Ebooks or Paperbacks on Board and Why?

[Mt2Salt]

Why a Kindle over a Nook? Any good reasons?

Rebel Heart, I too would love to know how to get a hold of the 8meg of books too if possible.

[Jammer Six]

iPad.

Navigation and more books than I'll ever read, all in my pocket.

[zeehag]

i use real books and exchange em at book exchange places along mexico, so far....

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

So, the Kindle would be read at night with the same form of reading light that I would use for a paper book? Thanks for your information. There's still some shopping days before Christmas.

Yep, basically. There are a few kindle book cases that have built in lights. The cases are nice; there are some really cool ones out there but mine didn't have a light so I just use a normal flexible neck model with three double a's. You can see on amazon reviews which ones work well.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Mt2Salt

Why a Kindle over a Nook? Any good reasons?

Rebel Heart, I too would love to know how to get a hold of the 8meg of books too if possible.

The kindle is just way more popular. Way more books and you're more likely to find people (like me) who have a pile of kindle formatted books than nook format. I'm pretty sure kindle outsells something like 50-1, probably more. I travel everywhere and see kindles constantly, nooks not so much. Plus I dig Amazon's customer service in general.

I had my 3g/whispernet stuff crash out recently on a kindle out of warranty. Spent a half our on the phone with a smart customer service person who couldn't fix it, so to they're sending me a new one. I told her I was out of the country and she modified the whole thing. There's a new Kindle waiting for me in San Diego when I get back into town and a package to mail back my sort-of-dead-one that works well enough offline and via wifi.

Just have great customer service and product experiences with Amazon.

[David M]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

So, the Kindle would be read at night with the same form of reading light that I would use for a paper book? Thanks for your information. There's still some shopping days before Christmas.

There are little LED reading lights made for clipping on to Kindles.

Amazon.com: kindle reading l ight

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Jammer Six

iPad.

Navigation and more books than I'll ever read, all in my pocket.

An iPad can do vastly more than a Kindle or Nook. For most but not all cruisers (and most but not all people generally), an iPad can replace a laptop. A Kindle or Nook could never replace a laptop. iPad's are also much better made, more rugged, etc. On top of that, iBooks have much better production quality than Kindle books. Kindle books seem like they were OCRed without any copy-editing. I only buy a Kindle book for my iPad when a book I want is not available as an iBook.

The advantages of a Kindle or Nook over an iPad is longer battery life and lower cost. However, on any boat with either AC or DC or both, the 10 hour battery life of an iPad should always be sufficient.

It's not my intention to bash Kindle or Nook (some people are happy with them) but I have tried a Nook (for about 30 seconds) and a few different Kindles (for several minutes) and I wouldn't ever consider giving up my iPad for either one.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by mcarling

An iPad can do vastly more than a Kindle or Nook. For most but not all cruisers (and most but not all people generally), an iPad can replace a laptop. A Kindle or Nook could never replace a laptop. iPad's are also much better made, more rugged, etc. On top of that, iBooks have much better production quality than Kindle books. Kindle books seem like they were OCRed without any copy-editing. I only buy a Kindle book for my iPad when a book I want is not available as an iBook.

The advantages of a Kindle or Nook over an iPad is longer battery life and lower cost. However, on any boat with either AC or DC or both, the 10 hour battery life of an iPad should always be sufficient.

It's not my intention to bash Kindle or Nook (some people are happy with them) but I have tried a Nook (for about 30 seconds) and a few different Kindles (for several minutes) and I wouldn't ever consider giving up my iPad for either one.

I have a laptop, a kindle, and an android tablet. My wife has a netbook and a kindle. Like paper books you don't have to give one up for the other. You can have a TV *and* a radio in your home.

Generally speaking, the most voracious readers I know are on kindles because they are built with the single purpose of reading. One of the advantages is that you can't do anything else with them. No distractions, no pop-up notifications that you got an email, no clock in the bottom telling you what time it is, and they are much smaller and weigh much less.

If you can only sport one device, use the tablet. I'm on mine right now. But if you just want a device to read with, get an e-reader. This might sound like a wishy-washy argument but there are literally millions of happy kindle owners, including ones that own tablets and other devices.

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I have a laptop, a kindle, and an android tablet. My wife has a netbook and a kindle. Like paper books you don't have to give one up for the other.

If the objective is collect as many gadgets as possible, then by all means, collect as many gadgets as possible. I prefer to have few gadgets, of high quality, which are able to perform a wide range of tasks well.

Originally Posted by rebel heart

You can have a TV *and* a radio in your home.

I'm a reader, so I have neither a TV nor a radio in my home.

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Generally speaking, the most voracious readers I know are on kindles because they are built with the single purpose of reading.

I read several books per week. I just checked and I've spent over $3000 on iBooks and over $1000 on Kindle books in 2012. Not having to carry those books around (while still having them wherever I go) is fantastic -- which is true with a Kindle as well as with an iPad.

Originally Posted by rebel heart

One of the advantages is that you can't do anything else with them.

Perhaps I'm thick, but I don't see that as an advantage. I like the fact that I can use my iPhone or my iPad as a carpenter's level, for example.

Originally Posted by rebel heart

No distractions, no pop-up notifications that you got an email, no clock in the bottom telling you what time it is, and they are much smaller and weigh much less.

iPads do not display a clock in either the iBooks app or the Kindle app. Notifications can be turned on or off. I'll grant that the original size iPad is larger and heavier than is optimal for some users, but that's what the iPad Mini is for. Both iPads and Kindles are available in different sizes. :-)

Originally Posted by rebel heart

If you can only sport one device, use the tablet. I'm on mine right now. But if you just want a device to read with, get an e-reader.

I'm glad you're happy with yours. Certainly there are some happy Kindle owners. I have one friend who bought a Kindle a few days before the first iPad was announced. After the announcement, he was constantly repeating all the arguments he could find in the trade press about how the iPad would be a failure, how superior Kindles are, and how he would never, ever switch. It took over two years, but he bought an iPad this year. He's still using his Kindle for books, but it wisely non-committal about what he'll do when his Kindle eventually dies. I'm waiting for the day when there is a book he wants that's available as an iBook but not as a Kindle book (which has only happened to me once).

Originally Posted by rebel heart

This might sound like a wishy-washy argument but there are literally millions of happy kindle owners, including ones that own tablets and other devices.

We actually don't know that. Amazon have never released sales numbers for the Kindle. There might be a million in use and there might not be. Tablet sales numbers are meaningless because they report the number shipped into the sales channels and then don't deduct for all the tablet returned unsold or returned by the customers.

My suggestion is to try various devices before buying one. If you can borrow one from a friend for a day, to read a whole book, that would be best in my opinion.

[rebel heart]

lol okay man you win

[mcarling]

I think we all win from the ability to carry around many thousands of e-books in a lightweight device. I give the Kindle credit for being first to make that a practical reality. While I don't own a Kindle, I would vastly prefer a Kindle to a dead-tree book.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by mcarling

...............................I read several books per week. I just checked and I've spent over $3000 on iBooks and over $1000 on Kindle books in 2012. Not having to carry those books around (while still having them wherever I go) is fantastic -- which is true with a Kindle as well as with an iPad.............................

I'm also spending much of my cruising time reading several books a week. Let's assume several is three. At 156 books/year...or make it 200. At the cost listing above at 4K total,- that's $20/book! This total expense is equivalent to my entire marina and diesel cost for a year. My wife and I can both read several books a week while keeping about two dozen traded paperbacks on board at a time for a total cost of nothing. When I add in the total coat of nothing for electronic devices; then, this comes out to about....nothing! One of the great benefits for our cruising and liveaboard life is to live on far less than our income. So, this pretty much closes the debate for me.

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

At the cost listing above at 4K total,- that's $20/book! This total expense is equivalent to my entire marina and diesel cost for a year. My wife and I can both read several books a week while keeping about two dozen traded paperbacks on board at a time for a total cost of nothing. When I add in the total coat of nothing for electronic devices; then, this comes out to about....nothing! One of the great benefits for our cruising and liveaboard life is to live on far less than our income. So, this pretty much closes the debate for me.

Everything I read is non-fiction. If one reads novels, then the prices are much lower. If one reads works that are no longer under copyright, those e-books are free.

My iPad weighs a lot less than two dozen paperbacks and a Kindle weighs even less. I'm probably more fastidious about weight than most.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by mcarling

....................... I'm probably more fastidious about weight than most.

Let me guess...... Catamaran? 'certainly a wise cause for being fastidious about weight if your on a multihull.

[DevoDave]

Wife and I each have a Kindle for reading. Laptops and Ipads are overkill for the task.

We are still about a year off from moving aboard, so I'm still putting our library together. I would say I have about 10,000 books on file at the moment, and add more each week. (Books are managed on a laptop and only moved to the Kindle(s) as we finish (and delete) the 10-15 books).

I don't think there will be many paper books we take on board when we make the move. Probably only manuals.