for the last several years i've been using my gen 1 ipad as an ereader. it's gotten pretty painfully slow for web browsing but it's still serviceable. except i just discovered it's too old to connect with the itunes store (apparently having too old of an OS does this. wweh.) i've been considering an upgrade for a while, but i'm not sure what to get. i've narrowed down my preferences to between a kindle fire and an ipad mini 4. kindle: pros: waaaaay cheaper cons: .mobi crap, drm crap, etc; i'm very used to the apple UI and switching may be annoying (though i did play w one at staples a couple weeks ago and experienced a tolerable learning curve so, eh) ipad mini: pros: already used to the UI; my apps will be compatible; most of my ebooks were got through the ibookstore so that will also be an easy switchover (the rest were got through stuff like humblebundles, or just the internet in the case of research paper pdfs, and those'll work anywhere) cons: do i rly wanna drop like $400 bucks on this. i can afford it. but. the kindle is so much cheaper. and i realize i could get an older model for cheaper but i figure i may as well get the newest ipad if i'm gonna do that so it lasts me as long as possible (see again - been using a first gen ipad all this time lol) i don't buy a ton of books through my ipad, so i could just make do, plus maybe i could sideload the epub files after buying on my laptop or phone? but i am looking at going to grad school in a year and being able to get books easily onto my ereader will be kind of important (and the slow browsing will be a pain in the ass since i'll be wanting to get more research papers and lecture notes and such on there via browsing). does anyone have advice for choosing? not even necessarily between these two devices, i'm open to arguments for other ereaders/tablets. or just advice for other angles to consider when choosing that i've missed. to be clear on my device requirements - i'm looking for a tablet primarily for ereading and internet browsing, video and games and music playing are nice but if those experiences are less good i don't care so much. color screen is a must because comics. i do not give a single shit about cameras. actually an addendum to the music point - if there is no standard headphone jack i will be severely grumpy bc i will want to listen to stuff ever at all, even if it's a low priority, and i'm not getting new weird earphones just to match, i would do without listening on the device, which would annoy me.
So, big thing on the Kindle Fire: if you don't want to have ads popping up all over your lock screen (and for a while, in your books) you have to pay a monthly subscription fee. If that's not a huge concern, that's fair, but that + the .mobi format + the drm shit just... makes kindles so unappealing to me. Especially since you've already got most of your books through itunes to begin with. I'd say it's really worth it to shell out the extra for the ipad mini; I've been trucking along with my Nook, but if you're not maintaining a library through B&N it's not really any better than any other tablet on the market. The latest release was a Samsung Galaxy that's pretty cheap and has full comic integration, but it sounds like the iPad Mini is really more up your alley?
I mean, with an iPad Mini you can just get the Kindle or B&N app anyway and have all that functionality. The Kindle Fire is not very good
I'd suggest either a Galaxy Tab A or the iPad Mini, new on the Galaxy and used for the iPad if price is a huge concern for you. Both will be about in the same price range like that (~$300). If you want to keep the books you have through itunes, absolutely do not get a kindle. Plenty of converters exist for converting itunes to whatever formats android uses (I forgot, .pdf is pretty standard, though), but I'm not entirely sure how viable that option is re: kindles.
popping in to say that kindle fires also are really really prone to issues with their charging ports getting jacked up, and it's a major pain, do not recommend
For what you describe, I'd probably do either one of the ipads or one of the android tablets. I do not much like the Kindle, or Amazon in general, really. For actual e-reader, I'm currently moderately fond of the Kobo. I liked the Nook originally, but they've been moving aggressively away from making products I want.
I like the Nook. I have one that's held up remarkably well through lots of travel, me dropping it, being thrown in my bag, etc., etc. It takes pretty much any ebook format. Sometimes .pdfs look a little wonky, though, but that might happen on any device? Sidenote: Calibre is a great program for ebook management! It can convert files and put them on your device and do some other cool stuff.
thanks all!!! this helps a lot. i'm... still not completely sure what i wanna do, but i'm leaning most towards the ipad mini. (lol so sidebar: i sold nooks* for three summers in undergrad and i almost feel like a traitor but i rly don't like their tablets soooo oh well. like, i tried the demo ones when i popped in to get a gre prep book and was not impressed.) (* i am a homestuck so that statement sounds way dirtier than it should XD)
