I chose a nook over kindle a few years back. Tried both and just didn't like the kindles though they might be much better now. I have a color nook tablet and it's nice. Excellent for books but not for web browsing and such. I'm leary of continuing to buy content from Barnes and Noble though as I think their future is questionable. I now have an iPad mini so planning to get kindle content going forward. I do still get notified by both of their daily deals and I'd buy an inexpensive book from B&N but nothing full price. I did use the nook for library books and I think it is more conducive to that. Library books just didn't work for me though as I don't finish them fast enough and didn't care for being 150th on a waiting list.

I've bought virtually every model of Kindle dating back to the original, plus two or three different Nooks including the Nook Color. My favorite of all of them is the Kindle Paperwhite.

I love the ability to adjust the screen brightness. The touch screen works flawlessly and turning pages is effortless (much better than the Kindle touch). It feels nice in my hands. I like the ability to organize my files into collections and to see covers. I absolutely detested reading on the Kindle Fire and the Nook Color. Too heavy, impossible to read in bright sun, and did not feel like a "book" at all.

I don't do library books so I have no clue how those would work. I have used one or two books from the Kindle lending library.

I use Calibre to organize my books and I find that to be a great program.

I have a Kindle Fire, and felt as Gibby mentions that the Nook's parent company is probably not going to be around as long as Amazon will be.

However, I am curious about your comment on the Paperwhite, beagles:

"The touch screen works flawlessly and turning pages is effortless (much better than the Kindle touch). "

How is it different? The Fire requires that you touch the screen which is not arduous but I'm curious what different method an E-reader can have to do this function.

Ann

I found the Kindle Touch to be buggy. There was more of a lag than I liked when turning the pages (probably only a second or two, but enough to take you out of the reading experience). It didn't always pick up when I was trying to turn the page and I'd have to go back and press harder. I'd also sometimes accidentally touch the screen and it would read it as a page turn and the Kindle Paperwhite seems to be better at not doing that. The Kindle Touch bothered me enough that I actually went back to a different cheaper model rather than using the touch.

I think they just perfected the technology and improved the speed in between these models and it made a huge difference in terms of being a seamless reading experience.

I read a lot (probably 3-4 hours/day, sometimes more) and so little details of functionality start to bother me over time more so than they probably would if I did not read as often.

As a side note, I originally wanted the plain old Kindle - $79 or something like that. It was before the paperwhite and I couldn't stand reading on that thing. I had the worst eye strain just after reading the instructions. It needed to be brighter and there was no brightness setting so I sent it back. If they'd had the paperwhite back then I bet I would have bought that and been happy. Since they didn't I tried every nook and every kindle and bought a nook. As I said very nice for books but I've now switched to ipad mini with retina display. Great for books and internet use. I just threw my 9 year old laptop in the trash and not sure I'll ever get another one. I do also have a desktop that I use for Quicken, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. - things I really want a keyboard and number keypad for.

Nook was my choice initially but I now have an iPad mini and still buy from B&N since my account is there and just use the app. I also have one of the cheaper Nooks that is better for reading in bright sun but I forget the model name. I love traveling with the iPad though since it minimizes what I have to carry.

Thanks everyone for replies.
I do have the ipad air but since that will not let me download library books, I am now thinking nook. Does anyone here think kindle will eventually do the library downloads because that is important yo me.

Lyban - are you sure you can't get library books on your iPad? Based on what my library uses I would think you could. Overdrive is one of the libraries of ebooks my library uses and they have an ereader console for iPad. I've never tried it since I gave up on the library at least until I retire.

You should be able to download books onto your ipad and/or kindle. Amazon doesn't make it easy of course because they want you to buy their books. However, if you visit your local library with your device, they are able to help you log in and bypass your system to gain access to their downloads. The technology people at my local library are really good.

I have both a Nook and an iPad. I can't really offer advice on which is better (nook vs kindle). I can't remember why I went with Nook over Kindle as I originally bought it for my daughter and just wanted a basic e-reader, not something that could play games, etc. I use the Nook occasionally, mainly when traveling, as I prefer reading a "real" book.

All that said, my main reason for responding was to say that I can and have downloaded books onto my iPad using overdrive as mentioned above. I haven't done it often since they don't typically have the books I want available in e-reader format thru my library, but I have done it a couple of times. My library has a handout that gives instructions how to do it.

good luck making your decision!

Our library system also uses Overdrive and I can confirm that yes, you can certainly download Kindle books on that system; I do it fairly regularly.

Beagles, thanks for your response re. the Paperwhite/Kindle page turning features. I've got a relatively new Kindle Fire and there isn't a lag anymore, or at least not that I've noticed.

Also the Fire allows one to customize the background and based on something I read, I set mine to sepia. Find it much easier on the eyes.

For Christmas I bought my 84 year old mother a Kindle paperwhite. Chose it because the reviews said it was the most user friendly for reading. The issue we are having is my mother is an avid reader and does use the library.

Having trouble with the down loading of library books. The librarians at our local library have tried to help. They have told me that it is true that the Kindle is the most user friendly for reading, the nook is the easiest for downloading library books.

It has been very frustrating as I'm the one who has to download the books for my mom. I did download the Overdrive system on my laptop but I don't really understand how that works.

runninginplace, do you download the books to your laptop and then how do you get them on your kindle? USB or wi-fi? I find it very confusing that I have to go through amazon when I'm not buying books. Do you have to go through amazon?