Lend Out Your eBooks with Barnes & Noble's Nook Digital Book Reader
As a voracious reader of mysteries and other frivolous read-once fiction, I was a natural early adopter of the Amazon Kindle. I gleefully downloaded books minutes prior to takeoff and paid the bargain price of $9.99 for new releases. I had always swapped my physical books with friends, though, and that had sadly come to an end.
Until now. The new Barnes & Noble's Nook digital book reader lets you lend your digital books to friends for up to 14 days without an additional fee. You simply email the book from your Nook and your friend can read it on any device with the Barnes & Noble eReader software—iPhone, iPod Touch, some BlackBerrys and Motorola smart phones, and computers.
Another unique feature of the Nook is its use of a color touchscreen panel as the main navigation interface. It works beautifully for previewing the covers of the books in your library. The Nook will also sync the page you last read to other devices capable of reading your books. And, you can load your MP3s onto the Nook for listening to music, audiobooks and podcasts.
Like other digital book readers, the Nook has free access to AT&T's 3G broadband service for shopping whenever and wherever throughout the United States (there is no International access, as Amazon has with the International edition of its Kindle).
Here's how the digital-book-reader landscape looks now.
| Amazon Kindle/ Kindle International Edition | Amazon Kindle DX | Barnes & Noble Nook | IREX DR 800SG | Sony Reader Daily Edition | |
| Screen Size | 6 inches | 9.7 inches | 6 inches | 8.1 inches | 7 inches |
| Navigation | Buttons | Buttons | Color touchscreen panel and buttons | Rocker bar plus stylus | Touchscreen |
| Storage | 1,500 books | 3,500 books | 1,500 books plus expansion through microSD card at 750 books per GB | 1,500 books plus expansion through microSD card at 750 books per GB | 1,200 books plus expansion through Memory Stick Pro Duo or SD card at 600 books per GB |
| Wireless Bookstores at launch | Kindle Store | Kindle Store | Barnes & Noble eBookstore | Barnes & Noble eBookstore, Newspaper Direct, LibreDigital | Sony eBook Store |
| Wireless Access | National 3G network/International 3G network | National 3G network | National 3G network and Wi-Fi | National 3G network | National 3G network |
| Included accessories | none | none | none | cover, stylus | cover |
| Price | $259 at Amazon.com /$279 at Amazon.com |
$489 at Amazon.com |
$259, available November 2009 | $399, available October 2009 | $399, available December 2009 |
