By Susan Davis

I’ve been trying to decide which I like better, the Nook or the Kindle (the only 2 e-readers we’ve tried), and at this point it’s a tie. Neither has a backlight, which I find very annoying when I’m trying to read in bed and my husband’s trying to sleep. I know by not having one, it saves battery life, but I don’t care, I think all e-readers should have them. They both have the same obvious benefits… you can try out books before you buy, you can take dozens of books along wherever you go, etc. The Nook takes a long time to boot up when you turn it off completely, but it does have a sleep mode where it can go to sleep or wakeup very quickly. It took me a while to learn the touch screen (even had to call customer service for advice) but once learned it was fine. Some bells and whistles are different than the Kindle, to each his own. But the Nook has an edge… unlike its competitors, the Nook supports most formats so you can download thousands of free e-books in open format (including new bestsellers).