Comments on: Barnes & Noble releases branded iPhone eReader app

By: Man Ching Cheung

Man Ching Cheung — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:26:35 +0000

@Mike Cane and Chris Meadows,

No… and worse, eReader cannot read Barnes and Noble ebooks (and vice versa). At least on the iPhone.

I downloaded a free book from B&N book store, used MobileFinder to move the book from the B&N ebooks folder to the eReader ebooks folder… and the book was not even recognized by eReader.

The opposite is true as well, sadly.

mcc

By: devini

devini — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 10:31:42 +0000

Using the back door does lead to books for sale.
Everytime I tried to purchase one I was stopped
because I have a Canadian address. What balderdash.
Are B&N pulling another Amazon and blocking
Canadians from buying books from them? Given they
own eReader & Fictionwise this makes absolutely
no sense to me whatsoever. Disappointed in Canada.

By: Dave A. Law

Dave A. Law — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:46:05 +0000

There appears to be a ‘backdoor’ into the site. Instead of ‘Shop for eBooks’ go to ‘Search All Products’ and select only eBooks as an option. You can see eBooks for sale now. Not sure if you can actually buy them. Also, the site claims that you can find free eBooks from Google, similar to what Sony is doing I believe. However, I couldn’t find any so I don’t think the site is really ready to go yet, even though the search feature works.

By: Brad Vertrees

Brad Vertrees — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:01:38 +0000

While I think it’s cool B&N is jumping on the ebook bandwagon, why couldn’t they just add the ereader to their existing app? Bing is right, they took the easy way out. But if they wanna get serious with going digital, they will have to combine the 2 and give them easy functionality.

Of course, I still downloaded the app right away and plan on giving it a spin around the block. I have a weakness for ereaders!

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:29:34 +0000

Actually, you can do it directly through the B&N website. You just click on “Account or “Sign In” at the top, then click on “Create Account”.

An account on the website is not to be confused with B&N’s savings-program thing.

By: -Andy-

-Andy- — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:25:12 +0000

Oops. Found the free B&N account signup. You do/get it thru the eReader app. Not directly thru the B&N website — does that mean they aren’t the same thing?

And what does that mean for book prices?

Ugh… gonna have to contact B&N website support.

By: Bing

Bing — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:15:23 +0000

Personally, I would have upgraded the B&N store app to have eReader built in. They took the easy and cheaper way out, but it’s only easy & cheap up front. In the long run they’ll find the apps redundant and will find for branding and convenience reasons that both will need to be rolled into one in the future.

By: -Andy-

-Andy- — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:45:22 +0000

(How does one get a free B&N membership? Looks like it’s $25/yr for me. Unless you’re counting the $50 in coupons they are currently offering to join. )

I can see why they now have a B&N branded eReader for the people who already shop through the B&N website. (And it even looks nice — but I’m probably biased since I’ve always been a fan of eReader’s clean look and ease of use.)

But is there a benefit to using it for those of us who use Fictionwise? (Assuming the continued existence of Fictionwise). Different ebooks? More ebooks? Cheaper ebooks? And how does a B&N Membership compare to Fictionwise in this (eBook) context?

Wondering…

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Nope.

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:24:16 +0000

Question: Does this app and “regular” eReader share file directories? That is, can you see your existing eReader eBooks in this new app?