kindle v kobo

JuneBow

Well, after always saying I would never buy a kindle I think I may succomb.
I say MAY as I have not made up my mind and would like other people's views.
My OH and myself will be travelling in the middle east and india for a month soon. Normally my suitcase is full of reading material and because I want to travel light I thought I would buy an ebook reader.
I cannot see any differnce between a Kindle and a Kobo apart from (from what I was told in WH Smith) the Kobo you can buy your books anywhere and with the Kindle you can only buy them from amazon.
I was thinking about taking a laptop as I need access to my emails and the web.(I am self employed ) I am also a very keen photographer and want to store my photos to a PC rather than taking expensive memory cards.
So have been thinking a tablet would suit this purpose. We were therefore thinking about taking one basic e reader and another tablet.
Would like others' view on this.

mumonashoestring

I said I'd never want an e-reader - then DH got me one for Xmas and I have to admit it is brilliant in terms of making large books or large amounts of books more portable.

He bought me the Kobo and I have no complaints about it at all. It's handy not to be limited to Amazon for my choice of ebooks.

philhoggins

I have many books on my Kindle that are not from Amazon, many of them free books. Download Calibre software (free), plug in your Kindle and load books on to it from lots of different formats. Amazon is probably the largest book retailer in the UK and often the cheapest so I don't see what the issue is being tied into Amazon, it actually has lots of benefits when it comes to buying books, as long as there is wifi you can buy books!

DigForVictory

My father has a Kobo & my son has a Kindle & since we get lent book disks, all I have to do is convert the format of the ebooks for the reader - epub for Kobo & mobi for Kindle.
The online conversion tool is really easy to use:
www.convertfiles.com/convert/ebook/EPUB-to-MOBI.html
(Don't be spooked by the ending - just tell the machine where the original is & it'll tell you what it can convert it to - you then download the new version & save it. Honestly, very straightforward!) Try holding each of them & see which you feel comfortable with.
Have a great holiday, whichever you take!

Sphynx

The only problem I have with my kindle is I can't borrow books from the library collection onto it. I would probably use it more if I could and so for me I probably should have gone for a Kobo.

drew__2

May be this helps- http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/team-blog/2012/03/06/kindle-vs-kobo-battle-of-the-e-readers/

Helped me when i was about to buy a Kindle and was confused too. Have a great trip. Enjoy!

philhoggins

On another point, my Kindle died last night (only 9 months old) I contacted Amazon and they are shipping out a new one free of charge + express delivery. Always good to know what the after sales is like :-)

JuneBow

Much obliged for your responses folk.
I thought no one had replied as I checked fairly quickly after I posted. I then looked again and found your posts.
Thank you to all who have replied. Something to think about.
My house is bursting at its seams with books. Hopefully this may solve it. (partially)