Welcome QVC shoppers
It’s kind of cool that I can see some of where people start out to get to this blog. One of the highest referrers ever has been… QVC, the TV shopping channel! Somebody asked about the Sony e-book reader on the QVC community, and i_speak_for_me linked them here (thanks, i!).
Well, I haven’t really summed up the differences between the three in one quick spot…I’ve written a lot on the Kindles 😉 , and a post each on the nook (sic) and the Sony Reader Daily Edition.
In case you are coming here looking for that sort of top level comparison, I thought I’d do that in this post. I’ll also link to the other two posts, which will give you a lot more detail and links to more.
I define a modern e-book reader (EBR) as having a wireless way to get books and an E Ink screen. This is my ranking of the four that really fit that, top to bottom:
#4 The Kindle DX
($489)
This is my bottom of the four…not that there’s anything wrong with it, and if you get one, you’ll probably love it. It’s really a matter of cost and timing. It’s currently $489. The next one down is $399, and then $259 for the other two. You are paying for a bigger screen. The timing issue is that there is a new version of this model coming out next year (2010). When it comes out, it will have international capability. That may not matter to you, but in all likelihood, the Kindle DX will be reduced in price around that time. I just don’t want you to have buyer’s remorse when a “better” version is released and this one gets cheaper. I don’t normally say to wait for something that kinda sorta might develop in the future, but this is different. We know this is coming…Drew Herdener, Amazon’s Director of Communication says so.
Sony Reader Daily Edition
($399)
(detailed post)
If the Kindle DX wasn’t going to be replaced, this would be my least favorite. It’s relatively expensive ($399 for a 7.1 inch screen), and it looks pretty much like the Kindle, but without the selection of the Kindle store. I want to be clear, I think it would still be a good gift. But if you are looking for the best reader from a practical viewpoint, I don’t personally think this is it. It has a touchscreen where you read, which is a good concept, but people report that it reduces the sharpness of the letters…and you do have to keep it clean. They have an arrangement with public libraries, but you still have to have a card and your local library may not have that much available. For me, too expensive and not enough to separate it from the Kindle to make up for the lack of available books in their store.
The Barnes and Noble nook (sic)
($259)
(detailed post)
This one doesn’t look like a Kindle. It’s got a little flashy color touchscreen, and looks a lot more high tech…more like an iPhone or something. It has some features the Kindle doesn’t: a limited lending capability, the ability to browse books when you are in the Barnes and Noble store, customizable sleep mode pictures. There are a couple of places where the Kindle beats it, though. What do you really care about after you get an e-reader? What books can you read and what do they cost? The Amazon store beats the Barnes and Noble store on both of these, hands down. You can get books from other sources, but I found a bunch of well-known titles that would be on the Kindle and not on the nook…and usually cheaper. If you’ve got somebody on your list who thinks that two year old tech is old-fashioned, the nook is certainly more modern. If it comes down to using it, the Kindle wins.
#1 The Kindle 2 International
($259)
Ta-dah-dah-DAH! Right now, today, this is the winner, as far as I’m concerned. Yes, the nook is flashier. Yes, the Sony Reader Daily Edition is a little bigger. This, though, is a good device with the best price and selection for books…and that’s the main thing that matters. Text-to-speech can be a huge advantage…I use it for hours a week, even though a lot of people never use it. Surfing the web means you can get books on your Kindle wirelessly from some other sites. I’m not saying there won’t be something better in the future, but right now, I think this is the best buy. Another important point: you can get it by the holidays! The nook has been delayed until January.
Cyber Monday
I did an earlier post on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which is the start of the holiday shopping season in the stores. A much more recent tradition is Cyber Monday, the Monday that follows Black Friday. The idea was that people went to work on the Monday after the big weekend, and shopped at work where they had a faster connection. That’s not true for a lot of people any more: your home connection may be as good or better than the one you have at work. Still, people who didn’t check off the list in the brick and mortar stores will probably be looking online. Even if Monday is a made-up day, it’s like Mothers’ Day…you’re still going to buy flowers. 😉
The websites will offer good deals…one of the main things you’ll see is free shipping with no minimum. You may also see limited time deals…Amazon ran a countdown clock on its Black Friday deals…kind of like QVC. 🙂
So, how are you going find the deals?
Here are some websites that might help you:
I use this one all-year round. It’s a search engine that lets you compare prices.
Another great aggregator…this one will have the coupon codes to put into the other websites to get the special deals
Coupons, special deals, forums…this is another good site any time. They have a Cyber Monday site here.
I think this one is nicely designed
Can’t resist a site that uses the word “neologism”. 😉
Dealighted.com’s Cyber Monday section
The best deals…in 140 characters or fewer. 🙂 This is kind of cool…people will actually tweet in the stores.
I love that you can switch between Available, Upcoming, Sold Out, and Expired. Yes, I do like to know what I can’t get any more…I like to see what people are buying. When you switch to Upcoming, you’ll see a countdown clock…you won’t see the prices, but you’ll know when to check back.
There you go…a few Cyber Monday resources to help you find what you need to surprise your friends and family…while sitting on the couch in the same room with them. 🙂
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.