Reasons to Purchase a Kindle as Your Personal E-Reader

I'm sold. I have  been using my Kindle for about a week now, and I can say it was one of my own best technological investments of the year. I have boldly finished my first book on the device, James Rollins' book Excavation. I realize Rollins' book wasn't exactly educational, but I actually read the book from cover to cover, or should I say from digital file to digital file. I have been experimenting with the Kindle app on my iPad and on my laptops for weeks, but I honestly enjoy reading more from the Kindle. I might also add that I have bought several more e-books since my last posting about the Kindle too. Why should one invest in a Kindle? If you're totally satisfied with the Kindle app on you iPad or on your PC, maybe you shouldn't, but here's some reasons I'm glad I bought one.

Kindle 3

• Amazon offers a much larger selection of e-books than other e-book sellers. There have been several titles of e-books I've wanted and I just can't find them at Barnes and Noble. The selection of education and leadership books for the Kindle is enormous. It's rather simple: what good is an e-reader if you can't get the books you want for it. The Kindle offers readers a much wider selection of reading material, and this suits this book-reading administrator fine.
• The Kindle's size is much smaller than the iPad, and trying to curl up beside my laptop to read has proven too problematic. While the iPad is also very portable, and it does lend itself to being a very useful device for reading, the size of the Kindle is perfect. I can easily hold it in one hand. Changing pages is strangely easier too with the the forward and back buttons located in just the right place. The weight of the Kindle along with its thickness makes it easy to handle. I find it even easier to walk and read at the same time than I did with a book. The Kindle's size and design is perfect for this reader.
• The screen on the Kindle is much better than the iPad too, except in the dark of course. I had read before from several articles how the glare of the iPad screen makes it difficult to read in full light, and that has proven to be true. The Kindle's no-glare screen and lack of back-lighting actually make it much easier to read in the direct sunlight. Just like the iPad or PC app, you can adjust the size of the text and the font to make it even easier to read. The Kindle actually makes reading easier on the eyes too.
• Right now, getting a Kindle has become rather inexpensive too. Amazon has a Kindle with wifi access for $114 and you can get that same deal at Best Buy as well.  I purchased mine at Best Buy for $50, but I tool advantage of some reward points to get that price. I have found my Kindle well-worth the price.

The Kindle is compact, easy-to-use device. There are still times when the iPad app suits my reading habits the best, but I find the Kindle is an excellent e-reader choice for those who want something just a bit smaller and less expensive.

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E-Reader Wars: The Best E-Book Software for the Educator

E-books are here, at least for me. For the past three months, I haven't purchased a single book in all my excursions to the local Barns and Noble bookstore in my hometown. I have, though, purchased several ebooks instead. In fact, there is great satisfaction for me that I can purchase a book and immediately download it to my iPad or PC. What I have discovered though is that not all ebook readers and ebook providers are created equal, even though most of the readers provide the same basic features. Which e-reader should you buy? Here's my thoughts on the matter.

Kindle and Amazon


I confess that I started using Barnes and Noble's Nook reader more than Amazon's Kindle. However, I've quickly learned that Amazon offers a far larger selection of ebooks than Barnes and Noble. For example, I recently was interested in purchasing Leading 21st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement by Lynne Schrum and Barabara Levin. I found the book on Barnes and Noble, but no ebook version was available. The ebook was available at Amazon. Amazon offers users a much larger selection of ebooks than any of the other providers. Perhaps Amazon has discovered the secret of the ebook market: it's not the shiny features of the ebook reader that matters, it's the selection of ebooks you offer.

Kindle App for PC Interface

Nook / Barnes and Noble


Barnes and Noble provides an interesting ereading application for the PC in its NookStudy reader. (You can download it for your PC here.) I've really found its features quite useful. For example, you can import PDFs and read them, and you can take notes as you read and then export them as a word processing file. In spite of its bells and whistles though, Barnes and Noble doesn't have the number of ebooks available that Amazon does. That's especially true for professional education books. The Nook reader software for the desktop and the iPad is extremely user friendly, but ultimately it doesn't matter to me how useful it is if they do not offer an adequate selection of books.

NookStudy Screenshot

Apple's iBooks


Apple seems to have spent a great deal of effort developing a slick, appealing application for its iDevices, but like Barnes and Noble, they suffer from selection dearth. The iBook application does allow for importing PDFs, and they also offer quite a selection of free ebooks. However, browsing for those in the iBook app for my iPad is awkward and non-intuitive. I would also add that a major shortfall of the iBook app is that there's currently no PC app to access the books you purchase like there is with the Kindle app and Nook app.

Sony E-Reader


I really have little to say about Sony's e-reader because I've yet to get it to work on my laptop. There is no e-reader for my iPad either, so I have no reason at this point to recommend their product.

At this point, I would recommend highly Amazon's Kindle reader as the best app for ebooks. Ultimately, an e-reader application is only as good as the book selection available, and Amazon seems to be the winner in this category at this time.

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