Problems with Kindle

I recently switched from Kindle to nook. Here's a list of reasons why I would make a major investment in a competing product.

1. The nook's screen is far superior to the Kindle's in my opinion at least.
2. Hoping that Barnes and Noble offers better service to smaller eBook publishers.
3. The silent but immediate removal of affiliate payments on eBooks.
4. Amazon telling me that I "don't mind its DRM". (Hint: I particularly mind their form of DRM.)
5. Amazon signing authors to exclusive deals which presumably will get their eBooks off of any competing platform's reader.
6. The complete shift of the industry to embrace Adobe's Digital Editions... except for Amazon. While the nook seems to use a form not yet compatible with other readers, it seems that's a temporary setback. In the meantime, any ePub book encrypted with Adobe's DRM will read back on the nook. This means in addition to Barnes and Noble, I can buy from Sony, plus dozens of indie publishers. Additionally, Borders is opening an eBook store using the format, as is Google. That's a lot of openness (well, for a DRM laden world at least), and in stark contrast to Amazon's policy of "own a Kindle, buy books from us. End of line."

Why not another reader? Well, I want wireless access - I do most of my book buying in bookstores, but I prefer to buy eBooks. That pretty much narrows the choice down to the big three (Amazon, Sony, Barnes and Noble). Of them, you can tell why I am a former Kindle user. Sony's only wireless reader has a touch screen (hello reduced legibility of eInk screen, fingerprint smudging) and a price tag that's $140 higher. Besides, free cookies are delicious, and offset the purchase price by $1.99 everytime I grab one!

Special thanks to TeleRead. I read a lot of blogs, but when it comes to eBook issues, most of the stories tend to come from them. Check them out!