E-Readers – Which Ones are Worth It?

Though the popularity of tablets is starting to encroach on the world of portable e-readers, people still love them. They are cheaper than tablets and the displays are designed specifically with easy reading in mind. Designed to find and download new books with ease, provided you have access to Wi-Fi, an e-reader is still a must-have for many tech-savvy book lovers.

Things to Consider

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Before you can start thinking about the value of each e-reader, you need to figure out which features are necessary or important for you. If you plan on carrying your e-reader with you frequently, size and weight should be noted. Do you need to carry a large number of books and magazines with you at one time? Then take note of memory capacity or see if the reader will accept additional memory cards. Will your e-reader keep you tied to one book-seller because it only takes one kind of file format? Of course, the final price tag might be the main thing you are looking at.

The Kindle

Amazon’s Kindle is the best known e-reader on the market, and definitely the most popular.

The file format that works with Kindles is the MOBI, which typically means you can only read books available through Amazon. It’s not a huge limitation considering the size of Amazon’s inventory, but you won’t be able to access independent publications or small-press books that Amazon doesn’t carry.

The Kindle now comes in a variety of styles and models at several online stores, including weheartwifi.com, so you can stick with the name you know and still choose from a range of prices and features. The mid-range unit, the Voyage, weighs in at around 180g and had 4GB of storage space (no slot for additional cards).

The Nook

Pensive businesswoman reading from digital tablet

The Nook is another popular make of e-reader, put out by rival bookseller Barnes & Noble. As it’s still a familiar name in the e-book world, it’s being mentioned even though B&N stopped producing them in the spring of 2016. Instead, they are now promoting a Nook app that can help you read e-books on a tablet instead over a steady Wi-Fi connection.

Even so, if you are looking for a second-hand reader, then you still want to know about the Nook. You’ll be able to read EPUB, PDF or TXT files but not MOBI books from Amazon, which is becoming less and less of an issue as other e-book publishers are cropping up that use EPUB. The Nook is heavier at 400g, and the standard model has 2GB of storage but comes with a slot for SD memory cards.

Just remember that they are no longer being produced, so getting any customer service if you have problems might be tricky.

The Kobo

The Kobo is a bit of an up-and-comer but it’s gaining ground against the Kindle. Like the others, you’ll have a few models and price ranges to choose from. In any case, you’ll be able to read EPUB books, along with generic formats of PDF or TXT. For comparison, the Kobo Glo is in the same range as the other models mentioned so far. It has 4GB of memory with no card slot (other Kobo models do allow for expandable memory), and it weighs similar to the Kindle at 180g.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

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