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Comparison of E-Readers
| Apple iPad | Apple iTouch iPod Touch | Amazon Kindle 2 | Amazon Kindle DX | Kindle WiFi | Barnes & Noble Nook | Sony Daily Edition | Sony Touch | |||||
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Link | iPad iTouch | Kindle 2 (older 2nd gen) | Kindle DX | latest version ofKindle of Kindle | Reader Touch PRS-600SC | ||||||||
Available | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | |||||
Price | WiFi: $499-699 3G/WiFi: $629-829 | $199/$299/$399 | $189 | $379 | $139 wifi/$189 wifi + 3G | $149 WiFi | $299 | $169 | |||||
Size | .5 inches thick | 4.3x2.4x.33 in. | 8 x 5.3 x 0.36 inches | 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38 inches | 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.335" | 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches | 8.13 x 4 x 19/32 inches | 6.9 x 4.8 x .4 inches | |||||
Weight | 1.5 lbs. | 4 oz. | 10.2 oz. | 18.9 oz. | 8.5 oz. | 12.1 oz. | 12.75 oz. | 10.1 oz | |||||
Screen Size | 9.7 inches | 3.5 in. | 6 inches | 9.7 inches | 6 in. | 6 inches | 7.1 inches | 6 in. | |||||
Display | Backlit IPS Color |
| Grayscale | Grayscale | Grayscale | Grayscale reading, and color nav versions | Grayscale | Grayscale | |||||
Touchscreen/Rotate | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | No/Manual | No/Yes | No/Yes | Yes/No | Yes/Yes | Yes/? | |||||
Battery Life | 11 hours | 30 hrs audio; 6 hrs video | 7 days with wireless Whispersync on | 7 days with wireless Whispersync on | 3 weeks with wireless on; one month w/wireless off | 10 days/8 hours for Nook Color | 7 days with wireless on | 2 weeks/6,800 (ePub) Continuous page turns; 7,500 (BBeB Book) Continuous page turns | |||||
Storage/Expandable | 16GB; 32GB; 64GB/No | 8 GB; 32 GB; 64 GB/No | 2GB/No | 4GB/No |
| "doubled storage"/No | 8GB 2GB/Yes (microSD) | 1.6GB/Yes (Memory Stick Duo/SD) | 512 MB/Yes (~ 380MB Dual Memory Card Expansion Slots for Memory Stick PRO Duo™ and SD Card™ up to 16GB) | ||||
Input | Touchscreen/Soft keyboard (wireless keyboard available) | Touchscreen/virtual keyboard | Keyboard | Keyboard(kind of hard to use and "joystick" feature not as easy as touchscreen) | Keyboard(kind of hard to use and "joystick" feature not as easy as touchscreen) | Touchscreen/Virtual keyboard | Touchscreen/stylus/virtual keyboard | Touchscreen/stylus/virtual Keyboard | |||||
Wireless/Bluetooth | 3G through AT&T/WiFi3G plans: up to 250MB, $15; unlimited $30. No contract. Verizon plans | WiFi/Bluetooth | Units sold through Oct. 22, Sprint 3G; Now 3G/roaming through AT&T/NO No | 3G (Whispernet/AT&T) | 3G (Whispernet/AT&T) | 3G (AT&T)/WiFi | 3G (AT&T)/WiFi | No | |||||
International (as of around 4/10) | No deals yet; 3G unlocked |
| 3G Roaming (AT&T) | 3G Roaming (AT&T) |
| No | No | No | |||||
Native Formats | EPUB; Audible; Kindle (through app); iTunes;additional formats NA additional formats through apps (including Kindle, Nook, Google eBookstore, Stanza, etc) | EPUB; Audible; Kindle (through app); B&N Nook (through appadditional formats through apps (including Kindle, Nook, Google eBookstore, etc); other ebook readers like Stanza ; etc | Kindle (AZW), Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC ; Native PDF | Kindle (AZW), Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC | Kindle (AZW), Enhanced Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC | EPUB, eReader, Google eBookstore; PDFs, MP3s, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP. | EPUB, Google eBookstore, PDF, JPEG, BBeB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP , MP3, AAC | EPUB, PDF, Google eBookstore, BBeB, TXT, RTF, Word, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, MP3, AAC | |||||
Platform | Open to approved third-party developers | Open to approved third-party developers | Closed now but SDK has been released for upcoming beta and store with approved third-party developers | Closed now but SDK has been released for upcoming beta and store with approved third-party developers |
| Closed | Closed to developers; open in terms of multi-format, non-DRM use. | Closed to developers; open in terms of multi-format, non-DRM use. | |||||
Browser | Safari | Safari | Yes (experimental) in U.S., Japan. NA in most countries. | Yes (experimental) | Yes (experimental) | No | No | No | |||||
Available Content | Number of iBookstore titles N/A; Kindle Store; iPhone apps |
| "Over 150,000" iBookstore titles; and other ebookstore content through apps; access to public libraries through OverDrive; public domain | "Over 150,000" iBookstore titles; and other ebookstore content through apps; access to public libraries through OverDrive; public domain | More than 750,000 ebooks, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and popular games & active content (Numbers vary internationally); public domain | More than 750,000 ebooks, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and popular games & active content 400,000-plus books, more than 130 newspapers & magazines, 8,000 blogs (Numbers vary internationally) 400; public domain | More than 750,000 -plus books, more than 130 newspapers & ebooks, newspapers, magazines, 8,000 blogs blogs, and popular games & active content (Numbers vary internationally) | 350,000 books for sale, public domain; about 30 newspapers, magazines. Google Books brings titles to 1 million | Includes public domain, access to public libraries through OverDrive | Includes public domain, access to public libraries through OverDrive | |||
Bookstore | iBookstore; Google eBookstore; any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | iBookstore; Google eBookstore; any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks iBookstore | The Kindle Store | The Kindle Store | The Kindle Store | Barnes and Noble eBookstore, Google Books eBookstore | Sony eBook Reader Store (converting to EPUB this year), Google BookseBookstore, Borders eBooks, any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | Sony eBook Reader Store (converting to EPUB this year), Google Books, Borders eBooks, any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | |||||
Book Sharing | N/A | Across devices, apps on same account | Across devices, apps on same account | Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | 14 days on many titles | No | No | ||||
Microphone/Speakers | Yes/Yes | Yes/No | No/Yes | No/Yes |
| No/Yes | No/Yes | No/No | |||||
Archive | Apple iTunes (local) | Apple iTunes (local) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Barnes & Noble | Sony | Sony | |||||
Annotation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y | Y | |||||
Highlighting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y | Y | |||||
Formatting and page locations/ease of citation |
| Resizeable font and page locations on iBookstore titles; resizeable font and page numbers as well with Google ebooks | Resizeable font and page locations on iBookstore titles; resizeable font and page numbers as well with Google ebooks | Resizeable font but only percentage of books not page locations | Resizeable font but only percentage of books not page locations | Resizeable and expanded selection of fonts but only percentage of books not page locations |
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Individual registration/sign in | Yes | Yes | Can Yes and can create group account | Yes and can create group account | Yes and can create group account |
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Resizeable fonts | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||||
Screen Resolution | ? | 480 x 320 pixels (163 ppi); | 600 × 800 pixels (167 ppi) | 825 × 1200 pixels (150 ppi) |
| 600 × 800 pixels (167 ppi) | 600 x 1024 pixels | 600 × 800 pixels | |||||
Shades | ? | ? | 16 | 16 |
| 16 | 16 | 8 | |||||
Integrated Dictionary | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | |||||
User-replaceable battery | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y? | Y? | |||||
Text-to-Speech/Accessibility | Y | Y | Y (experimental) | Y | Y (experimental and now voice menus for accessibility) | N | N | N | |||||
Operating System | Mac iPhone/Touch | iOS 4 (like iPhone) | iOS 4 (like iPhone) Mac iPhone/Touch | Linux | Linux | Linux | Android/Linux | Montavista Linux | Montavista Linux | ||||
Platforms | Apple iPad | Apple iTouch | Amazon Kindle 2 | Amazon Kindle DX |
| Barnes & Noble Nook | Sony Daily Edition | Sony Touch | |||||
Springer ebooks and articles | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | Enhanced Native PDF support (dictionary, notes, etc) |
| Y | Y | |||||
Elsevier ebooks and articles | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | Enhanced Native PDF support (dictionary, notes, etc) |
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Google Books eBookstore and Scholar | Y | Y Scholar: yes, depending; Books: no | Scholar: yes, depending; BookseBookstore: no | Scholar: yes, depending; BookseBookstore: no | Scholar: yes, depending; BookseBookstore: no |
| Y | Y | Y | ||||
Internet Archive | Y | Y | Y except EPUB versions | Y except EPUB versions | Y except EPUB versions | Y | Y | Y | |||||
CUL collections |
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| depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | Y | Y |
Ebrary |
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My iLibrary | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | |||||
NetLibrary | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N |
| N | N | (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) N | |
Books 24/7/Safari |
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Overall Rating |
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Based on Comparing E-Readers | January 2010, first published Jan. 29 and was last updated at 10:30 p.m. ET Jan. 31. // Edited by Staci D. Kramer. Based on manufacturer information, additional reporting.http://paidcontent.org/table/e-reader-comparison-chartand Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats
Other readers/mobile devices to possibly consider in the future:
- Samsung Galaxy Tab: http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/
- BlackBerry Playbook: http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/
- Aluratek Libre
- Entourage eDGe
- HP Slate: 8.9" screen; runs full Windows 7(no Apple Store approval process); NY Times reports 6" Slate running Android coming as well; can run Kindle app
- Dell Mini5/Streak: launching in summer; Android-based with 5" screen (larger than iTouch and iPhone); no Kindle or Nook app for Android but other ebook apps for non-DRM books (Overdrive possibly available)
- Google Chrome OS (maybe by winter)
Children Display