eReaders For Christmas

The kindle is the best one if you cannot afford an iPad. Kindle software is available on any platform (PC, Mac, Smartphone, iPod, etc) so they can read their books anywhere. There are over a million free books available through amazon. There is no monthly fee, just need to have an amazon account.

We are getting my 13yo and 10yo kindles for Christmas. We cannot keep them in books! THey read 3 or 4 at a time!

Kindle! Everybody I know who has one loves it.

The other reason is the customer service. I am a very frequent Amazon customer and use many of their services. Their customer service has never been a disappointment.

Barnes and Noble on the other hand... I purchased a textbook for their eNOOK application a few months ago. I just could not get the program to work. Their online help is basically non-existant, their customer support NEVER replied to my email, so I called. The person on the phone clearly did not have the technical understanding to deal with my problem. I tried to explain it to her (I am pretty computer literate and hubby is a computer scientist) but she just did not understand. She put me on hold for 5 minutes in after each of my questions so "ask someone" about it. There is no 2nd support tier with people who know what they are talking about. I finally requested to speak to her supervisor (after she started getting snippy) who was very rude and finally is just gave up. A quick search online turned out that I wasn't the only person with that particular issue and not the only person who had a terrible customer service experience.

I returned my "book" (well the electronic code), purchased the same e-book off amazon, installed the kindle for PC software (30 seconds and it was up and running).

I know that this is not about the actual e-reader, just the program for the PC, but after my experience with their customer support I will never buy or recommend to anyone another B&N product again.

Good luck!

No monthly service fees.

Do you already have wireless internet in your home? If so, you will need to do absolutely nothing.

Really as long as you have access to internet you don't have to do anything anyway...you just pick your book from the website and it downloads it onto your e-reader, just like that. Easy.

Hubby had a Kindle, it was cool. We all liked it. It is broke. If I had to choose I would go with the new Nook "Color" it goes for @$250. The older version of the Nook comes in 2 different varieties...one is $150 and the other is $199, they have different capabilities but I think both are worth the $ and would be sufficient.

Which ever way you go, I am sure your daughter is gonna love it! Great gift!

~Oh, I think I am partial to the Nook because I have gotten a huge gift certificate to Barnes & Noble every year for the last 10 years as a Christmas gift from my in-laws and this would work well with that AND I have never heard of the Literati...gonna go look into it!

We have both the Kindle and the Nook in our family. Those that have the Nook have not been pleased. There are pros and cons for both, but on average the Kindle versions of book are cheaper than the Nook. B&N "claims" to have over 2 million titles (see Beth's note below), but well over half of those titles are google scans of free pre-1920's books that are out of copyright. You don't need an e-reader to access any of them. You can get them on your Kindle, as well. The only difference is that Amazon doesn't "count" them in their selection of titles. If you are looking for selection, Amazon is still the industry leader. I suppose, in the end, it really depends on what you are looking for and what is important to you. There are several great articles out there that show the benefits of each one. Best of luck to you in your decision!

going out on a limb all by myself here lol. forget getting yet one more elecontronic gadget for the kids to hold and be absorbed in. Get her a library card or a gift card to the book store. I am so tired of seeing kids with wires coming out of there ears being so absorbed in whatever electronic gadget they are holding that they are unaware of what is going on around them. Books are meant to be held and enjoyed and savored. not read on computerized screens. I hate the thought of electronic books. ok off my soapbox now but just hate the thought of ereaders

Thanks for asking this question! My husband is thinking of getting me one for Christmas and I had some of the same questions. I don't really have any information for you, but I did look back at the archives on this website yesterday and this question has been kind of asked before. You can probably look up those answers. Most people seemed to love their Kindle. Apparently, there are differences in the way books are downloaded with some being automatic and others being downloaded on the computer and then transferred to the e-reader. Sony makes one too and the Ipad can apparently function as an e-reader. I look forward to reading the responses you get.

Nook.
They have a bigger library to choose from Both Barnes and noble and Books a million use the Nook format.
Barnes and noble alone has a 2 million books alone,
Amazon has 750,000.

I'm going to suggest an unsolicited idea: how about giving your kid a "credit" for overdues at the library instead? Take the money you'd spend buying the Kindle and all the books you will have to purchase, and stick it aside for an "overdue fund"? This could be valuable-- as a preschool teacher, I know I can rack up the fines, and it would supply an endless source of reading. Then, just keep taking her to the library every few weeks, to hand in books, renew, and check out new ones.

I adore my Kindle!!! The great thing about Amazon is there are tons of free books. You can also get Amazon gift cards and use that to buy the books. It's easy to use, read like a book with no glare and downloads the info instantly wirelessly. There is no monthly fee for use, you just buy the books as you want them. It's very easy to use. I've had mine for about a year. You can load 500 books on it, and save others on the Amazon web site or your computer hard drive. (Kind of like how an Ipod works with music).

Hope you find one that works for your daughter!

Kindle.

ALSO... because kindle eReaders for your computer is now a free download. So you can easily read and transfer between your eReader and you computer/laptop/iphone/ipad/etc. I just downloaded a copy for my macbook and one for my son's computer. Now I don't even need a Kindle, but can purchase directly for pricey gadgets I already own.

My husband researched these and we ended up purchasing the Nook for our 12 yr old daughter - the main reason we bought this was because our library had free downloads of several hundred books and also because of the other reviews. The kindle was reported to have trouble with the pages turning. He never mentioned the Literati, but I do know my daughter is pleased w/her Nook. If we go to Barnes & Noble she can download books there for free as well. We didn't get the color version or the Wifi, we bought the $149 one but she is very happy with it!