Barnes & Noble Haul

I love my family and friends. Whenever it's my birthday or Christmas or graduation, they all immediately know to give me Barnes & Noble giftcards. I have a lot thanks to graduating from UCLA, so I went to B&N and bought books (of course).
I got:
-Miracles by C.S. Lewis
-Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon [unfinished] by Jane Austen [in one volume]
-The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
-Abarat by Clive Barker

I'm pleased with these finds but I'm going to have to check a few finished versions of Sanditon out from the library. I think I mentioned that The Mystery of Edwin Drood is my favorite Dickens probably but I'm sad it's unfinished. We'll see how I like Sanditon and The Watsons. I've read Lady Susan before; it is a riot. She's a total Wilhelmina Slater rich femme fatale with the guys twisted around her finger. Love her.  I think I'm going to return Abarat, though, because there are no illustrations. Clive Barker is apparently also a painter, and the copy of Abarat I checked out from the library was hardcover and had his weird, creepy, wondrous paintings to supplement the story. Since I know about them I must have them in the copy of the book I own.
As always, all my books are in my LibraryThing (widget in sidebar).

Nook Simple Touch or Kindle Wi-Fi?

Things that are the same:

• 6-inch diagonal screen
• eInk Pearl display with no backlight for less eye strain and readability in sunlight
• up to 2 months battery life if one turns off the Wi-Fi
• free Wi-Fi access at hotspots, etc.
• can change fonts, text size, highlight, save and share passages (via Facebook or Twitter) and see what others have highlighted, make notes about text, etc.
• books delivered wirelessly
• if one has the corresponding ereading app on one's smartphone and computer as well as the ereader, it will hold one's place and notes and stuff on each device
• can lend ebooks to friends with the same ereader
• PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP files are supported
• I think you can play music on both devices while you read, but it's late so I don't remember exactly

Reasons to get the Nook Simple Touch ($139):

• touchscreen (zForce Infrared Touch), which I am used to thanks to my smartphone
• smaller and lighter than the Kindle
• over 2 million ebooks in the Barnes & Noble ebookstore (Amazon has over 900,000. That's less than half)
• I'm already a B&N member; possible discount on the Nook and ebooks?
• in-store Nook customer service with human beings you can physically see and talk to
• library lending now (Kindle will be able to do library lending later this year)
• ePub format supported = access to more ebooks from different places (Kindle's proprietary format means I can only get books from them)
• the Nook seems to have more text styles than the Kindle
• in-store bonus: can read books for free inside B&N stores and get special offers thanks to free in-store Wi-Fi
• Android operating system (I have an Android smartphone) (not sure if this is a benefit)
• can use my own photos for screensavers
• I like the rubberized contouring on the back
• good layout, navigation and home screen display
• faster page turns, less page refreshes
• can add up to 32GB more memory/storage with a microSD memory card
• reflows PDFs, so it's better reading them on the Nook than on the Kindle (you'd have to convert your PDFs into the Kindle AZW format in order to reflow them on the Kindle)
• more powerful processor (800 MHz vs. Kindle's 532 MHz)

Reasons to get a Kindle ($114 or $139):

• $114 if I get the Kindle Wi-Fi with Special Offers. That's like $25 less than the Nook. However, I don't know exactly how annoying/intrusive the ads will be, or if the screensavers will be of ads instead of authors. I wouldn't like that.
• physical keyboard like a cell phone's. This might be faster/easier to type notes in etexts for class. Of course, I don't know how much typing I'll be doing. The toggle looks quite useful.
• more text sizes than Nook (8 vs. 7)
• everyone I know who has an ereader has a Kindle. 'Member of the club', can borrow ebooks from my friends, etc.
• already have Kindle apps on my computer and Droid (of course, I can easily download the Nook apps onto both)
• 4GB storage (3500 ebooks), twice as much as Nook (~1500 ebooks, although they let you add storage with a microSD card)
• Text to speech-computer generated voice (may not use this ever) as well as audible audiobooks (ditto?)
• Can read in portrait and landscape modes, which may be useful for PDF files especially
• better page-turn buttons
• am already somewhat familiar with the Kindle (borrowed a professor's for a weekend)
• has a web browser, which would come in handy if I don't have my computer or Droid with me. It would be easier to use either one, though, and I probably would. However: this argument in its favor. YES.
• PCWorld says its eInk display is crisper and clearer (the contrast is better)
• Amazon AdMash app lets you choose which screensavers you want
• real page numbers--not sure if Nook also has this
• worry-free archive--one's ebook library is backed up in the Amazon cloud (not sure if B&N does this with Nook ebooks)

 Sources:

• Nook vs. Kindle (B&N)
• Nook review (PCWorld)
• Kindle review (PCWorld)
• ereader comparison chart (PCWorld)
• Nook specs (B&N)
• Kindle webpage (Amazon)