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iBooks vs Kindle app?

R

ruslev

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 17, 2008
14
0
I just bought the iPad for my wife and I wanted to know what people thought about the book stores? Kindle is on some many platforms and I think is quite versatile...there is no ibook app for the iphone is there?


If I was going to buy books, which for the long-term would be the better way to go?
 
If you want to read books on various platforms then the clear choice is Kindle. I want to believe that one day the iBook app and store will also come to the iPhone and iPod Touch, possibly the desktop though that is implying that el-steveo wants us tied to our computers. That may be a longshot there.

If you're thinking long term and cross platform I'd stick with Kindle. Also research whether books bought in the iBook store can be imported to the Kindle app, this is something I don't know and didn't think about until you asked your question.

Know that while the Kindle app is nice, it is just an upscaled version of their iPhone app and it is rumored that there will be a Kindle app exclusively for the iPad. In addition to that, Barnes and Nobel is supposed to be doing the same.
 
As far as I am aware the iBooks app will be coming to the iPhone as well as iPad. You are also able to view your books using iTunes on your machine as well. The only difference is the price you pay for the books.
 
TerryJoyce said:
You are also able to view your books using iTunes on your machine as well. The only difference is the price you pay for the books.
Click to expand...

I don't think the above is correct. You can see the icon for the book in iTunes but you cannot (as of right now) read iBooks on a Mac or PC unless something changed recently.

It was announced that iBooks is coming to the iPhone with the 4.0 FW.

Me, I still use the Kindle app because if the selection and the fact that I can read on a PC, a Mac, my iPhone, or my iPad and have everything sync to the last page read via WisperSync.
 
iBooks allows for reading non-DRM epub files. I's just a tad more open than Kindle's .azw. Kindle's store has a much larger selection fo books overall. I use both (I also own 2 Kindles); no reason not to.
 
Well, since both readers are free I downloaded both along with the Fictionwise reader I have been using for years. I say try them out and see what works for her. I think the Kindle will be my favorite, at least for a while because it will sync where I stopped reading between my iPad and my Blackberry phone and that is COOL!!!
 
I have both. If I can get a book I want on iBooks I go with iBooks because I like the interface better. However, the iBooks store is quite limited so almost all of my book purchases thus-far have been on the Kindle app/store.
 
Whispersync is a terrific feature, it gives Kindle the win for the moment.

I also like Kindle's black background/white text feature. Does iBook support that?
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
I also like Kindle's black background/white text feature. Does iBook support that?
Click to expand...

Yes. In fact the whole iPad supports that. (the setting is under Settings / Accessibility).

But it's still "backlight black" which is different reading experience from the Kindle.

I do like the Kindle and all my book purchases are through Amazon due to multi-platform reading, whispersync, and generally cheaper books.
 
I like iBooks' aesthetic better, but the Kindle app runs much more smoothly right now.

You can also de-DRM your kindle purchases, convert to epub and toss into iBooks if you don't want to have to make the app choice for every book.
 
Kindle - for recovery of content.

I just reloaded my iPad to see if that would help the niggling WiFi connectivity issues I'm having. Could not do a restore since I thought that was part of the problem. All the Kindle books are still there. All the iBooks are gone. Fortunately they were all free but it did get me wondering how to recover my books. Will go back and look at iTunes later to see if they were downloaded to the iMac and all I have to do is reset sync to the iPad but Kindle was way easier.
 
The white text on black feature is better implemented in kindle for ipad than in ibooks. In ibooks, you have to switch your entire device to reverse video. You have a white title bar glaring at you from the top of the screen. In kindle, you simply choose white text and go.

You can map a triple-click of the home button to reverse video but I still like the kindle implementation of reverse video better than ibooks. The only thing going for ibooks right now is Apple makes it easier to get free gutenberg titles onto your device than amazon does.

You cannot simply download something from manybooks.net and have it open with kindle software. This is an iPad OS limitation and is a mistake on Apple's part. Hopefully they will correct this with OS 4.

I suggest you download and use both since they are both free. I only read free titles in ibooks and both paid and free titles on kindle because I can also read them on my iPod touch when I don't happen to have my iPad with me.
 
I like iBooks better because it gives you the pages remaining in the current chapter, as well as the pages remaining in the book. The Kindle app gives you some weird numbering that I can't figure out, as well as the percentage remaining in the book. If the price is the same, I go with iBooks for this reason.
 
rdstoll said:
I have both. If I can get a book I want on iBooks I go with iBooks because I like the interface better.
Click to expand...

Same here. My eyes seem to like it and it has all of the features that I require. I was going to buy a Kindle over the winter but waited when I heard about the iPad coming out because I knew that I would want one of those, too. :)

As for the Touch and iPhone, I have to believe that an app is coming for them, too.
 
funkeruski said:
I like iBooks better because it gives you the pages remaining in the current chapter, as well as the pages remaining in the book. The Kindle app gives you some weird numbering that I can't figure out, as well as the percentage remaining in the book. If the price is the same, I go with iBooks for this reason.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. That was also one of the reasons I got rid of my Kindles. I could never synchronize the reading with my classmates who were using regular textbooks and were making references to page numbers, whereas I had no access to this information while on my Kindle.
 
I love the kindle app! I can read the books I purchase on just about any device and it remembers my place in books. I love that I can start reading a book on my iPad then switch to my iPhone and when I open the book it goes right to the page I left off on. It's wonderful.
 
As others have said, I prefer the Kindle app. I can read my books on my iPhone, iMac, MBP, Kindle 2, & Windows. Also seems to have more books and cheaper prices.
 
I like purchasing from Amazon because of their digital locker where I can redownload anything I have purchased from them. It is just too difficult to recover lost iTunes purchases. Amazon also has a much better selection.

If it were not for those two things, I would prefer iBooks.
 
JBazz said:
I like purchasing from Amazon because of their digital locker where I can redownload anything I have purchased from them. It is just too difficult to recover lost iTunes purchases. Amazon also has a much better selection.

If it were not for those two things, I would prefer iBooks.
Click to expand...

isn't ibooks essentially the same? you just download it again for free?
 
I assume Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo (by Indigo Canada) all have a much bigger selection than the iBookstore, so if you're deciding on long-term you might want to lock yourself up (get DRM-ed) with one of the big guys!

The iBooks app itself, however, is better than all others at the moment.
 
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