How awful will the B&N website get?

[bgalbrecht]

It's bad enough that their website will often fail when you try to sign in, add an ebook to your cart, view your cart, or complete the order (often requiring one to hit the back button a dozen times or more). Last year they removed the option to download your ebooks to your PC from the website, even the ones that are supposed to be DRM-free. Last summer they removed the ability to read your ebooks from the website.

A few days ago, they changed the website so that it no longer tells you that you're trying to repurchase an ebook (at least if you have one click shopping turned off). Now it lets you go through the entire purchase process, and then a few minutes later, you get an email, or two, or whatever, telling that the order for the ebook was cancelled because it was out of stock, but the rest of your order will be shipped, unless you get more emails telling you that they, too, are cancelled because they are out of stock.

I wonder what unbelievably stupid thing they'll do next? I have no hope that they'll actually fix any of the things that are broken. I doubt they'll even fix the email text to say that the ebook purchase was cancelled because I've already purchased it.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I wonder what unbelievably stupid thing they'll do next?

Sadly, there is actually an answer to that question. As of today (24 November) they are simultaneously advertising the new NOOK GlowLight Plus for $10 off (right now) AND for $30 off Thursday through Monday. I hope they don't expect to sell too many today or tomorrow!

But, no worries! If anyone were foolish enough to attempt to buy one today they would find this:

http://nook.barnesandnoble.com/u/noo...ader/379004122

Yes, that's right folks. Those shiny new NOOK GlowLight Plus units are "Temporarily Sold Out Online." Saving them all for Thursday? Or simply caught by surprise? Oh, Barnes & Noble! You so crazy!

Meanwhile, the previous generation NOOK GlowLight is still listed at $99. Not marked down at all, at least so far. If my math serves, this weekend these older units will cost EXACTLY the same amount as the new ones. Wondering why that old stock won't move, B&N?

Also, that big 30% off coupon does not apply to NOOK devices or Legos. That last bit is going to annoy parents from coast to coast. Well played, B&N. Black Friday shoppers just LOVE being tripped up by the fine print. Your cashiers are going to have so much FUN explaining that one!

[tdonline]

Seriously, what is wrong with BN? I just don't get it. I want to support them especially as there is a store in my neighborhood and I stop by all the time. It really does anchor a prime spot in our downtown. It's my de facto place to swing by and pick up cards and presents (usually on the way to a gathering/party). Why do they make it so difficult for their Nook customers though? I'm glad I didn't pick up the NGP this week. As of last night, I had settled on the Paperwhite 3 as my Black Friday purchase. I'm not sure how much the NGP's price drop is going to sway that decision.

[bgalbrecht]

I know I'm an outlier, having purchased (or gotten free) thousands of ebooks at B&N and Fictionwise, but I won't buy the recent Nooks because I can't download my entire collection to the device. I'm seriously considering the Kobo readers, since the Kindles have the same problem as the Nook.

[tdonline]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I know I'm an outlier, having purchased (or gotten free) thousands of ebooks at B&N and Fictionwise, but I won't buy the recent Nooks because I can't download my entire collection to the device. I'm seriously considering the Kobo readers, since the Kindles have the same problem as the Nook.

Are you sure? That's one reason why I'm jumping ship to Amazon. They are also forcing everyone to keep books only on Cloud?

[Steve H]

Originally Posted by tdonline

Are you sure? That's one reason why I'm jumping ship to Amazon. They are also forcing everyone to keep books only on Cloud?

How many books do you have? I have 1300+ and am able to fit 1130 on my Kindle Voyage before I run out of space and need to use the cloud. I have a lot of reference books, along with cookbooks(10 to 30 MB on avg) that take up a lot of space. My fiction...not so much. There is no slow down for having so many books on device.

While I hope the next Voyage(or whatever they choose to call it) will have capacity having to store more books, the cloud is not so bad...especially if you get a 3G model that allows instant downloads.

Also important in a device decision is the ecosystem(breadth of catalog, pricing, ease of discovery and wish listing) and customer service that the device works with.

Good Luck

[tdonline]

Cloud--as in BN's model, where we cannot actually download the books we purchase for our own use and storage. I have very few books since I use the library, but it irks me that BN's official policy is to make it difficult to download books. I hadn't realized Amazon was doing the same thing.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by tdonline

Cloud--as in BN's model, where we cannot actually download the books we purchase for our own use and storage. I have very few books since I use the library, but it irks me that BN's official policy is to make it difficult to download books. I hadn't realized Amazon was doing the same thing.

Kobo still allows direct download of DRM-free books.

[Bookatarian]

At this time, it is still possible to download all Amazon ebook purchases. They also still support the Kindle for PC software. There hasn't been any discussion (that I've seen) of this changing in the Amazon Kindle forum.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

I know I'm an outlier, having purchased (or gotten free) thousands of ebooks at B&N and Fictionwise, but I won't buy the recent Nooks because I can't download my entire collection to the device. I'm seriously considering the Kobo readers, since the Kindles have the same problem as the Nook.

Do you mean, "because I cannot store my entire collection on the device at one time"?

Because I detect a slight ambiguity...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by tdonline

Cloud--as in BN's model, where we cannot actually download the books we purchase for our own use and storage. I have very few books since I use the library, but it irks me that BN's official policy is to make it difficult to download books. I hadn't realized Amazon was doing the same thing.

Amazon is not doing the same thing.

However, Amazon is doing what they have always done, in not offering expandable storage.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by tdonline

Cloud--as in BN's model, where we cannot actually download the books we purchase for our own use and storage. I have very few books since I use the library, but it irks me that BN's official policy is to make it difficult to download books. I hadn't realized Amazon was doing the same thing.

I download all my Kindle books and make "safe" backups. The book I'm currently reading on my Nook Glowlight Plus is a Kindle book, purchased at Amazon. I buy almost all my books from Amazon and I read them on my phone, my Kindle, my Nook or my Kobo. This thing about Amazon not letting you download books just isn't true.

Barry

[downeaster59]

Every book I have ever purchased from Nook has been downloaded on my laptop, and they are all also safely backed up. Books seem to download on my NGP and the Nook app on my iPad. I've downloaded every book I have purchased from Kindle, and backed them up as well. Am I missing something here? I agree that B&N could use some serious customer service lessons, but I don't see any sign of this "can't download books" problem. If I ever had that problem, however, I'd be done with B&N immediately!

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Do you mean, "because I cannot store my entire collection on the device at one time"?

Because I detect a slight ambiguity...

Yes, I meant that I cannot store my entire B&N/Fictionwise collection on a current Glowlight Nook at one time, and I cannot store my entire Amazon collection on any Kindle at one time, and clearly can't store both collections and all the rest of the books I've purchased at Kobo, Diesel, BOB, Borders, etc. over the years on either one. I also can't install the Kindle app on my 16 GB Galaxy S4 because it requires 1 GB of main memory just to store all of the ebook covers before I even download a single book, and I just don't have the room for it.

Originally Posted by downeaster59

Every book I have ever purchased from Nook has been downloaded on my laptop, and they are all also safely backed up. Books seem to download on my NGP and the Nook app on my iPad. I've downloaded every book I have purchased from Kindle, and backed them up as well. Am I missing something here? I agree that B&N could use some serious customer service lessons, but I don't see any sign of this "can't download books" problem. If I ever had that problem, however, I'd be done with B&N immediately!

Have you ever purchased enhanced (animated) or "Perfect Page" ebooks for your Nook? In my experience, they cannot be downloaded with the older Nook for PC and Nook Study nor the Windows 8/10 application from the Windows App store. According to the Windows 8 App, I have 34 unsupported ebooks (fortunately, I think all were free). It's possible that Amazon or Kobo have ebooks that cannot be downloaded to a PC, but I don't think I've run into one yet.

[bgalbrecht]

Maybe B&N does listen to their customers. They've fixed the website so that it won't let you add ebooks to your cart if you've already bought them from B&N.