Apple Books vs. Kindle: What’s the best way to read e-books and listen to audiobooks?
Bradley Chambers has been using a Kindle for many years; most recently, a Kindle Oasis was his primary book reader. Now, however, Chambers says he’s realized that he “was not too fond of the purchasing process” on iOS for Kindle which got him thinking about if the Kindle was still the best place for him to purchase books.
While I love the idea of the Kindle hardware, the software hasn’t advanced very much. The overall experience is quite clunky. It feels like the current Kindle hardware is still running the original software. I argued last summer that Apple should build a competitor to the Kindle as well. There is something to the e-ink display, but it needs a fresh approach.
Getting back to my original point, I closed out the mobile version of the Kindle website, and I reinstalled Apple Books. As I opened it, it felt like a breath of fresh air. The overall design is just stunning. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with the new interface that Apple released with iOS 12, but I was quickly blown away.
Overall, the interface for everything in Apple Books is first class. Reading books is delightful, and the audiobook player is also well done. You can sync audiobooks with Apple Watch as well.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Books vs. Kindle: We still prefer the Kindle for the e-ink display – it’s much easier on the eyes than an iPad mini – but, Chambers points about the Apple Books vs. Kindle app quality are very true. It’s no contest for Apple in that regard. We’d love to see what Apple could do with an dedicated reading device with an e-ink display for Apple Books!