Which E-Reader or Tablet is right for you?

More Choices, Lower Prices This Holiday Season

By Roger Fidler, RJI Program Director for Digital Publishing

Updated: November 23, 2010

What a difference a year has made for e-reading and digital publishing.

Last year at this time, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iRex were promising to give Amazon’s wireless Kindle e-readers some competition.

Their promises turned out to be premature. Only Amazon was able to guarantee delivery in time for holiday gift giving.

This holiday season, Amazon is certain to have some competition from B&N and Sony as well as from Kobo and a more formidable vendor — Apple. (iRex dropped out of the e-reader market in March.)

To deal with the competition, Amazon is now selling Kindles through bricks-and-mortar retail stores, such as Best Buy, Staples and Target, in addition to selling them online. The B&N Nook and Sony Daily Edition also can be purchased at Best Buy and several other retail stores, as well as online.

However, even with more competition Amazon is expected to benefit greatly this holiday season from a surge in demand for e-readers, due in large part to the phenomenal success of the Apple iPad launched in April.

The Apple iPad actually is the progenitor of an entirely new category of mobile devices now being referred to as “media tablets,” so it isn’t a direct competitor to the Kindle and other dedicated readers with electronic paper displays.

It’s also significantly more expensive. The cheapest model is $499 and users need to pay a monthly fee for 3G access.

But its 9.7-inch full-color multi-touch screen and instant-on, iPhone-like features have made it a much more appealing reader for newspapers and magazines.

In mid-year B&N cut the price of its 3G+WiFi Nook e-reader to $199 and introduced a WiFi-only version for $149.

Amazon quickly followed suit by introducing a third generation 3G+WiFi Kindle priced at $189 and its own WiFi-only version for $139. Amazon also reduced the price of its larger Kindle DX from $489 to $379.

Now B&N has introduced a new Nook with a 7-inch full-color touchscreen just in time for holiday shopping that can display videos and access websites. The Nook Color actually is a small media tablet — similar to the Apple iPad. It’s priced at $249.

There are no indications that Amazon plans to introduce a color reader with a touchscreen anytime soon.

In mid-year Sony also reduced the price of its 3G+WiFi Daily Edition with a 7-inch gray-scale touchscreen, but remained the most expensive wireless pocketbook-size e-reader at $299.99.

This month Sony introduced a new version of the Daily Edition — the PRS-950 —that is thinner and lighter and has a higher contrast electronic paper display with a better touchscreen, but for now Sony is keeping the price at a penny under $300.

In July Borders jumped into the wireless e-reader competition with a WiFi-only Kobo e-reader produced by a Canadian company. Like the Kindle 3 and Nook, the Kobo has a 6-inch gray-scale display without a touchscreen. It’s currently priced at $139.99.

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NOTE: This guide only reviews e-readers and media tablets with mobile broadband and/or WiFi access to digital editions of newspapers and magazines.

Additional Buyer’s Guides

Wired.com
www.ereaderbuyersguide.com
Kindle buyer’s guide by Amazon
Portable Ebook Reader Buying Guide by about.com
http://www.ebookdigitalreader.com/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/2287121/Buyers-guide-to-e-readers
The e-book reader matrix in Wikipedia

Related posts:

1. Compare eReaders: Kindle 3 vs Nook vs Nook Color vs Sony Reader vs Kobo eReader vs Kobo WiFi
2. Short review: Kobo eReader
3. Kobo announces $149 e-reader to be sold by Borders
4. Kindle vs. Nook vs. iPad: Which e-book reader should you buy?
5. B&N Adds Tablet Features to New Nook Color E-reader

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