» Convert Mobi to Epub? Kindle 2: KINDLE GADGET

Published in February 28th, 2010

I am looking to purchase a ebook reader. Although I really like the look and features of Barnes and Noble’s Nook (over Amazon’s Kindle), the book pricing is significantly higher through Barnes and Noble than through Amazon. Is there a utility which will convert a book purchased through Amazon (mobi format) to a readable format for the Nook (epub)? I find a lot of epub to mobi converters, but none for the opposite. Thanks in advance.

1 user responded in " Convert Mobi to Epub? "

Natural said, in February 28th, 2010 at 10:36 am

Unfortunately, ebooks from Amazon has DRM protection and they cannot be converted. Same for ebooks from Barnes and Nobles, they cannot be converted too. They do this to protect their own interest.

Actually I’ve looked into comparison between the Nook and the Kindle, so let me tell you my findings here. From the official page of B&N, here is how the Nook compares with the Kindle:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/compare/

Since Barnes and Noble page is only mentioning the advantage of the Nook over the Kindle, let me try to tell more about the benefit of the Kindle 2 over the Nook:

- There is no internet browser for the Nook. So even with Wi-Fi, you can only use it to purchase book. You cannot do searching in Google, Wikipedia, check email, etc., like what you can do with the Kindle.

- The Amazon Kindle has international free 3G wireless which covers over 100 countries. So even if you’re in places like the UK or Australia, you can access the internet with the Kindle free of charge. The Nook has wireless only within the U.S., and is limited for use of buying books only

- The Kindle is available outside the U.S. (it ships to 176 countries), while the Nook only ship within the U.S. at this moment.

- The Kindle has text-to-speech function, so it can treat an ebook like audio book. This function is not present on the Nook.

- Amazon is already doing some change after the Nook is announced (still more than one month for it to be available). They dropped the price of their International Kindle even further. And they are going to release a PC software which can read their Kindle books.

Finally, one thing to be aware is that, at first glance you may think the Nook can read ebooks with color touch screen. But indeed the color touch screen is only a small screen beneath the greyscale eink screen, and seems it is only used to browse the cover of ebooks.

In my opinion, it is a tie between the Kindle and the Barnes and Noble. But since you travel every summer, you should go for the Kindle for sure for the free internet access outside the United States. Moreover, I trust the Kindle will come up with some strategies very soon, like improving their lending book function. The Kindle is the biggest player in the ereader market right now, and I believe it will put enormous effort to hold its position.

I recommend this article as well, it is the best review on ebook readers I’ve ever read, from a person who has tried a number of ebook readers:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR3QM7LGL62MZ4X%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Frdp%255Fperm&tag=ereader-2-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957

Hope this information helps.