Best E-book Reader - Kindle Vs Nook Vs Ipad

Are you trying to decide which e-book reader to buy? If you are looking to buy a reader for yourself or as a gift, it can be tough to make a final decision. These devices are not cheap, so you want to make sure you get the best one on the market. So which of the big three would be most suitable for you?

Any focused attempt to decide which is the best e-book reader on the market will quickly narrow the choices down to just two of the numerous devices currently available. These two are, of course, the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Nobel Nook. Their popularity with e-book reader users puts them way ahead of their rivals.

Although it is easy to narrow the field to just the two contestants, if is much harder to declare one to be the outright winner. The Nook and the Kindle both have massive support from their fans and this keeps the struggle for supremacy going. There are, of course, pros and cons to be considered with both these e reader devices. But, overall, they are very similar in many respects. You can use either one to read newspapers, magazines and books. The manufacturers' specifications for the nook and the Kindle reveal them to be similar in size and weight. The screens are similar in size.

Did we forget the Ipad?

No, but its place in a battle for the title of best e-book reading device is somewhat uncomfortable. It's rather as if a juggler has been pushed into a boxing ring where a fightt is already in progress and encouraged to join in. The Ipad is unquestionably brilliant in all sorts of ways. It has things the other contenders lack. It has color where the Kindle has only black, white and shades of gray. The Ipad has video where the best the Nook can boast is images. If we were to compile a list of the Ipad's features, it would look as if it should pound the other two contestants into submission without any difficulty. But the Ipad doesn't really belong in an e-reader contest.

It is true that the Ipad has all the functionality you could want from an e-reader device. It has a good size screen for reading, it can download electronic books without needing a separate connection to a computer. However, its real strength lies in all the other functions it can perform. If you simply look at how the Ipad performs as an ebook reader and compare that aspect with the Nook and Kindle, it does not look so much like a serious contender.

There are three obvious areas where the Nook and the Kindle beat the Ipad. The first thing to note is the weight difference. While the Nook weighs slightly more than the Kindle, the Ipad weighs almost three times as much as the Kindle. This extra weight makes it uncomfortable to hold while reading for any length of time. The second point is that Amazon and Barnes & Noble offer a much larger number of electronic books than are available for Ipad users, and the book prices are generally lower. The third thing to consider is that the Ipad is quite significantly more expensive than the other two rivals.

This is a case where you need to decide whether it is better to buy a device that is dedicated to doing one thing really well. Do you really want an e-reader that can play music and videos? If you are primarily looking for an e-book reader, it is probably not a good idea to buy a device that does many things well but that has definite limitations when used as an e-reader. You could find yourself paying over the odds for additional functions that you will never use.