Why I Chose the Nook Over the Kindle

Well, Barnes & Noble took the wraps off their new e-reader today, and boy did they hit it out of the park, at least on paper. I had been wavering between the Kindle and the Sony Reader, and I grudgingly chose the Kindle, despite its lack of native PDF support (despite its lack of ANY support outside essentially MOBI), non-expandable memory, and nonreplaceable battery. And as we all know, I HATE nonreplaceable batteries. But, on the other hand, the book selection was better and there was wireless access and thus, Wikipedia to keep me entertained. But it was so close of a decision that almost any extra feature could have tilted the balance either way. I wonder if Amazon realizes that just by allowing 6-inch Kindles to read PDF, they could really have blown the competition away. I've been experimenting with converting my PDFs into a file format that the Kindle can read, and they look AWFUL. When people were saying that PDFs suffered a little bit in the conversion, I assumed it would be fairly minor things, like wonky formatting here and there. Nuh uh. It's downright piss-poor in every way, especially if there are any images. Also, I believe that native PDF support lets you borrow ebooks for free from the library via Adobe Digital Editions, which was one of the big draws of the Sony reader.

Anyway, as I've said previously, I was awaiting today's announcement with bated breath, even as my Kindle is en route. As soon as the specs first came out, (inadvertently, thanks to an overeager web guy/gal), they did not disappoint (although I have to admit, the name was a bit of a letdown):

- Native PDF support
- Expandable memory
- Replaceable battery
- 3G cellular access AND WiFi
- eBook lending

Out came the credit card, and I've got it on preorder. The Kindle is due to arrive tomorrow, but I'm sending it back. I couldn't care less about the color touchscreen, but they hit most everything else I've been looking for. I will miss wireless Wikipedia, but I'm confident that on the Android platform, someone will figure something out. Maybe even the name will grow on me. I do remember thinking that "Wii" was the dumbest name ever when I first heard it. Wait...I still think it's the dumbest name ever.

So maybe it won't grow on me. Just be prepared for the inevitable onslaught of "she showed me her nook" and "her nook is stuffed with goodies" jokes.