Classic Barnes and Noble's reader: first pics

[The-eBook-Reader]

The device does look cool and the LCD idea sounds great, but if Barnes and Noble does sell it cheaper than Kindle, it most certainly will be tied to their store exclusively for DRM'd books. There's NO WAY there going to add DRM ePub support. The only way they could do that is by beating everyone on ebook price across the boards . . .

And that ain't happen', mon.

[Faenad]

My guess is that they were planning to sell it cheaper than the previous K2 price -299$- The recent price cut must have come as a surprise, I wonder if they will match it. On the other hand, they may be more expensive if they includes a cover and a reading light.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

"The Liseuse"...

Aiiiieeeee!!!!

[pshrynk]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

LOL, I wonder what the name is.

Accelerant.

[juj1n]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

The device does look cool and the LCD idea sounds great, but if Barnes and Noble does sell it cheaper than Kindle, it most certainly will be tied to their store exclusively for DRM'd books. There's NO WAY there going to add DRM ePub support. The only way they could do that is by beating everyone on ebook price across the boards . . .

And that ain't happen', mon.

I was just about to ask this question. So you think this will be closed as well as the kindle? Do you think the prices will be cheaper than the kindle store at least? hmm... i wonder.
I'm also worried about the touch part. It's a great idea and all but i hope it's responsive as well...

[rebarnmom]

Originally Posted by sforce

From the Gizmodo article, "image 5" blurb:
http://gizmodo.com/5381149/bn-reader...electedImage=5

btw, this blurry pic look pretty real to me.

What exactly are we looking at in image #5? It looks like some sort of tabs on top and bottom.

Names???

Along the lines of pshrynk's idea... The Blaze or Wildfire?

I did read that it says "Athena" on the top right front of the device in image #3.

[The-eBook-Reader]

So you think this will be closed as well as the kindle? Do you think the prices will be cheaper than the kindle store at least?

I don't see how it wouldn't be closed DRM-wise, since BN just unveiled their new online store back in July, boasting 700,000 titles. And they currently require users to use their specific ereader software to read any of their books.

But they might be able to mange some lower prices and deals since they publisher their own brand of books. But not across the board.

[fbrII]

Support e-pub I'm in - no support - no interest

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by fbrII

Support e-pub I'm in - no support - no interest

I agree. I think they would really get a significant market share if they would go with something (anything) other than the eReader (Palm Reader) format and DRM scheme. I just don't think I can choke that down.

[fugazied]

That looks so very very cool. It looks how I imagine a kindle might after another year or two of iterations. As long as that LCD keyboard has the same kind of sensitivity as the iphone screen (easy to type on). I bet the price point is high.

[poohbear_nc]

Well - Amazon is launching the international K2 in October.
Irex launches an affordable reader in October.
B&N launches a nifty combo reader in October.
Amazon slashes prices in October.

Sony "maybe" launches the Daily Reader by Xmas.

You do the math.

[fuzzy_dunlop]

The device looks sleek. When I saw the Kindle I, the expression 'face that only a mother could love' came to mind.

The unknowns are:
1) Price? Reports are saying less than Kindle but it looks expensive. But if the iRex costs $400 and uses the B&N store why would they release two products at the same price, cheaper seems likely. B&N < iRex < Plastic Logic would be the most likely price structure.
2) What formats will it support? Will it one up the Kindle 2 and support PDF?
3) Delivery method? Wireless looks likely, and my guess is that the iRex device is giving us some clues.
4) DRM? Probably, I think we have to just resign ourselves to DRM at this point.
5) International? B&N has no int'l stores and I recently noticed that almost all of their ebooks say 'only ships within the US' so I doubt it. Then again iRex will be intl?
6) Unicode? B&N eReader program only supports Western languages, so doubtful.
7) Android? I was psyched about this initially but Android is still very young, I couldn't find a non-beta PDF viewer for it. I don't know much about Android though so I could be wrong.

Like I mentioned I think the iRex and the B&N ebook store will provide some clues.
iRex)
"DR800SG's Qualcomm Gobi chip means it will work on overseas HSDPA networks: Not only will the same product ship in Europe, but the press release promises international roaming sometime next year."
"Yes, the included 3G data is unlimited (no contract required), but there's no browser—so it'd take a lot of books to freak Verizon out."
http://gizmodo.com/5365676/irex-dr80...us-touchscreen

BTW: I've read that out of the 700k ebooks B&N offers, 500k are actually just Google books, so mostly public domain stuff.

[Musicman]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

The device does look cool and the LCD idea sounds great, but if Barnes and Noble does sell it cheaper than Kindle, it most certainly will be tied to their store exclusively for DRM'd books. There's NO WAY there going to add DRM ePub support. The only way they could do that is by beating everyone on ebook price across the boards . . .

And that ain't happen', mon.

No entirely accurate from what I had read....

They were going to addi DRM Epub support, however it will be with the Ereader type DRM, no ADE compatible.

[juj1n]

Do you guys think they'll have newspaper subscriptions like kindle?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by fuzzy_dunlop

5) International? B&N has no int'l stores and I recently noticed that almost all of their ebooks says 'only ships within the US' so I doubt it. Then again iRex will be intl?

The 800 will be sold in other countries, eventually, but they are looking for bookstore partners for those countries, it won't be B&N.