A Closer Look at the Barnes and Noble Nook eReader

The Barnes and Noble Nook is a one of a kind creation. It is the first ebook reader to employ both a traditional 6-inch E Ink screen along with an LCD touchscreen for navigation.

The Nook was officially unveiled on October 20th, and is expected to be the biggest rival to the Amazon Kindle yet. The Nook sells for the same price, $259, and adds some desirable new features like being able to lend purchased ebooks to friends. It is currently available for pre-order on the Barnes and Noble website and will ship at the end of November.

Here's a video demonstration of the Nook if you'd like a closer look at how it works. The device has a unique design and the color menus and book covers add a nice touch.

Free 3G Wireless

The Nook comes with free wireless service from AT&T's 3G network, and connects to Barnes and Noble's online ebook store for wireless downloads. In addition, B&N offer free Wi-Fi at their retail stores so consumers can browse through ebooks from their Nook as they would a real book on the shelf.

There are no fees, contracts, or wireless service charges; all that is included.

Unlike the Kindle, the Nook won't have a web browser for surfing the web when it initially releases, though B&N claim a browser is a possibility in the future if enough people identify it as something they want in a reader, but for now the device's primary purpose is for reading.

Content Selection

The Barnes and Noble Nook will have access to a library of over 1 million books, with at least half of them free public domain ebooks. Like Amazon, users can download free samples of each ebook before purchasing, and most new releases and bestsellers cost $9.99, although preliminary searches show that Amazon has lower prices on many general titles.

In additions to ebooks, there will be 45 newspaper and magazine subscriptions available for the Nook at launch, with more being added each week, claims B&N.

Some notable newspaper and magazine titles include: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and The Nation.

LCD Touchscreen Navigation

Below the 6-inch E Ink screen, the Nook has a unique color LCD section that is 3.5-inches wide and utilizes the same technology as the iPhone. This will allow for quick navigation through menus, annotating, highlighting, and typing in searches and notes with an on-screen keyboard function. Also, the LCD turns off while reading to conserve power.

Formats and DRM

Like Sony, Barnes and Noble has announced that they are transitioning their entire library of ebooks to EPUB format. The Nook will also support PDF and PDB (Palm) formats. For image files it will support JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP—and you'll be able to create personal screensavers. In addition, the Barnes and Noble Nook has a headphone jack, built-in speakers, and supports MP3 files and audiobooks, but it won't have text-to-speech.

Platforms and Lending

One thing that sets B&N apart from Amazon is they allow customers to purchase ebooks for use on PCs, iPhones, iPod touchs, select BlackBerrys, Motorola smartphones, and the Nook, of course.

Additionally, B&N will offer a borrowing feature with the Nook that will allow people to lend purchased ebooks to friends owning any of the above devices with B&N's software installed. A borrowed book lasts for 14 days and can only be on one device at a time, meaning you can't lend it multiple times at once. And it's important to note that you won't have access to the book while it is loaned to someone else, and you won't be able to re-loan it after you get it back.

A synchronizing feature brings all your content together on all these devices, making notes, annotations, and the last page read appear on whichever device you use.

You can learn more about ereaders at The-eBook-Reader.com, and find free and new ebooks for them.