Shelfie is shutting down tomorrow, Jan 31 2017

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I think you're being a bit unfair to B&N.

Personally, as a reader outside the US still with a working Nook Glow I don't think it's at all possible to be "a bit unfair to B&N".

If anything happens and my Nook loses its registration details, or I need to do a factory reset, my Nook will no longer be able to be used, even if it's working, as I am no longer able to log into my B&N account. And my books, which came from Fictionwise in the first place, died with Nook, as they didn't transfer anywhere. (NB I do have them but that's not the point).

I wouldn't wish their collapse on anyone but I certainly have no good wishes towards that appaling excuse for a company.

[issybird]

B&N unsuccessfully tried to pursue a policy that Amazon is about implement, more or less. Wishing B&N into the cornfield would only leave most places with no physical bookstore at all and that would be a colossal loss. As it is, realistically they serve as Amazon's pbook storefront for many Amazonians. It's a difficult situation and I hope they're able to negotiate it, but I have my doubts.

I wish B&N hadn't gone the walled garden route, but I don't think they're the big evil. And yes, I have a Nook library; my first dedicated ereader was the classic Nook.

[GtrsRGr8]

I may not have been clear in some things that I said.

When I said that you can't download Nook books from B&N now, I did not mean from B&N to a Nook reader or some other proprietary B&N device or program. I meant that you can't download your ebooks to your computer in order to back them up.

And, actually, that is technically not true (it seems that someone else mentioned that in this thread). The best, and most detailed information, that I have seen, about how you can do it (though with difficulty) is here. That is a post on a blog (a very good one, IMHO) maintained by our "own" Koland, who frequently posts here and there on MobileRead.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

You can download Kindle ebooks from the Amazon website, via Manage Your Contents and Devices/Books page.

Only if I have a physical Kindle, which I do not. I can only download them to an Android device using the Amazon app or to a PC using the Amazon Kindle for PC application.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by issybird

Wishing B&N into the cornfield would only leave most places with no physical bookstore at all and that would be a colossal loss.

It would be a colossal loss for those living close to a B&N but for the rest of us it would be a big shrug. B&N hardly blankets the country. Even adding in a couple thousand independent bookstores leaves vast swaths of the country with no physical bookstore nearby, now or ever.

Physical bookstores have never been all that abundant outside the big metro areas and before the chains started up in the 60's they were rare.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It would be a colossal loss for those living close to a B&N but for the rest of us it would be a big shrug. B&N hardly blankets the country. Even adding in a couple thousand independent bookstores leaves vast swaths of the country with no physical bookstore nearby, now or ever.

Physical bookstores have never been all that abundant outside the big metro areas and before the chains started up in the 60's they were rare.

Physical stores have basically become unnecessary.

For one thing, one of the purposes that many people had for going into them was to browse in books to see if they might be ones that they'd like to own. The Internet has made that all but unnecessary. You can get previews from Amazon, books.Google.com, various other places (wouldn't it be great if some website would collect links for books to as many preview sites for each book as possible?).

Secondly, there are great costs that brick-and-mortar stores have that virtual stores do not. Off the top of my head, there are utilities (electricity, natural gas, etc.), rent or financing of the building, maintenance, the expense of additional employees than virtual stores require . . . .

And for us budget-minded consumers, $5 for a cappuccino at the coffee bar is more than we want to pay, when we can make the same thing at home for far less, while we surf the bookstores on the web.

It's a business model that is destined to go the way of the dodo bird, except for a few specialized and/or boutique stores.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Physical stores have basically become unnecessary.

For one thing, one of the purposes that many people had for going into them was to browse in books to see if they might be ones that they'd like to own. The Internet has made that all but unnecessary. You can get previews from Amazon, books.Google.com, various other places (wouldn't it be great if some website would collect links for books to as many preview sites for each book as possible?).

Secondly, there are great costs that brick-and-mortar stores have that virtual stores do not. Off the top of my head, there are utilities (electricity, natural gas, etc.), rent or financing of the building, maintenance, the expense of additional employees than virtual stores require . . . .

And for us budget-minded consumers, $5 for a cappuccino at the coffee bar is more than we want to pay, when we can make the same thing at home for far less, while we surf the bookstores on the web.

It's a business model that is destined to go the way of the dodo bird, except for a few specialized and/or boutique stores.

I agree that the "giant cathedral of literature" bookstore is an unsustainable business model in the 21st century...except for a few choice locations. I think there is room for a couple dozen in the big, heavily populated mega-cities. As destination stores or touristy atrractions in the biggest of malls. As you say, specialized booktiques.

The problem with the warehouse bookstores is they rely on people going to them and they need a *lot* of traffic just to stay open at a time when people are increasingly less inclined to go far for their shopping. So, at a time shoppers' "roaming" is declining (why visit ten stores looking for the right thing when a five minute online search will do?) bookstores are seeing their ability to draw buyers from afar decline and their traffic wither.

If you live with a few minutes of a B&M store you can still find some value in it.
If you live 20-30 miles away it gets iffy.
Further out (which is the majority) it stops makibg sense.

Back in the day I set aside a whole saturday several times a year to travel to a specialty SF&F bookstore in the region and dropped a couple hundred bucks on backlist and UK paperbacks you couldn't get anywhere else. Today I can do better in half an hour online shopping for ebooks. Way more convenient and sensible. Less milleage on the car and my back, more reading time.

Times change and it pays to adapt.

There might be room for a different kind of bookstore that leverages modern logistics and online for the impatient and the traditionalist or the drive-by impulse shoppers, but those are a much smaller customer base so the store needs to be smaller and/or efficient. And that is a tougher row to hoe.

Amusingly, Amazon is giving it a try.
They might yet show us a way forward but I suspect their stores will end up being more like the Microsoft and Apple stores, more marketing exercises than retailers.

Newstands and pharmacies can survive off casual readers looking for the current hot bestseller but bookstores need steady year-round traffic to sell midlist/backlist and that means heavy readers. Who have gone heavily into digital and online.

Edit: Even establishment apologists are waking up to the reality of the world Agency created:

http://www.idealog.com/blog/agency-p...-strengthened/

In the end it really comes down to the heavy readers, whether you're a B&M store or an online/digital retailer, and with ebooks having turned into a walled garden
business like gaming consoles there is little room for anybody but the big boys. And that means the dream of inter-operable epub remains just a dream and without it businesses like Shelfie stand no chance.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I may not have been clear in some things that I said.

When I said that you can't download Nook books from B&N now, I did not mean from B&N to a Nook reader or some other proprietary B&N device or program. I meant that you can't download your ebooks to your computer in order to back them up.

It's just plain wrong. I can download ePub from B&N using nook for PC.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's just plain wrong. I can download ePub from B&N using nook for PC.

GtrsRGr8 is right. You need to use a "proprietary B&N device or program" to sneak a copy of the book. You can no longer just download books directly from their website.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

GtrsRGr8 is right. You need to use a "proprietary B&N device or program" to sneak a copy of the book. You can no longer just download books directly from their website.

Amazon is almost the same. If you have Kindle for PC, eventually you'll be screwed. You can only download if you have a Kindle eInk device that supports KF8.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon is almost the same. If you have Kindle for PC, eventually you'll be screwed. You can only download if you have a Kindle eInk device that supports KF8.

I'm surprised that Kindle on Android hasn't been cracked? If you had an old version of the Kindle app wouldn't you be safe?

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's just plain wrong. I can download ePub from B&N using nook for PC.

That's the kind of thing that I meant by a proprietary B&N device. Sure, B&N will let you download to something--why buy an ebook if you can't read it on something?. I am not in the Nook orb, but I suppose that they are like Amazon and have something like a cloud reader, portable Nook device like Amazon's Kindle in all of its iterations, maybe another reader for the desktop or laptop, etc. They're going to keep those kinds of things around, or their ebook business will quickly end.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I agree that the "giant cathedral of literature" bookstore is
<snip>

Seems like an insightful, plenary analysis.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by John F

I'm surprised that Kindle on Android hasn't been cracked? If you had an old version of the Kindle app wouldn't you be safe?

Old versions of Kindle for PC currently still work going back to version 1.14. (The new problematic version is 1.19). Amazon eventually discontinues support for older K4PC versions and blocks them from being able to download books.

Both Kindle for Android and Kindle for iOS were cracked at one time. Amazon has long since fixed them. I don't know whether or not one of those old apps would still be able to download books from Amazon, but I doubt it.

[birdbrainbb]

There's an update regarding the Shelfie shutdown:

Although Shelfie ceased operations on January 31, 2017, we would like to share some good news today.

Our friends at Kobo have offered to continue the Shelfie service until February 28, 2017, so you’ll be able to access your books in your Shelfie app until that time.

Kobo is one of the world’s leading eReading services, offering award-winning eReaders, free mobile apps, and a catalogue of over 5 million eBooks to millions of readers around the world. Visit kobo.com to learn more, and to get $5 off your first Kobo eBook.

We truly appreciate your continued support.

Keep reading,

The Shelfie Team