I can't decide!

[Gone78]

When it comes down to choosing between the Kindle and Nook ereaders, I definitely want the Nook. Hands down. The thing I'm having a hard time with is the difference between B&N and Amazon's ebook libraries. No, this isn't a rant about the prices. While it's true that Amazon has better prices, I would be willing to pay a few extra dollars for B&N's ebooks.

My problem is...if B&N has three times the ebooks that Amazon has, why does their library seem so much smaller? I've started a wishlist of books I want to purchase in anticipation of the Nook. Only a couple could be found on B&N, and all could be found on Amazon. Amazon also has an amazing wealth of great free books, B&N's free category is honestly rather crappy. They seem to have mostly free excerpts and Harlequin-stlye romance novels (which I have zero interest in).

Believe me, this is not a rant against the Nook, because I really want it over the Kindle. If the Kindle books could be read on the Nook, I'd be in heaven. I wonder if there will likely be any format conversion tools that will be able to convert the Amazon format?

[eaie]

Well, BN's statement about "1 million books in their store" is misleading. Included in this number are the "500K+ free books from Google books" that they also advertise. But Google has almost 1 million free books too, so that 500K+ could mean, what, 700K? 800K? and the difference of that and 1 million is the actual number of books that BN sells. 

On the other hand, you could also buy from the Sony store, or fictionwise, etc. But even then I feel Amazon has the best selection (after all google books can be read in the Kindle too).

[rhayes]

In my opinion, and it's just that, it's premature to reject the nook based on B&N's volume of available ebooks.

Of course it can be assumed that with B&N just now jumping into the digital-reader age, their library of e-books, free or otherwise, will increase hopefully dramatically and quickly. And their prices should become more competitive, too.

I realize that that's not very helpful to those on the fence with the Kindle on one side and the nook on the other, but I think and hope that the picture will change in the near future.

[nickels]

Again I will speculate, but knowing how the internet works, there will be kindle format converters for the Nook in no time. The only issue will be that you lose all of those functions that are only available on official nook e-books.

Also,I think we need to see what happens to the price and selection once the Nook is released. It seems B&N is doing a lot to address both the pricing and availableility issue.

If Under the Dome isn't available for $9.99 on Xmas I will be here posting with furious anger.

[njnookman]

If Under the Dome isn't available for $9.99 on Xmas I will be here posting with furious anger.

---

It's available now!  I just searched under the "eBooks" tab, and there's a free book by this title written 1906 by the Bishop of London!

  --- oh, I'm sorry, you probably meant THAT Under the Dome by a contemporary sci-fi/fantasy author who has done much to stimulate the cause of e-reading in the past! 

Seriously, publishers figure out what books to print, in what editions, what prices, and how they'll be marketed.  Retailers figure out the channels of distribution, and what selections they'll be able to carry, and when.  Extending that network of relationships to an ebook supply chain takes time, and the "new kid on the block" won't have as many titles available for their format as the established competition -- they've had how many years to play with this stuff already?

I, for one, am placing my trust in the network of publishing contacts that Barnes & Noble has built up through the years, to arrange that, going forward, we will be able to drop most new bestsellers on or very close to the same day they are available in the stores.