Barnes & Noble accepting gift cards for ebook purchases starting mid-December
By Darren Murph 
posted November 17th 2009 2:35PM
posted November 17th 2009 2:35PM
[Thanks, David]
posted November 17th 2009 2:35PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
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Who Cares?
I do!
yeah - if you actually care - you're an idiot - did you expect them NOT to? - it's called maximizing your sales opportunities - it 'might' have been more interesting if they said you couldn't - (even then lame).
Barnes and Noble are pushing this product very hard at their store near me in Alpharetta, Georgia (just north of Atlanta). There is a big, CES-esque booth display inside the store promoting the Nook, including banners, flyers, etc. I've never seen anything like this in retail. I've seen Sony's little setups at Borders but Barnes and Noble have much larger visuals. I think if they have this kind of in-store presence for the device around the nation then Amazon and Sony have something to worry about. Combined with the innovative "album art" book cover display at the bottom and you have something truly unique. You really have to see how they are pushing it in the stores - its surreal.
you know, I want to love this thing, but they seriously failed when they limited teh color screen's functionality to browsing within the marketplace. You should be able to watch videos, play games, use an on-screen keyboard, etc. Instead, it's incredibly laggy, and crippled. No thanks.
I'll wait for the apple tablet. Why is it that it always takes Apple to make things mainstream? iPods, smartphones, and e-books... they all need to be blessed by Jobs before the masses will adopt. You know I speak the truth, but go ahead and downrank, anyway :-)
Dude. you would SERIOUSLY defeat the purpose of an E-book if you gave that touchscreen the ability to "watch videos, play games". An E-book is supposed to do exactly as it is named: E-books.
Sure, an Apple tablet that can play games, browse the web, so on and so forth would be stellar, but then you would just be creating another Jack-of-all-trades. If you give the Nook the ability to do all those things, then what's the point of the e-book in the first place? You created another master of none, and everyone won't but focused on the main point of the device. That's why the Kindle, and Sony E-reader haven't pursued those features; they aren't necessary to people who just want to read. The Spring Design Alex is a nice add-on, but it outshines the purpose on it's e-screen. I believe the Nook's color screen is just right the way it is.
Look, I'm just as much an Apple fanboy as the next guy, but to assume that Apple will "mainstream" ebooks is quite presumptuous. I think Amazon has largely done that already, and the nook looks set to take it to the next level.
Also, who's to say that the nook won't do at least some of those things one day? It's primary function is as an eReader, meaning that B&N will support ebooks and mp3s. That's exactly what most people want from a device that uses an E-Ink display. Having said that, however, B&N have also indicated that Android apps may be in the future. If that's true, you can bet that any forthcoming apps will fill the niche you're wanting while allowing other users to keep their nooks from bloating.
Yes, Jason pretty much nailed it. Furthermore (and I should have put "be" instead of "but" in my last comment), imagine if the Microsoft Courier came out with all these features to watch video, play games, apps and such. That's nice, but all I want to do is take notes, write in a journal, draw/sketch, and string pages together with the browser. That's why I bought it, after all. I'm not saying that the Apple Tablet or Microsoft Courier shouldn't have a lot of cool features and apps, etc., but I don't want another oversized version of my cellphone.
I understand what you guys are saying, but I'm talking about a device/ecosystem that does for books what the iPod did for music. I'm talking about a device that's solely responsible for more e-book versions of a best-selling novel to be sold, versus its print version.
This will NEVER occur, so long as ebook readers are as expensive as they are now. To achieve e-market dominance, these devices need to either:
1) Drop in price to about $49, or
2) Do A LOT MORE - email, web surfing, HD Video, full color magazines with embedded video/audio, seamless communicating/sending of media to/from your other devices, etc.
I'll admit that I could be wrong, but I think the type 2) device is going to be responsible for bringing the e-book market out of its current niche position.
The game's just about to get interesting.
@(Unverified)
But, the iPod did that for music long before there was a version that sold for $49. And, it did this solely as an mp3/music player.
This is a E-Book. Look up what that means.
I know what that means. I also know that unless you read about 400+ pages a week, it makes absolutely no sense to drop $259 on a device that pretty much ANY bibliophile will tell you can't compare to a physical book, as far as annotation capability, value, the ability to resell/lend, and all that other stuff.
This is a new era we're embarking upon. Print media is MOST CERTAINLY becoming extinct, but certainly not when e-book readers cost $259.
You guys are also missing the point that the VAST majorty of text in this world is displayed alongside color photos/videos/charts/etc. Novels would be a huge exception here, admittedly, but for this vast majority of text, and the accompanying supplementary media it comes with, a grayscale display with a long refresh rate is absolutely not optimal.
E-book readers are good for on-the-go novel junkies, and not very many other people. Academics will tell you they HATE studying from a Kindle, etc. This type of device will not reach mainstream at a $259 price point. A theoretical "do everything" device with full touchscreen OLED HD display/output, wi-fi/3G radio, and a fast processor inherrantly has about 10,000 times the utility, and the general public (not bookworms, not gadget freaks) would be much more willing to pay hundreds of dollars for it.
So what type of devices will ultimately be responsible for the death of nearly all print media? Unless these grayscale readers come down in price by 90%, I'm betting that it's gonna be something with an HD LCD/OLED, wi-fi, etc. We'll just have to wait and see.
It's not like you're not paying $259 every time you get a book.
It's called an investment. Also, think about the space you're saving. You can fit a hundred books in your purse (assuming you, errr, have one)
"Academics will tell you they HATE studying from a Kindle, etc."
Really? How do you find the time to post comments on Engadget when you are obviously the most popular person on the planet?
Like I said its an E-book. Being able to carry a hundred books on a tiny piece of plastic is really priceless. These will eventually be used in schools/mechanic shops/building firms/etc. all over the world.
I guess your pretty bummed there will be no more book burnings for you and your family to hang out at. :P
People people, if you are going to give Gift cards this year (AKA Im too lazy and I dont really care about you so I placed a dollar value on our friendship) Be sure you get a gift card that THE PERSON WILL ACTUALLY USE! and for a store that is not going out of business.
Either that or if you are too stupid just get a gift card for a gas station... something someone who drives will actually use. Not a gift card for some random abscure store that will only accect it towards the purchase of mint scented pottery on wednesdays from 9am-11:59am if you stand on your head singing the lyrics to "kiss me under the moonlight"...
And no not everyone want an iGift Card because $25 cant even get you a pair of iHeadphones...
I'm too lazy to read all that---here, take this 10 dollar gift card.
as far as eBook readers go this ones damn sexy ..
if there wasn't some Apple thing coming and this be avail in Germany i def be cuing up to buy one !
So ... they don't want to take gift cards until mid-December?
I see, so they don't want money they already have ... they want "new" money.
They could very easily start the ordering process with gift cards now.
I know it has nothing to do with their 4th Quarter profits since that doesn't end until February.
They must be hoping for people to buy the nook early with cash/credit since they probably won't ship mid-December orders until January.
"They must be hoping for people to buy the nook early with cash/credit since they probably won't ship mid-December orders until January."
The restriction is applied gift cards to ebooks, not the nook itself. Go to bn.com/nook and give it a try yourself :).
So BN gift cards can't be applied to ebooks until near the time when the Nook ships...fine with me.
Oh ... I confused "e-book" with an e-reader.
See, this is why I shouldn't get any e-reader.
Because I can't even read an article fully. ;)
Thanks, that makes more sense.
Hi everyone. I work for B&N and can elaborate on this some.
Originally, the e-reader was only going to accept credit cards. The #1 requested feature pretty much has been gift card use, so that's why they're starting in December and not at launch.
You can use a gift card to purchase the device already. To buy e-books with gift cards, you'll still need a credit card tied to your account. You go on the website and put in your gift card numbers, and if you buy something that exceeds your gift card balance, your credit card will be charged the difference automatically.
From what I've seen, gift cards will NOT work on the purchase of e-magazines, either for subscriptions or single issues.
I work in the Atlanta area and know about the desk in the Alpharetta store that a previous commenter mentioned. Only the top 100 or so stores are getting the giant desk. The rest of us will be getting a smaller display of accessories [booklights, covers, etc] and not much else. We smaller stores also will not be stocking the e-reader in the store until the initial batch of preorders has shipped. I'd be shocked if we had them before January. Stores with the large desk will be getting some to sell on site, but it's not clear how many each store will get yet.
Hope that clears some stuff up. :-)
@(Unverified) Hi. I live in Atlanta and would like to ask you which specific store in Alpharetta that will receive Nook devices are you referring to? The one at North Point?
You also mentioned that you can buy the device it self with gift cards. So if I have six gift cards worth $50 dollars each, can you confirm that I can combine them all to get the device without me having to spend any money out of my pocket?
Thanks in advance,
Rafa.
::feels a Limp Bizkit song coming in their ads::
"I did it all for the Nookie!"
;)
Until B&N separates itself from the likes of Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty none of their products should be purchased.
Is it just me, or are B&N's ebook prices quite high compared to Amazon?
It's just you. I've noticed that most of the newer books that Amazon waits till are on the best seller's list, are 9.99 from the get go on the nook. I think there are a few bugs in the B&N system atm, that will work themselves out. If you see a book that appears to be too expensive, I'd write in and ask wth? :P