The regular nook is similar to the kindle because it doesn't have color when you are reading a book that has pictures with color, the Nook color on the other hand has color, so you can view picture books such as magazines etc. Then there is the Nook Tablet which is pretty simple its a tablet version of the Nook so think of it as a tablet but with the reading abilities of a regular nook plus wifi and applications etc. OR Basically its similar to the kindle fire, either way the nook is just a tablet version of the original nook and the nook color.