Kindle VS iBooks

Most of the discussion about eBook reading on the iPad vs. the Kindle centers on the devices themselves.

Now that I've had my iPad for a couple of months and my new Kindle 3 for 10 days (I've had a Kindle 1 since they first came out), I can say that I would prefer to read most books on the Kindle 3. If the book has a lot of graphics or photos, particularly color ones, the iPad naturally wins. But the screen glare gets annoying rather quickly for any long-form reading.

I love the iPad for web browsing, quick information look-ups, weather and news apps, and a few other things while seated comfortably in my easy chair in the evening.

Besides Apple's own iBooks app, I also have the Kindle for iPad, Nook, Kobo, and Stanza apps on my iPad.

If I do decide to read a book on the iPad, I am most likely to use the Kindle for iPad app (even color graphics and photos look great on the Kindle for iPad app).

Why?

The Kindle for iPad is a far superior application.

The iBooks app looks nice but the browsing, searching, and buying functions are awkward and not very functional (especially the browse and search functions).

The Nook app switches to the Safari browser to find and buy an eBook and does not automatically return me to the Nook app and download the book Lousy design. I have also had several instances where I cannot get the book to download to the Nook app.

The Kobo app is not much better, and I don't care much for the functionality of its reading interface.

The Kindle app, on the other hand, brings all of Amazon's content (far more than iBooks) and its excellent browse and search capabilities (which are both better and much faster) to the iPad. On the top, Amazon's great one-click buying experience works perfectly on the iPad. Of course, it does switch to the Safari browser but, when you've bought the book, you just click to send it the Kindle for iPad and it takes you right back to the reading app. The book immediately downloads and you can read it right away.

Like iBooks, some Kindle books now have audio and video clips embedded. Those look just as good on the Kindle for iPad as on iBooks.

Some fancy typography and layout "stuff" can only be done in ePub and, thus, won't display as prettily in a Kindle book. But if the designer took care to accommodate the Kindle platform's limitations (while capitalizing on the additional display capabilities when read on the iPad), those Kindle books can provide just as pleasant a reading experience as anything available from iBooks.

And you're far more likely to find the book you were looking for on Amazon than on iBooks.

And if you decide to read the book on your Kindle 3, the text will be just a crisp and the photos and graphics will look great, albeit in B&W, as anything you can read on the iPad.

And that leads to one other factor that I like when reading Kindle books I can read the same book on the Kindle today and the iPad tomorrow (or my iPhone, Blackberry, or Mac if I had one) and both will automatically sync to the last page I read, wherever I read it.

So, despite all the naysayers who insist that the iPad will be the death of the Kindle, I have no doubt that the Kindle will be around for a long time and will be continually updated. Including a color Kindle (maybe even with touch screen) and probably a Kindle that can read both Kindle and ePub format (possibly even alternately from the same downloaded file).

To read more on Amazon's Kindle go to Amazon Kindle review or Kindle reviews or go to Wireless reading device.