11/22/11:
Thanks for putting the Overdrive app on the ipad for me! It works great!
Through the app, you can connect with your local library, and download ebooks directly to your device. I tried downloading an ePub book, a Kindle book, and an audiobook.
EPub books get downloaded directly to the iPad, and are seen in your Overdrive library. It took less than a minute for me to figure the whole thing out (Yay!). When you are done reading a book, you can 'return' it, which is nice because there is a waiting list for most books, and you can only have a limited number of checkouts at one time.
Kindle books are a different story...when you click the "download" button, you are taken to an Amazon page - if you don't have a Kindle, you have to check the book out using the Kindle Cloud Reader. It took me a few minutes to figure it out, but you can either read it online or "pin" the book to your device so that it is available for reading offline, and a Kindle Cloud Reader icon appears on your desktop...so you read it there, and not with the Kindle for iPad app, and it doesn't appear in your Overdrive library. You can't "return" a Kindle ebook when you are done reading it, which is kind of a bummer. I guess one upside is that since your ebook is in "the cloud", you can read it on your home or work computer, iPad, iPhone, whatever device you happen to have with you at the moment.
Audiobooks can't be downloaded directly to the iPad...you have to download it to your computer using the Overdrive Media console, and then transfer it to your device. It's pretty easy, although there a few extra steps. I ended up putting the audiobook on my iPod instead, since I can hook that up to my car stereo.
As far as my eReader experience goes, I'd say that the Nook Touch is the best if all you want to do is read books. The eink is much better than the Kindle. It is easy to read in sunlight, or under overhead lights. It is lightweight and easy to hold and turn pages using only one hand (important on the Red line at rush hour!). The touch screen works really well, it did not make my eyes tired, and the battery life is great.
Glare is a huge problem in the Nook color or iPad. They are impossible to read in sunlight, and a pain to read under any kind of overhead lights, including the T, the CPS conference room, my couch, etc. The touch screen on the Nook Color was sluggish and sometimes frustrating. The touch screen on the iPad is great, but sometimes things take a long time to load. The the Nook Color and iPad eat up battery power like there is no tomorrow, and they are heavy in comparison - not something I can do one handed on the T, or want to hold in bed. I also find that the backlight screen makes my eyes tired pretty quickly.
The Kindle is the most limited in terms of compatible file formats, which is a problem for me. The Nook Touch is a little better. The Nook Color is even better, but the iPad can do most anything with an App. That is cool. As a librarian and a consumer, I really like the idea of greater access.
Do the MIT Libraries have any plans or hopes or dreams to make ebooks available for ereaders?
This is probably more that you ever wanted to know about my e-reading experience.