iUniversity: Kindle or iBooks?

When the iPad was first announced, one of Apple’s major selling points was iBooks. This e-reader application was supposed to provide easy access to thousands of books and text books – a valuable asset for iOS-loving students everywhere! However, in creating such an application, Apple placed themselves in direct competition with the top dog in the e-book game – Amazon.

As a student, reader and tech aficionado, I have experience with both platforms. And while it’s undeniable that both offer a superb reading experience, I feel that Amazon’s Kindle platform is the better choice for students.

There are a number of factors that ultimately led me to prefer Kindle, but lets start with the dedicated hardware. iBooks runs on all iOS devices but it is really meant for the iPad, so lets go with that. It’s important to note that iBooks is just one of iPad’s thousands of features. What this wide feature set means is that the hardware must be able to adequately accommodate pretty much anything the developers can dream up. In other words, the iPad is designed to do many things well as opposed to one thing perfectly.

Kindle on the left, iBooks on iPad 2 on the right

As it turns out, the exact opposite is true of the Kindle. Every aspect of the device was manufactured with one goal in mind – to give the user the best reading experience. The most notable of these innovations is the e-ink screen. This would, of course, be impossible on the iPad. But, for a dedicated e-reader, the e-ink screen can’t be beat. It looks remarkably like paper, consumes very little power and isn’t plagued by the same glare issues that are present in glass screens. Combine that with the size and weight of the Kindle, and you really can’t find a better e-reader.

An e-ink screen compared to a display similar to the one found on iPad

Next, I’d like to address the software side of things – the apps. iBooks is an iOS app (obviously). This means that it can run on the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch – and only those devices. Kindle also has an iOS app, but it is only one of the many Kindle apps out there. In fact, it’s possible to read a Kindle book on an Android device, Blackberry, WP7 device, PC and Mac in addition to iOS-running gadgets. Basically, if someone has access to an internet-enabled device, they have access to their Kindle archive. This versatility is indispensable to students. Contrary to iBooks, where you need to have an iOS device to use it, with Kindle, you can access whatever book you need in virtually every situation.

And finally, I want to talk about each platforms respective “educational usability”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am very easily distracted. As you can imagine, this can be rather problematic in a school situation. And as much as I love all the games and apps available on iOS, they have this uncanny ability of turning a 30 minute reading exercise into a two hour ordeal. I much prefer the simplicity of the Kindle. As trivial as that sounds, it allows me to stay on target and get my work done. Furthermore, Kindle recently issued an update that gives books actual page numbers that match up with the print versions. This is crucial for students because when citing a book, it is often essential to include page numbers. iBooks has a form of page numbers too, but they aren’t acceptable for citations because depending on the font size you choose, a book can go from 800 “pages” to 1400.

So, for students at least, I think Kindle is the clear winner. It’s more convenient, has a wider array of books and allows for more versatility. But enough of my opinions, I want to hear what you guys think. Do you prefer Kindle or iBooks? Let me know in the comments section down below or on twitter!