Barnes & Noble Weighs Its E-Reader Investment

[aagstn]

I dumped the Nook's I had over the whole Fictionwise transfer fiasco. B&N's customer service drove me to a Google Nexus and I haven't even logged on to their site in months. Hate to see all of Amazon's book competition die off though. That is why I tried to support B&N for several years.

[GreenMonkey]

I think they would have been selling a lot more Nook tablets if they hadn't went with the proprietary store. You could push Nook as your ebook store without trying to dodge the entire Google marketplace altogether. It's resulted in a very poorly-populated store.

I'd think that pre-loading Nook app on it and using the Google market would have been a better buy. If nothing else, the money spent on the proprietary B&N app store could have been spent giving people B&N GCs to get them to start making purchases via the Nook app.

It's chasing that Apple iTunes money that always gets companies. They all want that all-rolled-into-one marketplace.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

I think they would have been selling a lot more Nook tablets if they hadn't went with the proprietary store. [...] It's chasing that Apple iTunes money that always gets companies. They all want that all-rolled-into-one marketplace.

I can get behind that. I currently buy EPUBs at Kobo, BooksOnBoard, Smashwords, Baen, and Robot Trading Company. The main reason B&N isn't on that list is their speshul Nook DRM.

On the same subject, I wish I didn't have to involve my PC in the transfer when buying Adobe DRM'd EPUBs at BooksOnBoard or other non-Kobo sites. I mean, my device will read the protected book (I use the same Adobe ID for just that reason), so why can't I download it directly instead of having to use my PC to handle the .acsm passthrough?

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I can get behind that. I currently buy EPUBs at Kobo, BooksOnBoard, Smashwords, Baen, and Robot Trading Company. The main reason B&N isn't on that list is their speshul Nook DRM.

On the same subject, I wish I didn't have to involve my PC in the transfer when buying Adobe DRM'd EPUBs at BooksOnBoard or other non-Kobo sites. I mean, my device will read the protected book (I use the same Adobe ID for just that reason), so why can't I download it directly instead of having to use my PC to handle the .acsm passthrough?

Maybe you need to use a different reading system. Many do support B&N DRM.

But yes, Kobo tablets now have access to GP. So BN might do well to do so too.

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I can get behind that. I currently buy EPUBs at Kobo, BooksOnBoard, Smashwords, Baen, and Robot Trading Company. The main reason B&N isn't on that list is their speshul Nook DRM.

On the same subject, I wish I didn't have to involve my PC in the transfer when buying Adobe DRM'd EPUBs at BooksOnBoard or other non-Kobo sites. I mean, my device will read the protected book (I use the same Adobe ID for just that reason), so why can't I download it directly instead of having to use my PC to handle the .acsm passthrough?

The Sony T1 and T2 should handle those. I haven't tried downloading directly from those sellers as I usually download to my PC, strip DRM, then sideload. I think I downloaded an Overdrive library book and perhaps a Kobo purchase while on the road and away from my PC. I think that most of the readers implement the DRM epub, but not the acsm delivery part.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by hwlester

I think that most of the readers implement the DRM epub, but not the acsm delivery part.

...which is exactly my point. The acsm gateway is the showstopper here.