Google Books vs. Amazon Kindle for PC

I've had a war going on inside my head and although it's winding down, a trick play on either side could start it all back up again. I recently discovered Amazon Kindle for PC. You can actually buy any Kindle book you want without having a $250 Kindle!! Which is absolutely fantastic! Since discovering this I've been trying to decide which is better... Google Books or Kindle for PC. Here are the pros and cons of each. Note: I was NOT paid by either company to write this review and I am only looking at PC based reading options (aka... the actual Kindle may have some distinct advantages that I'm not mentioning). This is more a review for those who are interested in e-books but don't want to invest a lot of money in an e-book reader quite yet.

Google Books- Pros

• It's a web based thing, so you can access the book you want from any computer (you can save books to your "library" so that you don't have to search for it every time you want to read it).
• You won't be tempted by all the books you could purchase if you only want to look at free books.
• It's a digitized page of a book, so you see pictures, diagrams, etc. and page numbers.
• Since it's a digitized page of a book, you can have a better sense of how far along you are.
• You can skip to the chapter you want to start at.
• They have most of the classics whose copyright has expired.
• You can find lots of random fun things to look at just by browsing their page.
• You can download some books as a PDF or EPUB (both of which are compatible with the Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader, but not the Kindle)
  
• If you can't (or don't want to) read the full book on Google Books you can search for it at your local library or book store through links on the page.
• Google Books has an application for iPhone/iTouch an Android powered phones.
• They have 1.5 million public domain books and have just reached an agreement to sell full access to books still under copyright (authors and their publishing companies will receive 63% of the profits) which should (according to the blog world) bring the total up to 3 million books available for full reading.
  

Google Books- Cons

• It's a web based application, so you have to have Internet access to read a book on there (unless you have the foresight to download it to a PDF earlier).
  
• You can't adjust font sizes.
• Even if the book is saved in your library, it won't save your place in the book, so you have to remember it yourself.
• Google Books doesn't have it's own e-book reader, so unless you want to by a Barnes and Noble Nook your only options for reading the book include eye strain from looking at a computer screen for too long, trying to read on an iPhone/iTouch or Android phone, or downloading the whole thing as a PDF and then printing (aka... you probably won't want to read for an extended period of time without investing some serious cash).
  

Amazon Kindle for PC

• The book is stored on your computer, so you don't have to be connected to the Internet to access and read books you've already downloaded (meaning you could read War and Peace on an airplane without it taking up any room in your luggage!).
• They have lots of free versions of classics (umm... I downloaded 55 books in one afternoon) as well as versions you can pay for (I'm assuming the versions you pay for might include pictures or something like that... I don't really know).
• You can buy current bestsellers if you want to for a lot cheaper than getting it hardcover in the bookstore.
• It saves your place. Theoretically I could start a book on my Kindle, and pick up right where I left off reading on Andy's iTouch or a Kindle (if I had one).
• If you want to invest some money, you can buy a Kindle which offers a much better, more book like reading experience (Andy's Aunt Cindy got one for Christmas and it really is nice to read on).
• You can adjust the size of the font for easier reading if you need to.
• The one click purchasing brings up a list of other books you might be interested in (which is why I downloaded so many books in one afternoon).
  

Amazon Kindle for PC- Cons

• No page numbers which makes me feel a little lost.
• No pictures (at least not in the books I downloaded, although admittedly I only downloaded the books I could get for free, so maybe books you pay for include pictures).
• You have to download the Kindle application to your PC and then download books to it (making it harder to use spontaneously at your grandparents' or a friend's house if you wanted to).
• You have to set up an Amazon account (which I doubt many people are opposed to doing, but if you prefer to have as few accounts as possible, you may find this to be annoying).
  
• Less books available than Google, and less interesting old magazines.
• Not compatible with a Mac.
  

Overall, I think I like Google Books better what sent me over the edge on that side was the fact that A) Google books is literally a snap shot of a book... you can't get a better digital book experience than that and B) the sheer number of books available! Amazon Kindle definitely has it's place in the world, but let's face it Google rocks! I'm excited to see whether Google decides to market it's own e-book reader or if they just partner with the Nook and other readers who support PDF and EPUB file formats.

All this research has led me to decide that if I ever get an e-book reader, it will be one that supports the file formats of Google Books (such as the Nook) so that I can download books from there. Until then though, I'll be using my computer and the library to satisfy my love of books.