How Does VitalSource Ebook Compare To Kindle?

Question

Switching from my Kindle and wondering about VitalSource's highlights and offline access for digital textbooks. Are the reading features much different for long fiction?

Edelyn Martir Lamayo · Answer

The application ecosystem often revolves around the specific ecosystem one is currently in. For textbooks, most schools have already partnered with VitalSource. Their core functions include synchronizing notes across devices and allowing readers to share annotations. For general fiction, the Kindle Store is by far the biggest destination for purchasing eBooks. For exclusive titles of the romance genre not published on Amazon, web novel platforms are the place to read them first. One such title, It Kills Me: A Forbidden Dark Romance, throws a wealthy CEO’s fixation on his employee into a spiraling cycle of revenge and surrender. The book can be read directly via an app or on the web novel site as opposed to being purchased as an eBook file. Note that this is a different business model than your typical eBook purchase – free to start, updates are usually released on a serialized basis.

Cole · Answer

VitalSource is very similar to Kindle when it comes to reading eBooks on your computer. While Kindle feels more like a physical bookstore and works well within the Amazon ecosystem of products, VitalSource seems to specialize more in academic based eBooks and textbooks. The Kindle interface is extremely easy to use when highlighting portions of text, adding notes, and even looking up words in the dictionary. Whispersync also allows users to switch between reading an eBook and listening to the audiobook version. On the other hand, VitalSource has a great bookshelf to organize textbooks, and even allows users to rent them for students on a budget. Their app, however, is not as easy to use as Kindle’s.

I love that Kindle allows for so much customization within the book itself (i.e. font size, margins, background color, etc.). While VitalSource has allowed for some of these same features in the past, they have not been near as polished. Meanwhile, offline access and the ability to share notes with other users in a study group is absolutely revolutionary for a textbook-reader like myself. In short, Kindle is ideal for casual readers, but VitalSource would be a good choice for students who are taking multiple textbooks with them to class or who require the ability to collaborate with other students who are reading the same book. As a user of both platforms, I tend to use Kindle for my "real" reading and VitalSource for work-related reading.

Xavier · Answer

I’m not quite sure how to feel about VitalSource compared to Kindle. On one hand, Kindle’s system for purchasing and recommending books is better than anything I’ve seen Amazon provide for in a long time. VitalSource feels like it’s aimed at a slightly different audience, since the highlighting and annotating capabilities are excellent, but the interface is not quite as stylish and readable as Kindle. I’ve accidentally closed textbooks in VitalSource more times than I can count due to its clunky interface.

One place where VitalSource exceeds is in terms of flexibility to read. Yes, VitalSource textbooks can be rented for less than half the cost of a new copy and the book is available offline when needed. But Kindle has a much greater selection of titles and they sync up wonderfully across all of your devices. So if you start reading a book on your phone, you can pick up right where you left off on your tablet. This is also done by VitalSource but not quite as well. Kindle is where I go for my reading pleasure. But for the more academic style of reading, VitalSource has what I need.

Charlotte · Answer

My comparison of e-textbooks through VitalSource vs. Kindle e-books came as a comparison of a library card to a bookstore membership – useful but to different ends. The Kindle, a powerhouse for fiction of all kinds as well as non-fiction, has a feature called X-Ray that becomes a very useful character or concept tracker. VitalSource, the provider of e-textbooks for students, is quite good at providing textbooks that can be rented for the student’s school year instead of having to purchase the textbook(s). Annotated notes can be added but it’s not as smooth or as developed as Kindle’s ability to annotate.

There's just something more immersive about reading on Kindle with the beautiful Paperwhite display of the device. While the VitalSource e-textbook reading experience is also adequate via its mobile app, it does not replicate the same reading experience as actual books (i.e. curl up and read). As a student, the VitalSource experience is very practical and versatile for reading textbooks. For the rest of us though, Kindle is the more exciting reading option. I typically use one or the other depending on whether I am studying or reading for pleasure.

Betris Buddin · Answer

In general, searching for something inside a book versus searching for the same thing on the web is a pretty fine line of distinction. When I’m reading a historical fiction novel on my Kindle, I can search for “Battle of Waterloo” and be instantly presented with a Wikipedia article on the subject or other relevant information on the web. On the other hand, a search for the same term within a VitalSource book (such as a history textbook) is generally confined to the text at hand, to the notes that I’ve previously taken on the material, and possibly to a book’s glossary. The point is that Kindle-like books are generally for leisure time, whereas VitalSource books are studied. So, in a history textbook, I would expect to get all of the information regarding the Battle of Waterloo from within the confines of the text itself, rather than being sent off on a wild goose chase to investigate further.

Natasha · Answer

One area Kindle does better than VitalSource is with family sharing and household plans. Within Amazon Household, you can set up a Kindle book account that allows you to share books with another adult as well as up to four children. This makes Kindle a great option for families to build out a shared digital library of books. As noted above, VitalSource has no similar family plan, and sharing of eTextbooks is even restricted to prevent piracy, limiting uses to two downloads per eTextbook on two devices. The reason for these big differences is that Kindle is marketed towards households for entertainment, whereas VitalSource is marketed towards individual students and professionals for academic resources. The licensing terms that a publisher agrees to are intended to reflect these differences, and thus allow for the building of a large shared family library of books (a household entertainment product) whereas the same book would be licensed as an individual educational resource (with all restrictions to protect publisher revenue) to an individual student or professional.

Dominador Apilado · Answer

Speed is a big issue on older devices. I can load Kindle on really low-end e-ink readers, for example, but many older tablets cannot run Bookshelf at a reasonable speed. Sometimes the app crashes, other times it takes a long time to launch or to turn pages. For example, the Kindle app loads in about 1 second on my Kindle Fire HD, but the Bookshelf app takes about 30 seconds to load on the same device. As a result, students on a budget may find that they need to pay for more powerful hardware to run their eTextbooks. In the meantime, the same textbooks may be available through Kindle, which makes them suitable for use on low-end e-ink readers and older phones as well as on iPads and Android tablets. So while Bookshelf is the official eTextbook platform for many courses, students on a tight budget may find that Kindle versions of textbooks are the only ones that work properly on their older tablet.

Ate Mae &amp; John SJ · Answer

When we talk about multimedia integration in our textbooks, some VitalSource titles have videos, quizzes, and 3D models to aid in learning. When we look at the Kindle edition of a textbook, typically it has audio and/or video in the form of clips, but usually not too many. Considering that these VitalSource titles are VERY expensive, but potentially interact with the user in very valuable ways, they are worthwhile for subjects that have numerous interactive elements. And the VitalSource format is NOT a very good reading format. Most anatomy texts are loaded with diagrams. In a Kindle version of an anatomy textbook, these diagrams are merely images. But in VitalSource, these same diagrams could be 3D models that can be rotated, and that can have labels on them added and removed. So, the passive reading device that is the Kindle, is not as good as the VitalSource for these types of texts.

AJ Nepomuceno · Answer

The ability to annotate and then export the highlights and notes (in a beautifully formatted Word document or PDF) is a major benefit to students using VitalSource in academic situations. Although highlights can be viewed online as notes, and even copied individually, the ability to bulk export annotated text in a structured format is huge for readers that process text and are writing papers or study guides using their highlighted text. While Kindle clippings are sufficient for most average readers to review their favorite quotes, the export annotation capability of VitalSource is a huge benefit to power users of e-book reading.

Marlon Marcos Dicla · Answer

Your past experiences with customer service can influence your preference. Amazon’s Kindle support is 24/7 but grueling to work through since it’s so automated. Despite the potential frustration, issues are usually worked out in the end. In contrast, VitalSource’s support is specialized, meaning their reps understand the demands of academic calendars and will cater to your urgent needs (i.e. “my textbook won’t open before my exam”). In my experience, even the smallest of VitalSource teams is far more astute than Amazon, particularly in the kinds of situations where context-aware, educated support is crucial. For individual consumers, Amazon’s massive scale will likely offer better value than the specialized nature of the support offered by VitalSource. But for the individual, or for institutions and their high-stakes educational endeavors, VitalSource support is a far superior option.

Care4U · Answer

When it comes to platform availability, both reading platforms offer iOS, Android and web applications. However, when it comes to integration, Kindle is deeply embedded in the entertainment and retail giant’s Amazon ecosystem and integrates with Alexa-enabled devices, Fire TV, and Audible books, while VitalSource integrates with learning management systems such as Canvas by Instructure and Blackboard, and even allows your professor to select readings that will automatically open in your Bookshelf app. Where you spend most of your digital life — on the campus portal or on Amazon.com — determines which e-reading platform will feel most natural to you and support your daily habits. Both reading platforms are ubiquitous, but they exist in different worlds.

How Does VitalSource Ebook Compare To Kindle?

11 Answers

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