Google has finally announced the arrival of Google eBooks, a competitor of Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Nobles Nook.
Unlike Amazon, which has books available on:
- A handheld device (Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology
) - Blackberry, Android, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch Apps
- Mac/Windows clients
)
and Barnes & Noble which has books available on:
- A handheld device (Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook Reader (WiFi only) [ Black & White ])
- Android, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch
- Windows clients
- (sadly, no Blackberry or Mac platform)
)the Google eBooks is available for:
- Nook (interesting, no?)
- Sony eReaders (Sony Digital Reader Touch Edition (PRS600BC) with 6″ Touch Screen – Black)
- Android, iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch
- Web-based Client
- so, both Windows & Mac without a download, but no Blackberry.
){Disclaimer: I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it again – this is my blog. No one pays me to write anything I say. But, to be fair I must admit that I have a love affair with Amazon. I have severe brand loyalty, although I do love going into Barnes & Noble stores when I want to buy an old-fashioned book that I’ve got to hold & turn pages in..}
I don’t have a Kindle handheld device (or a Nook, for that matter). I use Kindle for Mac, Android & iPod Touch. However, I really, really wish I had a Kindle when I went on my cruise in May, since I didn’t have my cellphone/laptop and my iPod kept losing charge (more on that tomorrow :)).
Not having a Kindle device doesn’t matter though. All clients allow for notes/annotations, and include WhisperSync, Amazon’s sync client that downloads new books and updates all devices to the “currently read” pages. What’s that mean? If I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment and reading on my phone, my Mac will know exactly where I left off later while I’m sitting in class (whoops) without me having to save anything.
But what’s the best Kindle feature? What sets is apart from the rest? Well, my FAVORITE Kindle feature is…. ::drum roll:: their AMAZING recommendations feature which a) is spot-on with books I actually DO want to read or b) recommends great books/authors that I’ve never heard of but quickly become favorites. The Recommendations feature works for people who don’t have Kindle as well (you know, people who just like to buy regular old books). You can go through and customize your list, adding books you own/have read, and giving them ratings so Amazon can base recommendations off that. You can also add books you dislike and tell Amazon to stop using those books for recommendations. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out where Google hides this feature on their eBooks.
The biggest difference between the three is that only Kindle is available on Blackberry (which is how I discovered it, before I moved on to my Android phone). That may not seem like a big deal, but I would imagine that the market of people who are interested in eReaders are also the same types of people who are constantly attached to their Blackberrys – business people who are sitting in airports/train stations/hotel rooms for a vast majority of their time.
The prices between the 3 platforms seems to be the same, which makes the biggest difference buyer’s preference… although Nooks do seem to be more expensive than Kindles and Sony Readers.