Alternatives to kindle

[hairyben]

As per the title, what would you chop kindle in for? They really seem to have it sewn up tight, massive catalogue, great UI, complete incompatibility with other devices/stores(?) - couple of authors I really enjoy seem unavailable anywhere but amazon.


FWIW, I'm a little bitter towards amazon atm for being massive pricks over a failed kitchen appliance (wedding list, no proof of purchase) so am looking to shift my 3-4 figure annual expenditure with them. I'm not looking to cut off my nose to spite my face though, although having a second ereader if I still have to maintain an amazon account for some stuff wouldn't be so bad though as with 3rd device between us it'd make sharing books with the mrs an easy thing.

[LukeR94]

Ipad mini?

Nexus tablet?

[hairyben]

LukeR94 said:

Ipad mini?

Nexus tablet?

aren't they both inferior to read (LCD screen instead of e-ink), much heavier and need charging all the time?

[Magic919]

We've got a few Nooks in our family. Can still get the odd book from Amazon.

[frank hovis]

I bought the missus a kobo a while back , she likes it and gets a decent amount of books

I use Ebook reader on the iPad - the book selection is good and easy enough to navigate

[crossy67]

We have a kindle and a Galaxy with Kindle ap. Both work well, the Kindle is better to read from in light but the tablet is better when lying in bed because it's lit whereas our Kndle isn't (possibly old one but it was a gift)

[Pie with sauce]

hairyben said:

I'm a little bitter towards amazon atm for being massive pricks over a failed kitchen appliance (wedding list, no proof of purchase) so am looking to shift my 3-4 figure annual expenditure with them.

You tell 'em fella! No proof of purchase? Don't they know you must've purchased it somewhere?

Take your annual £3-4 expenditure somewhere else. fk the Kindle!

(Is £3-4 just about one book on a Kindle?)

[Mutley]

Pie with sauce said:

(Is £3-4 just about one book on a Kindle?)

yes, as you pay VAT on e-books, but not on paper ones.

[T1berious]

I have used the Apps on both an iPad mini and my Note 3, to be honest the Kindle is far and away the more pleasant reading experience.

I know that Kobo is the other reader but I can't imagine it has the similar weight of the Amazon catalog behind it.

[Morf]

Assuming...

1) You want an e-ink screen
2) You're in the UK,
3) You buy legitimate ebooks rather than obtaining them from "other sources"...

then I'm afraid you're pretty much stuck with a Kindle. Kobo books in the UK are primarily through WH Smith, and the range and prices are nothing like as good as Amazon.

If you use (or want to use) your library's ebook service then you're actually worse off with a Kindle, because they've never put in place the library support they have in the US.

If you download books from other sources then any of them will work fine. Kobo (and Nook I think) use epub format which is slightly more readily available than mobi, but Calibre (shareware download for PC) can convert books between the two pretty transparently.

[Zigster]

I've been looking at a Kobo for my wife for Xmas. I'm put off the Kindle because of Amazon's restrictions. Plus, my wife tends to use the library rather than buy books and (typical Amazon) library eBooks can't be downloaded onto a Kindle.

I use Bluefire on my iPad to read library books, but it does chew through the battery and the LCD screen does strain my eyes a bit, particularly if reading in bed at night before I got to sleep.

So, if Kobo then which one. If something else (Nook?) then what are the pros and cons over Kobo?

[RizzoTheRat]

crossy67 said:

We have a kindle and a Galaxy with Kindle ap. Both work well, the Kindle is better to read from in light but the tablet is better when lying in bed because it's lit whereas our Kndle isn't (possibly old one but it was a gift)

[LordGrover]

Reviews/comparisons here: click but not sure how recent it is.
Kindle PW and Calibre on computer is my choice.

[TheJimi]

hairyben said:

FWIW, I'm a little bitter towards amazon atm for being massive pricks over a failed kitchen appliance (wedding list, no proof of purchase)

To be fair, Amazon customer service is usually pretty good, it's one of the reasons I keep returning to Amazon for stuff, and yes, I have a Kindle of my own.

Hate to say it but the Kindle / Amazon thing is hard to beat imo.

[hairyben]

TheJimi said:

hairyben said:

FWIW, I'm a little bitter towards amazon atm for being massive pricks over a failed kitchen appliance (wedding list, no proof of purchase)

To be fair, Amazon customer service is usually pretty good, it's one of the reasons I keep returning to Amazon for stuff, and yes, I have a Kindle of my own.

Hate to say it but the Kindle / Amazon thing is hard to beat imo.

It looks that way.

despite £1,000's of purchases I can't recall ever returning anything to them, so their record for stands at 100% unsatisfactory...

[StuntmanMike]

How can you have no proof of purchase when the email you a receipt and despatch?

[TheJimi]

StuntmanMike said:

How can you have no proof of purchase when the email you a receipt and despatch?

To be fair, I was wondering that myself. Even if the item was a gift from someone else, it wouldn't be hard to get an audit trail of the purchase.

[hairyben]

TheJimi said:

StuntmanMike said:

How can you have no proof of purchase when the email you a receipt and despatch?

To be fair, I was wondering that myself. Even if the item was a gift from someone else, it wouldn't be hard to get an audit trail of the purchase.

Amazon must have an audit trail but claim "data protection" prevents them checking. As the recipient of the gift, we don't have a copy of the receipt and the only person that does is on the other side of the family and my ability to influence ends there. I'm informed they notified amazon of the faulty item and we're told it will be resolved.

TBH this is all "done with", it's just backstory to prevent 17 posters asking why I wouldn't want to use amazons kindle service which so far as I can tell doesn't really have any serious competition, so thanks everyone for your replies.

[hdrflow]

My kindle is no longer being used and now use my Nexus tablet to read. I read mostly scientific books which the kindle is not particularly good for.

But a Kindle is a great device and there's plenty of free books for it.

But there's really no competition when it comes to devices.