The following is my opinion, no
company or product mentioned in this post gave me any kind of compensation and
everything I talk about was either purchased by me for me or freely available
to anyone and everyone.
Now that I'm reading on my iPad
instead of on a dedicated eReader, I'm enjoying ebooks more. I know, the eInk
is supposed to be just like reading a book, but I actually prefer a backlit
screen. Maybe I've spent a few too many years working and reading on a
computer. The retina display on the iPad
makes it easy for me to read for long stretches because of how clear the text
is.
I'd been a Kindle user before
this, starting with the K2 and moving to the Fire, and I continued using the
Kindle app for a while before it dawned on me that I wasn't tied to one ebook
seller any longer. With that big duh finally registering, I downloaded the Nook
and Kobo apps as well.
I absolutely fell in love with
Kobo's iPad app (free in the iTunes store). It was simple and intuitive for me
to use and didn't leave me with the minor frustration that I felt with other
apps. The most awesome part, though, is it moves books you've finished reading
to another tab, letting you only look at books you've yet to finish. ::LOVE::
It also has a section for books I've started to read, but have yet to finish,
and (of course) the screen where it shows all your books—read and unread,
finished and unfinished.
The icing on the cake is the fun
aspects of the app. If the reader allows it, the app will show you who else is
reading the same book you are. There's also an option to share on Facebook and
(I believe) to discuss the book with other readers. I opted for privacy, so I'm
not hooked up to my FB account nor am I sharing what I'm reading.
The other fun thing is the
badges. The Kobo reader gives you awards when you hit certain milestones like
finishing a book or reading for so many hours.
Kobo has an annoying problem,
though. Well, two actually. The first one is that the ebooks have to be
purchased one at a time. There is no way to buy multiple books at the same
time.
The second annoyance is a big
one. Kobo will NOT allow you to return any book, even if you bought it minutes
earlier. Amazon lets you return Kindle books, and when I accidentally bought a
book there, I was able to return it without any problems. Kobo could learn from
this.
Despite this, I'm buying more
and more books from Kobo because their app is so simple and elegant. Besides,
sometimes I get sale coupons.
