Which Format Will Win?

[skb12172]

As I've mentioned before, I'm still happy with my Nook Color tablet. It is a decent e-reader and it does all the tablet things I need it to do. I see no reason to upgrade yet and my only complaint is that you can't access the free library from Amazon or utilize their Kindle store and Cloud.

I was kicking back and forth between a Basic Kindle and a Paperwhite and have decided on the basic, with a cover that includes a swivel book light, to account for the lack of a backlit screen.

Barnes and Nobles is having some serious trouble right now, but the ePub format is still very popular, worldwide.

However, Amazon is the 800 lb. Gorilla in this zoo. Their content and prices make them a formidable player.

Since all I want/need from them right now is access to their Kindle library, I'm OK with my decision to only go with an e-reader and to have multiple tablet/e-reader devices.

However, I am wondering who will ultimately prevail in this Betamax/VHS, PC/Apple competition.

My personal desire would be to see it resolve like the PC/Apple, where the formats are compatible. That would be best for the consumer, but what are the chances of that happening?

What say you all?

Fire Away!

[MarkD]

Kindle.

Two reasons, first, my wife and I own two.

To illustrate the second, a little story:

Back in the early 1980's there were a whole plethora of micro computers, Radio Shack made three (TRS-80 models 1 and 3 and color computer, none of which were compatible with the others), Apple made a bunch (ditto), Commodore (the Pet, the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, again not really compatible), the Timex (Sinclair), Texas Instruments (TI-99a), and a bunch of smaller outfits. You were married to hardware, if you owned a TRS-80 Model 3 (which I did), you couldn't run Apple, Commodore etc software. You were stuck with whatever someone decided to write for that platform, or you bought another computer.

Then IBM released the Personal Computer. It cost twice what everything else cost, and there was absolutely NO software available for it. The software situation lasted about six months. The PC became the de-facto standard, and every other computer became a doorstop.

Like you said, Amazon is the 800 lb gorilla. Strictly from an e-reader standpoint, the ability to buy, or distribute, your book thru Amazon and have it downloaded electronically is HUGE. B&N just can't touch that level of distribution. On top of which, you can get Kindle apps for iPads, iPhones, Android devices, etc. And the Kindle can handle formats like plain text. If it could handle pdf's it would be the only e-reader anyone would ever need.

[Aesop]

Correct me if I heard wrong, but I thought last coupla weeks or so, B&N announced they're dropping the Nook, no future editions, so anyone who owns one has the 2013 version of a Betamax VCR.

If I got that right off the news, that pretty well answers that question.

Link to story 6/25/13

[skb12172]

You are correct, but the Epub and .pdf formats are still in use by the majority of people, Nook notwithstanding.
Amazon would be wise to support those formats in addition to their own, IMO.

[Aesop]

I understand the sentiment, but the reason B&N gave for dropping Nook was that they were being pounded by Amazon.
So what Amazon wants is what everyone will get. When the world is literally beating a path to your door, you don't usually have to accomdate people with obsolete mousetraps.
I'm only happy because I hadn't gotten around to buying a Nook, which I had intended until a couple of weeks ago.
Usually I'm the bellweather for buying something 5 seconds before it's obsoleted.

[g-man]

Got my wife a Nook HD+ for Christmas to upgrade from her Nook Color. We kept the Color and I use it to watch Netflix, for which it is reasonably suited. For her, the reading app on the Nook beat the Kindle hands down. She reads A LOT, so the reading app trumped everything else about the device, which is fine by me. She's happy, but when we noticed that they are getting out of the market, she started looking at other options just as the 'keep the ear to the ground' type of preparedness. iPad Mini is most likely going to win out, just due to ease of interoperability with her phone, and that the form-factor works best for her.

Such is life...

[skb12172]

Same here. FB, Netflix, This Forum, Email, plus a few free games and apps via B&N. That's why I'm not upgrading right now. The Nook Color does everything I need it to do. Having said that, when the time comes to upgrade, I probably will go with whatever the top Kindle tablet is at that time, unless Amazon starts granting 3rd party hardware access so that I can use my Kindle acct and Cloud that, before I bought the basic eReader, I could only access through my Windows 8 app on my laptop.

[skb12172]

I've downloaded Calibre to my laptop, but have yet to play with it. If I can still use my epub with this Kindle reader, that is "A Good Thing." Thanks for the head's up.

[randy]

I bypassed the whole issue of Nook v Kindle and went to an Android tablet. With the Kindle app and Aldiko reader, I'm good to go.

Along with having ported my Palm databases over and using the tablet like a large Palm when I need to (including Hot Synch with my Palm Desktop software).

And with Calibre Companion, I can load and manage books from my hard drive library over the home wireless network.

So I come down with none of the above, and go with generalized hardware with apps that support the software I want.

[mekender]

You are correct, but the Epub and .pdf formats are still in use by the majority of people, Nook notwithstanding.
Amazon would be wise to support those formats in addition to their own, IMO.

.pdf works just fine on the Kindle