Do you have an e-reader?

If I can toss in a question: are e-readers and e-books interchangeable, or can you only use products from the same company?
Example: can you use an Amazon Kindle for a Barnes&Noble e-book, etc.

Personally I prefer regular books, but not knowing if all e-books are compatible with all e-readers is another reason I haven't tried this modern approach.

No, they are not interchangeable. Amazon e-books will only read the amazon format. Which means that you either have to get books from Amazon or do a conversion with a program like Calibre. Many books have DRM (digital rights management) which makes conversion difficult. There are a lot of free older titles available on Project Gutenberg that are in the Amazon format.

The other format is called epub. That's the one that is used by the Barnes & Noble readers and most tablets. Your library may loan books in one or both formats.

Don
 

No, they are not interchangeable. Amazon e-books will only read the amazon format. Which means that you either have to get books from Amazon or do a conversion with a program like Calibre. Many books have DRM (digital rights management) which makes conversion difficult. There are a lot of free older titles available on Project Gutenberg that are in the Amazon format.

The other format is called epub. That's the one that is used by the Barnes & Noble readers and most tablets. Your library may loan books in one or both formats.

Don

Thank you for the info!! :)
 
I'm still using a first generation Kindle that I bought used several years ago from a friend who was upgrading!
 

If I can toss in a question: are e-readers and e-books interchangeable, or can you only use products from the same company?
Example: can you use an Amazon Kindle for a Barnes&Noble e-book, etc.
Personally I prefer regular books, but not knowing if all e-books are compatible with all e-readers is another reason I haven't tried this modern approach.
I have found that most of the ebooks give you a choice of format when you order one. I have the Kindle app on my iPad, and even though I normally have the ebook downloaded to my Kindle Fire tablet, I can choose to have it go to the iPad, which uses the ePub format.
I get lists from Bookbub and also from BookGorilla and they give you the option for either format, also. I think that once you have the tablet, then all you have to do is choose the correct format for your e-reader/tablet, and it will download the right one.
I think that Nook is not giving support for their reader anymore because a friend just changed over to a Kindle from her Nook, because of support problems.
If all you are going to do is read books, I definitely recommend getting one of the Kindles, and there are a variety of styles and choices that you can make when choosing one.
If you have a tablet, or even a laptop/computer that can use apps, you can just download the Kinlde app and read with that and nothave to buy anything else.
 
Amazon has free software that allows their format to be read on PC's, MAC's, tablets, and even phones. I've never seen anything that allows epubs to be read on Amazon devices without conversion.

I've read that Amazon doesn't make much money on the Kindles. They make it on the books to fill them. I do love my Paperwhite though.

Don
 

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