Electronics companies seem to have dipped their hands into almost every aspect of our lives and literature is no exception. E-readers are portable electronic devices that allow their owners to purchase, download, and read electronic books or e-books. These e-readers can carry thousands of books, acting like a portable library for users.
The only complication to these fairly simply products is the selection process; comparing two e-readers can be tedious and confusing. Two popular e-readers that are often debated over are the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. The Kindle has been around longer and is more popular, but the Nook gains more users every day.
The Nook has a number of tempting features including downloadable applications, games, music, and other media. These features entice buyers, but they also give the Nook a far slower speed than the Kindle.
The Nook is available in e-Ink format from $149 and LCD format from $249, while the Kindle is exclusively available with e-Ink from $139. Along with the price and speed difference, the Nook is also much larger than the Kindle. Both e-readers have six inch screens, but the Kindle weighs less than nine ounces, while the Nook weighs over eleven.
While both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a long history of selling, promoting, and improving literature, Amazon has far greater experience with electronics. The Nook has many features, but instead of improving upon the quality of the product, they detract from it. The Kindle is a more established and developed product that improves the user's reading experience, rather than distracting from it.
The Kindle is a simple and useful e-reader that performs exactly as it was intended to. It boasts impressive speed, fantastic portability, and a low price. While many e-readers have attempted to challenge one of the earliest e-readers' for popularity and usability, the Amazon Kindle continues to triumph.
Source: ezinearticles.com