Amazon spanks the competition with a Kindle

Most people know that I love technology so it should come as no surprise that I have begun to see the light when it comes to eReaders. Mostly it's the notion that I can take almost every book I'm reading with me where ever I go whether it's school, the DMV (Lord knows you should always take a book to the DMV), or down to the farm. It all boils down to convenience; no longer do you need to pack a bag full of books for a long trip because you have them all on one handy little device.

Lately I've been scrutinizing and researching trying to determine which eReader is best and I have finally come to a decision. Amazon's Kindle is far better then the eReaders offered by Barnes & Noble or Borders. The reasons why are:

1) As much as I love Borders and their coupons. Their eBook store has very little selection and offers very few items for free or at discounted rates. Sorry Borders you’re just not in the competition yet.

2) The Barnes & Noble Nook has a touch screen panel which sounds cool, but it’s just a small panel and frankly I’d rather have the more functional keyboard of the kindle then the novelty of the touch screen.

3) Amazon has put together a HUGE amount of eBooks that are out of copyright that you can download for free. However, the free for a limited time selection at Barnes & Nobles seemed more interesting then the current limited time freebies at Amazon.

4) One of the major reasons that I have been weary of paying money for a book in electronic format is because my sister and I trade books and I like to share with others. With the Nook you can already lend a book to a person for 14 days and Amazon will soon be adding that as a feature on the Kindle as well.

5) The Kindle is much thinner and lighter then the Nook. It also looks much more attractive.

6) The Kindle has a new feature that allows you to plug in headphones and listen to some books instead of reading them. That’s perfect after a long day of work when you’re tired and just want to travel to a different place.

7) Both come preloaded with a dictionary but the Kindle allows you to access Wikipedia from the device when you are connected to Wi-Fi (unless you purchase the unit that comes free 3G service).

Also I think that is pretty cool that you can have an app on all of your devices (PC, phone, etc) that stay in sync so that you can switch devices and keep up with your notes and bookmarks.

All considered, Borders was never in the fight at all and Barnes & Noble’s put up a good fight but ultimately Amazon’s Kindle is the eReader that has given me a case of the “I wants.”