Trying to choose between the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader is no easy task! This is made even more difficult by the fact that there are fans on both sides of the argument. The best thing for you to do is to look at the facts for yourself to make your decision.



The first thing you might be interested in looking at is the price. The price is around the same for both ebook readers. However, Sony's newest model, the PRS700, is priced at just under $400-$40 more than the Kindle which is currently at $359. While neither version is cheap, the Kindle wins out on the price front.

Another crucial factor is the amount of content available for both readers. In this aspect, the Amazon Kindle, which has more than 190,000 books available online at the point of writing as well as an impressive collection of newspapers, blogs and magazines, is clearly the superior choice. In comparison, the Sony device has only 60,000 titles although the number is expected to increase to 100,000 by early 2009. Another weak point of the Sony device is that it does not offer the ability to download newspapers, magazines or blogs from the online store.

Your next concern is probably which reader has more visual appeal, in both senses of how it is easy it is for reading from, as well as how nice it looks for showing off to friends. Both readers exploit E-ink technology which visually resembles 'normal' paper, so that eye strain while reading is reduced and it feels as if you are reading a "normal" book.

In terms of what these devices look like, the Sony Reader easily trumps the Kindle. The biggest gripe about the Kindle is that the device is plain ugly! It looks like a device designed in the late 90's. The Sony Reader 700, on the other hand, has a slick black "iPodish" look to it. It is what you would expect for a design of a device in 2008.

While we are on the topic of design, the Sony Reader features a touch screen display which the Kindle lacks. Unfortunately, the touch screen feature seems to detract from the quality of the Sony Reader's display. Because the touch screen layer was superimposed on top of the e-ink screen layer, the contrast and "real book" feel are lacking on the Sony as opposed to the Kindle. In a side-by-side comparison of the two, you would probably notice better contrast and sharpness on the Kindle.

Both of these ebook readers allow you to make the font size of the book you are reading bigger. This is a really great thing if you have a hard time reading print that is too small. One slight advantage that the Sony Reader 700 has over the Amazon Kindle in terms of readability is the LED backlight for reading in low-light environments. On the surface this sounds great-no more need for a clip-on light but not so fast. Reviews of the Sony Reader have reported that the light does a poor job of lighting the screen and in some cases makes it harder to read because it affects the contrast and visibility of the text.

Fortunately, both readers are only about ten ounces. This is good news to those who don't want to carry something large and awkward around. Instead, it would be like carrying around a small paperback novel. For this reason, many will find the readers great for travel. If size was the main factor for you, the Sony reader is slightly smaller than the Kindle. Smaller is good for those who want the convenience of carrying a small device, though sometimes bigger is better.

One of the more important features for some users is the ease of getting the downloaded content onto your ebook reader. The Kindle blows the Sony Reader out of the water in this respect. The Sony requires you to download the file to the computer then use a USB cable to transfer files to you reader before you can acess them. The Kindle handles the task by itself thanks to the free wireless capabilities. Its as easy as connecting to the store, finding the content you would like, click a few buttons, and then enjoy your reading. The Kindle definitely outshines the Sony Reader in this category.

A very important feature to consider is available storage space. For the average user, both products have more than enough storage space, allowing you to store more than 200 books. But the Sony Reader can store more books than the Kindle; in addition, larger external memory cards can be used with it resulting in significantly more storage capacity than that available in the Kindle. So if you buy many books or need to refer to many, the Sony Reader may offer an advantage in this area.

Last but not least, you need to concern yourself with the ebook formats you can use on each device. While they have both come out with their own format, only Amazon's reader accepts the very popular MOBI file format. If you have files in that format, your choice is probably very clear.

Now, the two best ebook readers on the market have been compared. Everybody has different tastes and needs, so when you shop around, be sure to consider all the features. The Amazon Kindle has the capability to become wireless, and is one of the best readers due to the wide variety of content available for it.