Kicked My Kindle To The Curb

Hey, what’s your fave device to read eBooks on? Mine has been Amazon’s kindle, especially the Paperwhite. I’ve talked about its advantages over other options before. But I changed my mind (surprise), deciding to embrace only Apple Books. Yet this move isn’t totally practical, like shopping only at Target instead of Walmart.

As mentioned, I’ve waved the kindle/eReader flag here:

eReaders Are Not Dead
The Kindle Rekindled
Digital Bookstore Conundrum
Torn Between Two eReaders

But here’s the deal. Last November, after living on an Android phone for several months, I switched back to iPhone and went all-in with Apple. Again. (I do that!)

One area I decided to fully embrace Apple was in the eBook department. And I didn’t really even think about it. Like, I had zero qualms with ditching the kindle cold turkey even though it’s great and I love it.

I just thought, ya know,

• The Apple Books app is really nice
• It’s built-into my iPhone
• The book covers are all in color
• My phone is always with me for reading anytime, anywhere
• Buying eBooks on my iPhone is easier via Apple Books than kindle

No, I don’t think strictly in bullet-point list format. It just helps to type that way.

Anyways, it all boils down to simplicity, elegance, and convenience. That’s why it struck me so easily and quickly to ditch my kindle and switch to Apple Books.

It just makes plain sense.

Sure, reading on a phone, even a phablet, isn’t the best. But it’s not bad at all. Besides that, I plan to get an iPad this year. The larger screen will let Apple Books shine brighter.

Even though it’s simple, this is a profound change, especially if I stick with it. I tried using only Apple Books on my iPad Air 2 not long ago but wound up back on kindle.

So how practical is it to only read eBooks outside the kindle-verse?

Well, even though I had chosen Apple Books exclusively for both buying and reading eBooks, I then bought a new eBook…on kindle! Okay, I got it on Amazon’s kindle store (because it wasn’t available on Apple Books) and I read it in the kindle app on my iPhone; I didn’t touch the Paperwhite for this. I guess it was sort of a compromise.

Can you imagine what it’d be like if you bought a physical hardback at Target but then you were not allowed to enter Walmart with it? Too bad you can’t simply read a kindle eBook in Apple Books. Maybe they should be called kBooks… Anyways, I digress.

Let me leave you with this. I found an article where someone else recently chose to settle on Apple Books over kindle. At least I’m not the only one!

Bradley Chambers writes,

“I was not too fond of the purchasing process on iOS for Kindle.”

Uh, yeah. That’s for sure. If you want to buy a kindle book in the kindle app on an iPhone, sorry, not gonna happen! While technically possible, it’s not an available option. I call that user-unfriendly. Apple and Amazon should sort this out, for the user.

Basically, everything in Bradley’s article is something I can echo here; you should read it.

The biggest reason for a kindle eReader is the eInk display. The biggest reason for the kindle eBook store is the vast selection. Can I live (mostly) without those?

So far, I am.