? About ebook readers

[DashSatan]

Could some one just tell me what the difference is in the ebook reader apps on the iPad? I know the have a kindle app and such, why would some one chose that over iBook? Does it have extra features or something?

 

[iPadCharlie]

The biggest difference between the apps is really not in the app itself, but in the selection of books! The iBooks app has a very nice visual appearance, but no one can beat Amazon in terms of selection.

 

[Diane B]

Ibooks does not have the diveresity of titles offered. I believe it is Random House (which owns a number of other publishing names) that they have never reached agreement with to carry in the Ibooks store. That leaves a lot of titles and authors not available for purchase from Ibooks. Also, Amazon and Barnes and Noble sometimes have offers not available through Ibooks. Those are the reasons for me not using it much. I also use Bluefire for library lending books which Ibooks can't handle (unless your reformat illegally).

Diane

 

[freebirdforever]

I have all the Ebook apps just because I like the variety and the deals that Amazon and B&N sometimes offer. Books for 99c are a STEAL!

 

[theipadstudent]

Another bonus that Kindle has over the iBooks app is wider number of devices you can read Kindle books on. Anything that has a kindle reader for it you can read your books on - iPad, iPhone, blackberry, PC, Mac, Kindle, etc.

 

[The Alternative]

Another bonus that Kindle has over the iBooks app is wider number of devices you can read Kindle books on. Anything that has a kindle reader for it you can read your books on - iPad, iPhone, blackberry, PC, Mac, Kindle, etc.

Although you are correct that the Kindle app has to be loaded onto the device to read the .azw proprietary format I have to respectfully disagree in one respect. iBooks allows the .ePub format which is now a standard e-book file format that is supported by almost* every e-book reading device including Sony Reader, BeBook, IREX Reader, iPhone, and the Nook from Barnes & Noble’s. This gives it a distinct advantage over Kindle.

Other than hardware devices, you can also read .epub books on your desktop or mobile phone using free e-reader software like Stanza, Mobipocket, FBReader (for Linux), Aldiko (for Android) or Adobe Digital Editions.
[*] Amazon Kindle uses a proprietary format (AZW) and cannot read ePub files directly though you can use the free Stanza desktop application to convert an ePub ebook into AZW (or even PDF), a format that the Kindle can understand.

I also have to give mention to Calibre which is a free software program that can format almost any document type into DRM-free .ePub books.

 

[peled]

You can always translate .mobi into .ePUB

 

[USBill]

No reason not to have the Kindle reader, iBooks, Stanza, and the Bluefire Reader.

 

[iPadster]

I personally like the visual appearance of iBooks. I usually search for the book I want to read with the Kindel, and B&N apps to check pricing. If I find it in iBooks for the same price I buy it.

 

[zorah]

Like USBill is getting at, no reason to not just have all of them. I have several for that reason. Just pick and choose. There are a lot of reading programs out there too, like I have a public domain manuscript downloaded into a PDF reader program, etc. Versatility rocks!

 

[Diane B]

Like USBill is getting at, no reason to not just have all of them. I have several for that reason. Just pick and choose. There are a lot of reading programs out there too, like I have a public domain manuscript downloaded into a PDF reader program, etc. Versatility rocks!

A good reaeon to have the Ipad instead of an ereader. I have tried out a number of others and do like the lightness, but don't like the restrictione and that they don't do much else. I love having multiple ereader apps.

 

[BrennB]

Let's not forget the kindle syncs between devices...that is the point that sells Kindle for me, although I have several other readers loaded I always go to kindle. I can pick up mybphone and read from where I left off on the iPad, or pc or whatever

 

[theipadstudent]

Another bonus that Kindle has over the iBooks app is wider number of devices you can read Kindle books on. Anything that has a kindle reader for it you can read your books on - iPad, iPhone, blackberry, PC, Mac, Kindle, etc.

Although you are correct that the Kindle app has to be loaded onto the device to read the .azw proprietary format I have to respectfully disagree in one respect. iBooks allows the .ePub format which is now a standard e-book file format that is supported by almost* every e-book reading device including Sony Reader, BeBook, IREX Reader, iPhone, and the Nook from Barnes & Noble’s. This gives it a distinct advantage over Kindle.

Other than hardware devices, you can also read .epub books on your desktop or mobile phone using free e-reader software like Stanza, Mobipocket, FBReader (for Linux), Aldiko (for Android) or Adobe Digital Editions.
[*] Amazon Kindle uses a proprietary format (AZW) and cannot read ePub files directly though you can use the free Stanza desktop application to convert an ePub ebook into AZW (or even PDF), a format that the Kindle can understand.

I also have to give mention to Calibre which is a free software program that can format almost any document type into DRM-free .ePub books.

I understand your counter-points, but my original posting was referring to the actual books offered by iBooks and Kindle and reading those books on different devices. iBooks uses it's own DRM'd .ePub books, and when bought through iBooks you can only use them on up to 5 Apple-approved devices. Even though some books offered through iBooks are DRM free, most books offered through iBooks by the bigger publishers are not, meaning books you buy through iBooks cannot be read on a Blackberry phone or handheld Kindle. Amazon's Kindle store, although it is DRM'd also, is supported on so many more devices including the iPad. Plus how the Kindle software will synchronize across all your devices where you've left off in reading each ebook - something that can only happen between iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch with iBooks.

I was coming from the perspective of the average, not so tech savvy consumer who may not know how to use and format .ePub books and doesn't want to go through the process to learn how to format into .ePub just to read their books. All they really want, in my opinion, is just an easy way to read books across a number of different platforms - which I believe Kindle, in that respect even with their proprietary format, still does better than iBooks right now.

 

[Gen from Oz]

The great thing about having both a Kindle and IPad is having the ebooks on both devices - I can read on one at home, one while on the train and it auto -updates where I am. Very cool. I hope Apple don't try and squeeze our access to Amazon etc out by charging for downloads to IPad as rumoured - it could ruin what is currently a lovely symbiosis!