Kindle, iBooks, Nook, and Google Books: How to choose the best ebook store

Just a few years ago, digital books and e-readers were virtually unheard of, but now there are multiple stores and devices competing for your dollars. Most e-reader comparisons focus on the devices themselves, but the case can be made that what really matters is the store — its selection, pricing, convenience, and other features.

Here's a quick comparison between Amazon's Kindle, Apple's iBooks, Barnes & Noble's Nook stores, and Google Books for e-readers and other digital devices. They're all solid services with their own strengths and weaknesses, and one might be better for your circumstances than the others. 

If you have any thoughts on the subject that we missed, let us know in the comments!

Millions of available titles
Amazon and Barnes & Noble appear to trounce Apple in this category. Amazon's Kindle catalog currently boasts over 1 million titles and offers access to over 2 million more out-of-copyright books that can be downloaded for free.

Barnes & Noble claims that Nook has 2.5 million titles available, including free, public domain titles. In addition to the standard fare, the bookseller has a dedicated online store for kids' books in full color for devices that support it. Google Books offers 3 million ebooks in the public domain, but it only claims to have "hundreds of thousands" of books for sale.

Generally, books released in recent decades are under copyright, while classics such as The Odyssey and the works of Charles Dickens are in the public domain, but there are a handful of recent books that were made public by their authors. Those are usually not the same books you'd find in your local chain bookstore, though.

As of November 2011, Apple's iBooks claims to have "200,000 books and counting," considerably less than the competition.
 
Winner: Three-way tie between Kindle, Nook, and Google


Pricing slips higher
Everyone in the e-bookstore world had agreed that $9.99 was an appropriate price for a digital-only copy of a new commercial book release — until Apple and Google entered the market, that is.

Books sold on the iBooks and Google Books stores often appear as high as $12.99 and $14.99, respectively — sometimes more, in rare cases. Popular titles on Nook and Kindle have also started to get a bit more pricey, with books such as Steve Jobs' biography fetching $14.99.

On the flip side, both Kindle and Nook work with local libraries to allow you to check out ebooks rather than purchase them. Amazon Prime members can check out one title a month from Amazon for free through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. The Lending Library does not contain all of the books traditionally for sale on the site, but it does feature several thousand options, including 100 current or former New York Times bestsellers.

Winner: Tie, Kindle and Nook

What can you use to read with?
What if you don't want to read on an e-reader? What if you'd prefer your laptop, your tablet, or your smartphone? Amazon and Barnes & Noble are doing their best to make that possible regardless of your setup, but iBooks can only be read on the iPhone and iPod touch or the iPad. You can't even read them on your Mac!

Nook books can be read on Nook e-readers as well as apps for iPhone and iPod touch, iPad, Android, Windows, and Mac. Amazon's books can be read on Kindle e-readers or with apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, Mac, and Windows Phone 7.

Google Books can be read on the iriver Story HD (Google's official e-reader) or with apps on the iPhone and iPod touch, iPad, and Android devices. Books purchased from Google can also be loaded onto any e-reader that supports Adobe's e-reader format, including the Nook and Kobo e-reader.

When it comes to device support, Kindle maintains its edge over the competition by sheer coverage. No other library is available to every major smartphone.

Winner: Kindle

Convenient extras
Each store provides some special features that its host company likes to highlight. None of them are necessary for a basic reading experience, but they're worth mentioning.

Kindle uses a proprietary technology dubbed Whispersync that automatically pushes new purchases to all your devices as well as periodically tells online servers where you are in a book so you can pick up in exactly the same place when you read on another device.

Google Books has a unique program that enables independent bookstores to sell scans of its books to Google users.

iBooks apps let you search the contents of a book, check dictionary definitions, record notes, and sync them to the other devices that you read on. You can also save what page you're on, switch to a new device, and continue reading from that point (similar to the Kindle).

Winner: Kindle

Best of the best
Barnes & Noble has progressed in leaps and bounds over 2011, expanding both its device and content offerings. However, Amazon has matched a massive ebook library with a diverse selection of e-readers and apps. As such, the Kindle maintains its status as the best ebook store.

Emily Price contributed to this article.

[Image credit: Glenn Fleishman, Robert Gaal]

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