iBooks, Nook, Or Kindle: Which E-Book Reader Is Best

Books are often forgotten these days as the digital age continues to take over our lives, with TV, Internet and streaming media all in the palm of your hand. But many companies have "modernized" books by making digital copies we can read on the go with no more lugging around books anymore. And with this new era of books comes a whole lot of competition, below we will compare specs, quality, and price to try and decide which device is best suited to potentially replace your book collection.

Amazon's Kindle reading device was the first to create a dedicated portable e-book reader. First released in November of 2007 the device sold out in under 6 hours and was an instant success. The Kindle is able to display books digitally and you are able to buy them and download them instantly to the device over a wireless cellular connection.

Kindle software is also available for most smart-phones including the iPhone, Blackberry and Android powered phones, as well as Windows and Mac computers. All these devices let you sync your books and where you left off last. The Kindle store now has over 500,000 books for purchase as well as magazines, blogs, and newspaper subscriptions.

A few of the complaints about the Kindle is the fact it has no color pictures, poor contrast and dark background. Overall Amazon has sold millions of Kindle readers and on one day in December of 2009 actually overtook physical book sales.  So far the Kindle is the most popular and only time will tell if it stays that way.

Barnes and Noble released their own e-book reader in November of 2009 to much fanfare. Having seen Amazon succeed with their Kindle reader, the Nook was looking to improve on what the Kindle lacked. The Nook features a color screen, Android OS and uses Wifi and AT&T's 3G network to download and sync books.

The Nook also features a Micro-SD slot for expanded memory, is able to play mp3s, and you are able to "lend" out books wirelessly to others who have Nook software for free for 14 days, all features the Kindle does not have.

Of course there are problems with the device as well, the Nook is heavier and has shorter battery life than the Kindle, and hackers have been able to install Android apps on the device as well. The Nook is also known to lag in speed a little compared to the Kindle as well, but both devices are very solid and each have their pros and cons. 

Apple got into the e-book market with the release of the iPad in April 2010. The iPhone and iPod touch already supported apps by Kindle and the Nook so Apple's iBooks would have to pack a lot of punch to beat them out.

Apple iBooks already had a leg up with such diverse and feature filled devices like the iPad and iPhone. Faster, packed with games, movies, music and apps compared to the Nook and Kindle devices but what about the software? iBooks software is capable of color pictures, adjustable fonts and brightness, as well as voiceover technology that can read the pages to you. The user interface is also more user friendly and features over 30,000 free books in addition to paid options.

iBooks though also isn't perfect, although it does auto sync across all Apple devices, it is only available on Apple devices. Those of you on Android, Blackberry or other devices can't enjoy the iBooks experience and even though iBooks has the most features it is very limited by its own exclusivity.

Overall all three devices are very impressive and although there are other devices capable of displaying books, right now these three are the major players. While the Kindle and Nook both have great features and are pretty comparable to each other, iBooks is a unique reading experience. Although hampered by its exclusivity to Apple devices, iBooks is hands down the best e-reader to date and with its recent release on the iPhone and iPod touch it may soon see a growing competition between Kindle, iBooks, and Nook. Only time will tell if the growing popularity of these devices will spark a pricing war on digital books and if ultimately they will lead to the end of physical books. All digital books are cheaper than physical ones and as more people get these devices, soon we may see books start disappearing off the shelves for good.

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