Barnes & Noble has just released details about its addition to the growing digital reader market. Their e-reader, named Nook, is designed to compete directly with the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. It is set to debut in late November.
Billed by
Barnes & Noble as the “World’s Most Advanced eBook Reader”, it has many features that previous e-readers have lacked. For starters, it is equipped with a color LCD touch screen that allows users to scroll through book titles. In addition, it has an industry standard 2 GB of memory, but also supports an additional memory card with 16GB of space.
According to their website that means users can store over 17,000 ebooks on the device. Why do users need that much space? Because Barnes & Noble also offers over 500,000 ebooks for free. Note that these are not new releases or best sellers, but the offerings will equip most high school and college students with their required reading lists without paying a penny.
The features that really set this device apart from others are the following:
• Supports multiple reader formats including EPUB, eReader, and PDF. Users are not locked into a proprietary file format for ebook downloads like with the Amazon Kindle.
• The device also functions as an MP3 player storing up to 26 hours of music or audio books.
• Ability to lend ebooks to friends, free of charge
• Synchronizes to the iPhone, Blackberry, iPod, or computer.
• Built in 8.02.11 b/g wireless integration
• Stylish covers designed by Kate Spade, Jack Spade, Jonathan Alder and others.
In addition to all of that, Barnes & Noble wants people to show off their Nooks. So when users go to any Barnes & Noble store, they receive downloadable discounts, exclusive free content, and the ability to read ebooks for free. All of this, and the Nook is competitively priced at $259, matching its nearest competitor.
Although shipment of the Nook won’t begin until November 30, pre-orders are being taken at
BarnesandNoble.com as well as at in-store displays at any Barnes & Noble store.
