Last Friday on #followreader, we were very fortunate to have the lovely AND smart, Laura Dawson join us for a discussion on the new Barnes and Noble dedicated ereading device, the nook, as well as some conversation about Laura’s new venture Bloggapedia, and the controversy surrounding the practice of sharing ebooks with friends — is it piracy?
Highlights from the conversation:
The Nook:
- $259 (preorder online – not currently available for instore purchase)
- Exclusive In-Store Content — nook offers users the ability to read any ebook b+n carries via wifi while inside a Barnes and Noble brick and mortar store
- eBook Sharing — great idea: nook users can virtually loan their purchased ebooks – one at a time, for up to 14 days. Catches are, owner doesn’t have access to the title during the loan period, AND worse – publishers can opt out of the program (many have already indicated they will do so).
- SD Slot — users can sideload content (get files from their own computer, etc) and device’s hardware memory need not be a problem
- Free eBook with Pre-order – Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point is yours for free when you pre-order a Nook.
- Full Color touch screen AND eink screen — browse for books via color screen, read on eink screen.
- First curated blog directory
- Users can rate and tag blogs (the more who participate, the more refined the blog curation becomes)
- Bloggapedia blogs will be available via subscription formatted for reading on the nook AND free online for reading via webbrowsers
eBook Sharing VS. Piracy:
- readers want to be able to loan their ebooks to friends
- publishers and authors worry that ebook loans could cut into potential sales
Related links
the nook
Laura Dawson’s 1st impressions of the nook http://bit.ly/36TmDk
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-barnes-noble-wont-sell-nook-to-go-in-all-stores/
twitter nook contact (answers for your nook questions) @eBooksBN
Bloggapedia:
read more about bloggapedia http://bit.ly/PT1Bo
ebook sharing versus piracy:
from @dearauthor “readers have copyright rights 2″ http://bit.ly/Qd5fJ
“Trust Your Readers” from @brianoleary http://bit.ly/Mmdld
On e-Reading Devices in General:
E-Book Fans Keep Format in Spotlight http://bit.ly/2RyORD
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/10/25/should-i-buy-an-ebook-reader-this-year/
http://www.magellanmediapartners.com/index.php/mmcp/article/a_mobile_bibliography/
http://technologizer.com/2009/10/26/the-e-reader-explosion-a-cheat-sheet/
Thanks for the link to “Trust your readers”, a post written with Follow the Reader in mind.
On piracy, I’ve written a post summarizing the dust-up in Frankfurt. That post includes several links that might be helpful to the FTR audience, including one to a Slideshare version of the presentation I gave at TOC – Frankfurt. You can find that post at http://bit.ly/PXVwU
BTW, I think of Laura as smart, and then lovely, but that’s a nit
Thanks for the link to the post, Brian. And I suppose Laura is possibly as smart as she is lovely, but I think the lovely should always be first in that equation. (brains are beautiful too!)
Sounds like B&N has come up with a good compromise on the sharing with friends issue, and one not unlike the situation with print books. This feature alone shifts my view of the Nook towards the positive.
Publishers who opt out are not doing themselves any favours when it comes to word-of-mouth and exposing their authors to a wider readership. But then very few publishers seem to ‘get it’ yet when it comes to ebooks.