the Android operating system found in popular smartphones, suffered from “half-baked software.”
The Amazon Kindle, now in its third iteration, is Amazon’s top-selling item two years running and “has the most five-start reviews of any product on Amazon,” according to their website.
Seems like a better deal for the money of Barnes and Noble’s Nook, but the selection of over 750,000 books for the Kindle is dwarfed by the Nook’s over 2 million—in that department the Nook offers more for your money.

The Nook has an exclusive feature which allows users to “borrow” books from other Nook users; a feature that will no longer be exclusive once Amazon develops its own at the end of this year for the Kindle, well behind the curve. Both E Readers will allow each book to be lent to another user for a maximum of 14 days.

The Verdicts
Still, some say there’s something about feeling a fresh paperback in your hands and having its new-book smell wafting up as you turn the physical pages—like an adventure through virgin lands—instead of browsing through with a plastic click.
“I enjoy having a book in my hands more,” said Neil Ballentine, who has a Nook. “It makes what I’m reading seem more real.”
“I read a ton before getting Kindle, and since I’ve gotten one I have not stopped,” said Joseph Godley, a Kindle owner. “If you have some money to spend and you're a bookworm, do it. Get an E Reader. You won't be disappointed.”
Still, the debate over E Readers and books continues. “It’s something I can’t decide on,” said Ashley Long, who has an E Reader. “I like having the physical book, but it’s so convenient to have everything on this one little machine.”