Does books purchased over a 3-year timespan have any relevance to books purchased over a 30-day timespan? Unlike other kinds of purchases, most people usually consume books relatively slowly (at a rate of one per month or more). If your Kindle is 2 years old, 27 books per 24 months is roughly equivalent to the iPad's numbers...

Also, can anyone who owns/uses both an iPad and a Kindle chime in on how the reading experience differs between the two?

All I've heard is the obvious: that the iPad interface is slicker, but the Kindle is much better in direct sunlight.

I had a first-gen Kindle, and a Kindle DX. I've purchased maybe 20 books, but I've grown to despise the Kindle. It's interface is terrible; anything other than a book on it is miserable (newspaper, magazine article, etc.). I can't wait to get an iPad...

I made this estimate as a follow-up for this discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1315149. Please suggest how to make this more accurate, and whether you believe the assumptions above.

Ah come on, all these assumptions make your numbers worthless. I recently bought a nook: reading my first book on it gave me the same feeling I had when I efirst used an MP3 player. You immediately realize this is the future, it's soooo much better and there is no way back.

The only tragic thing is: publishers didn't realize that yet and the number of books you can buy is still so limited.

When I owned my Kindle, I had about 80 books on it. I'd paid for 2 of them, "Les Miserables" and "The Count of Monte Cristo."

The rest I got by combing the top sellers list and "buying" all the books listed as free.

I don't think you can really draw any useful information about how much people prefer each device for reading by comparing the average number of books sold per device.

Everyone who buys a Kindle buys it to read books on. Some people who buy iPads don't care about e-books at all. That doesn't say anything about its capability as an e-reader, it just means that the device appeals to a wider audience.

I have already bought 15 book at Kindle Store, and I don't even own a Kindle—I read them on the iPhone and my Macs. I am really looking forward to get iPad—Kindle for iPad looks much nicer than their Mac version.

You have to keep in mind the Kindle has been out for a long time. Why would people buy 27 books on the iPad when they have not had it for more than a month?

That does seem a bit high but I wouldn't say that it's impossible. If someone is going to spend hundreds on a device that's meant soley for reading, they probably read a lot of books.

Anecdotally, I just got an iPad and bought 3 books I've been meaning to read for a while. Before that, I hadn't bought a book in months. In a way it's like the app store but for books - looking for and buying a book was so easy that I'll probably buy more than if I had to go to the store every time.

This post and all the replies are full of misconceptions.

I suspect the average book price is way off.

I have 98 digital books in my kindle library.

My average book price for the 98 books was $3.46.

39 books were free.

The average book price for my non-free books was $5.87.

As far as kindle vs iPad, I have both.

The kindle is MUCH better for actual reading. It's possible when you're 10 years old that you can read novels by moonlight, but as you get older having a well-lit book is a much better experience.

Reading on the kindle, with a bright light over your shoulder is wonderful.

The kindle does have a clunky interface, but I don't have to use it much. I usually peruse books in the amazon store on my computer (or sometimes on my iphone).

I can buy and send it to my kindle in one click.

But mostly, I send books to my kindle using the "send sample" feature. I don't buy books until I'm sure I want to buy them. I send a sample. Then when I go to my kindle, there's a big queue of books that might or might not be interesting. I start reading them, and if I like it I get to the end of the sample and click the buy button they embedded there.

Oh, one more thing -- in the beginning I got a lot of free books for my kindle. My library is now cluttered up with a bunch of books that seemed good at the time, but now I can't get rid of.

In the end, the kindle may have a clunky interface, but it excels at being a book. It's my preferred way to read.

I also have an iPad, and it's just not as good a reading experience for text. You can see the pixels in the characters, and the LCD display isn't as easy to read. I'm sure apple will remedy this going forward as their display gets brighter and higher-resolution. However, I don't know if it can get as good as the kindle with a good reading light. The iPad will never compare to the kindle in sunlight.

However, the iPad excels with color or animated books. For example, the kids books for the iPad are wonderful (look at the free Alice in Wonderland or Toy Story books). For textbooks, I can imagine it can only get better, maybe redefining what a book is. I can imagine physics textbooks with built-in calculations, graphing and demonstrations. The line between app and book is getting pretty fuzzy.

I'd like to see a poll of HN users created. But before someone does, it would be nice to figure out a good set of questions.

My suggested format:

1) Do you own an iPad?

1a) How many books have you purchased from the iBookstore?

1b) How many were books that you already own?

1c) How many free books have you got from Apple, other than Winnie The Pooh?

1d) How many books from another source have you transferred to the iPad?

2) Do you own a Kindle or use a Kindle app? (Please specify.)

2a) How many books have you bought from the Kindle store?

2b) How many were books that you already own?

2c) How many free books have you got from the Kindle store?

2d) How many books from another source have you transferred to the Kindle device or app?

3) Did DRM influence your purchasing decisions?

My answers:

1) Do you own an iPad? --> Yes.

1a) How many books have you purchased from the iBookstore? --> 3.

1b) How many were books that you already own? --> 2.

1c) How many free books have you got from Apple, other than Winnie The Pooh? --> 0.

1d) How many books from another source have you transferred to the iPad? --> 8.

2) Do you own a Kindle or use a Kindle app? (Please specify.) --> No.

3) Did DRM influence your purchasing decisions? --> Yes. Very much so.

USD 800M seems pretty high for their sales, especially considering: "At the same time, Amazon.com, seller of the Kindle e-book reading device, may boost digital book sales by 83 percent this year to $248 million from $135 million last year, the analysts said in a note today"

I have a Kindle (bought 1 when it first came out, gave a 2 as a gift, now DX); plus kindle app on an ipod touch and on mac. iPad is enroute. Eagerly awaiting an Android app.

I have about ~150 books paid for (maybe more? I see 10 pages with 15 items per page). 1-2 books per week are consumed, but I tend to buy 5-10 at a time.

The Kindle hasn't increased the amount of books I purchase, but I do find myself subscribing to far more publications because of how trivial it is to do on the device. Never again will I wait seven weeks to receive the first issue of a magazine.

You buy a kindle to read books. You have to have books. Plenty of them.

You buy an iPad to play games mostly, to surf the web and to read books.

I bet you the iPad has a better ratio of games/iPad than books/kindle.

So, my nailclipper clip my nails and my toothbrush brush my teeth.

27 books per kindle looks kind of unrealistic. I have own kindle for last 6 months and I have bought only 3 books and few free ones. I have also bought few printed editions because they are not available on kindle.

Does anyone have a reference for Amazon's percentage of physical book sales in the US?