Barnes and Noble Nook press conference in NYC (report)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by studio2054

Any word on whether the Nook allows annotation of PDFs? I suspect that (like the Kindle DX) it doesn't.

They talked about ability to do annotations, but did not specifically mention PDFs. My guess would be the same as yours. They licensed Adobe's Mobile SDK to provide PDF and ePub capability, and I don't believe the Adobe software enables PDF annotations.
______
Dennis

[ProDigit]

Sony is known to at times sell items with a slight loss at initial launchday, but after a few months they start making profit already due to more optimized lines of production, resource availability, and cheaper resources.
They sold the PRS-505 for 299 2 years ago. By last year they where making reasonable good profits from the device!
Flash prices have dropped enormously. E-ink prices have dropped too!
The nook has a plastic casing which makes it cheaper than the PRS-505 which has a metal casing.

But the Nook must be manufactured in Asia! There's no other way that this device can be manufactured at that price!
If so, you'd essentially be paying only $15 extra for the installation, software support and hardware of the wifi and 3G.
The flash prices of 2GB today are lower than the flashprices of 512MB 2 years ago!
Not only that, but flash memory is also made at a lower die, which means it's smaller, runs cooler, consumes less energy, runs faster, and costs less to manufacture!
(That is why CPU's and GPU's can always stay at around the same price; because they use the same amount of resources, only can create more transistors per SQ inch than before was possible).

A little LED screen on the bottom costs very little; the Android OS is a very functional OS (originally meant for advanced cell phones), and it is also a very cheap alternative (if not free, because Linux is most of the time under a "free to use and free to modify" licence) to creating an OS from the ground up!

I think the price for the Nook is a very affordable price, probably the cheapest one can make the device. I don't think it's sold with loss, but rather with near to zero profit, hoping to earn bucks by selling "en masse" (in large quantities), and selling at the same price 6months from here when the price of resources will have dropped.

The only 2 flaws I found so far is their lack of open format support, and that they only have a 6" e-ink.
The device itself looks very nice, but in essence functions the same as the Kindle or Sony Reader (with the exception of the LED strip screen on the bottom).
Meaning, books that are hard to read on the Kindle or Sony reader, will be hard to read here as well.

This device at 9" (or a tablet PC (touch screen) with PixelQi's screen,and a 1024x720/1280x768 of min. resolution) would probably be the best of both worlds!

[TallMomof2]

No browsing, no wikipedia? Yes, you can loan books but while the book is loaned out you can't read it. At least with the Kindle you can register six on the same account and all have access to all the books all the time. You can't do that with magazine or newspaper subscriptions but it works great for books.

The LCD is a neat gimmick but unless there is a way to organize your files either via folders, collections or tags I still think the Kindle is better. Prices for books are lower and with a little effort all content is readable on it.

For the available features, IMO, $259 is too much for me to give up browsing and wikipedia.

But I hope the Nook does well because competition is good.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

pfft

Apple tablet rumors have run rampant since 2001, so don't hold your breath. "Slate tablets" have existed since around 2005 or so, and didn't exactly fly off the shelves. Heck, a few even still exist, though they'll set you back close to $2,000. And no matter who makes it, tablets will be heavier, bigger, thicker, more expensive, possibly less secure, harder to read, and will have a shorter battery life. It'll be useless as a phone, too big as a PDA, won't have a substantial enough keyboard for real computing, is just as likely to have (proprietary) DRM, will likely interrupt your reading by informing you that you've got a new email.... Shall I go on?

A slate PC will be better than an ereader for some purposes, users and tasks. But better for reading? Not likely.

Yeah, the rumors have been around forever, but I think that there's good evidence that there will be some new Apple device next Spring. Whether it is a netbook, a tablet, or an ereader is anyone's guess. The general view is similar to yours, which is that it will be a multimedia tablet.

Your objections make plenty of sense, except that if Apple holds to form, the device will be something no one quite expects, and none of your objections will apply because Apple will have changed the context. That's what Apple does, under Jobs.

One thing to bear in mind is that Apple is not a content provider. It is a content broker. And unlike its rival Microsoft, it has figured out how to grab a cut of third party applications running on its post-Jobs devices.

Another thing to consider is that Apple will not want to cannibalize its iPhone sales, nor its laptop sales. So on the one hand the device will probably have wi-fi but not 3g, and on the other, it will not be focussed on content creation - i.e., it will not need a keyboard to do whatever it is going to be doing.

Everything is in place for Apple to make a device which is the ultimate media broker, and I'll bet they have figured out how to do it in a fairly transportable device.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Yeah, you've put your finger on it .

Here's something to think about, though. All three of the Big Book Sellers make an iPhone App that can read their books. Suppose Apple's rumored iTablet can run Apps. Suddenly, Apple will have the ebook reader to rule them all.

Actually, I don't think Sony makes an App. But they'd pretty much have to since B&N and Amazon do. Their recent capitulation in making a version of the Library for Mac suggests that they are, however grudgingly, willing to engage the Apple Empire for eBook purposes.

[jasonkchapman]

Overall, I'm thinking that B&N is close to hitting it out of the park with this one, in terms of a mass-market-targeted reading device/service/system. Of course, it depends a lot on how some of the promised features play out. It's the first design that's really tried to focus on the "...but with REAL books..." objections, with bookstore-ish browsing akin to the Borders Web site, and lending, and also take a sensible route around eInk's UI problems.

I had all but decided to stick with Sony when I upgrade. Now, I'm not so sure.

[jdh2550]

Originally Posted by NormHart

I am not going to rush out and pre-order one of these. I am not going to rush out and pre-order one of these. I am not going to rush out and pre-order one of these.

LOL, yup that's what I thought. Imagine how surprised I was when I pre-ordered one. I've looked at the ebook readers for a while now and wanted one. The chance of getting nookie pushed me over the edge (yeah, I know how many nookie jokes can you all stand).

Seriously though - I think the nook is better suited for what I want than the Kindle 2 or the Sony. I'd like a bigger screen but I'm too cheap to shell out for a DX.

I think it was the lending feature that pushed me over the edge. As mentioned by someone else above if I can join a reading circle that will really make this a wonderful device. I sure hope the bozos in the publishing world don't restrict lending too much.

I am bummed about the lack of browser - but I think they should be able to provide one if demand is there.

I'm also hoping for SDK with a reasonably easy way for us hackers to add value and innovative content via the Android OS.

Is it November 30th yet? Actually, probably December 5th is when I'll get my nookie.

Sorry.

[bhartman36]

Two things about the lending that I think needs to be emphasized:

1) Publishers can turn this capability off (like the text-to-speech in the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX).

2) You can only lend a book out once, for 14 days. Once you lend a book out, you cannot lend it again. It's a one time thing.

That first restriction has the potential to make the lending feature all but useless, if publishers decide to take a hard line to it.

Here's a thread from the Barnes & Noble Nook forum.

[numtini]

I was very excited and on the edge of preordering one, but I'm starting to get some negative vibes. The confusion about whether or not their flavor of epub is going to be portable. And the loan only working once per book really feels more like a bait and switch and makes me concerned about how overhyped some of the other aspects are. I think the loan is so limited that it's actually emotionally a negative as it feels like you're getting ripped off even though logically, once is more than any of the others will do. I also think it's really premature to release the reader before their conversion to epub because their ebook store isn't really what their final ebook store is going to be.

What I really want is something that is as comfortable to me as my kindle and reads books from multiple stores, but has a large store as its base which can be ported to other devices. By using epub, this seemed like it. But with their proprietary encryption and the loan once thing, I'm afraid of a bait and switch until I see the thing out there in the marketplace.

[brecklundin]

numtini:

I would NOT pre-order any reader anymore. And like you was am completely underwhelmed with this device. Their video on the website did it for me...the prototype device that was posted on Gizmodo and a thread around here somewhere, showed a MUCH larger LCD screen, the current screen, if you can even call it that as it seems more like a 1" LCD strip.

From the video that LCD strip can't be more than a 1" strip which is hardly what I would can useful. Needless to say, it will take a lot to show me this device is worth the hype let alone the price. Color me disappointed, but in the ereader device world I find this has become the norm rather than the exception.

I am sure someone will dig up the prototype image that was posted, if not I will try and find it...there is a large difference in the potential of the prototype compared to the obviously limited production (at least the production model for B&N) model.

[DawnFalcon]

Eh? The LCD looks like it's well sized for navigation and a bit of browsing. It's certainly no smaller than many smartphone screens - 480 x 144.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Eh? The LCD looks like it's well sized for navigation and a bit of browsing. It's certainly no smaller than many smartphone screens - 480 x 144.

and your point? I could care less about what screens on are a phone. What does the size of a screen on one device NOT specifically designed for reading, have to do with the size on a n ereading device? If you watch the demo pay attention to the content of the LCD strip in relation to the, apparently, female finger. That is a SMALL strip which sure looks as if it will have very limited practical useage.

[jdh2550]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

2) You can only lend a book out once, for 14 days. Once you lend a book out, you cannot lend it again. It's a one time thing.

Darn! I'll either be canceling my order or selling it on eBay.

Or maybe I'll keep it for a while and see if they bow to pressure and allow books to be lent as many times as the paper equivalent can be...

Here's a novel idea - if they had Bluetooth they could insist that you only lend it to someone you were geographically next to. That way they avoid the "risk" of people lending stuff around the world (of course paperbacks get lent around the world already and I don't think Stephen King or JK Rowling are too worried about that form of viral marketing).

Other than greed I don't understand why they won't accept the paperback model and allow lending.

Sigh.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

and your point?

Smaller screens are used by quite a few people to read on, let alone being used for navigation and interface for a bigger screen.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

No browsing, no wikipedia? Yes, you can loan books but while the book is loaned out you can't read it. At least with the Kindle you can register six on the same account and all have access to all the books all the time.

If it works like current eReader DRM, you can have as many accounts on it as you like... as long as you're willing for all of them to use your credit card number as the PIN. EReader DRM requires that you enter the passcode the first time you open it on a given device; that passcode is your CC#. But there's no limit on how many devices it can be shown on.