Barnes & Noble looks to encourage ebook reading with free coffee
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 9th 2010 10:10AM
posted June 9th 2010 10:10AM
posted June 9th 2010 10:10AM
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If you show them a Kindle do they throw the coffee at you?
Great idea on how to get customers into their store... who will never buy a physical book.
@Templarian I think thats if you show them an ipod. They probably have special coffee for that.
@Digi iPad***** I fail; throw coffee at me! IM NOT WORTHY! IM NOT WORTHY!
@Templarian Just getting people into the store is enough for most managers. The assumption is that they will see something they like and will buy it.
@groberts1980, yea, mostly posted for the irony of it.
So I download their software on my iPad, grab the free coffee and leave?
What if you hate coffee??? But really just download the app select a free book and read it - lovely
@Bjeaneen
They'll probably allow you to switch it for tea.
@F86 Pilot
lol? What a stupid statement, not even worth the time to show why.
@Bjeaneen
What if you hate coffee AND tea? Can I get some chocolate milk?
This Shows how badly kindle and ipad are beating them.
@F86 Pilot My manager is switching from the nook to an iPad because he prefers the iPad for eReading. Barnes and Noble still wins though, because he's buying the books on the iPad from the BN eBookstore.
@F86 Pilot Free coffee? I don't know. I didn't get that message from this at all. It seems more like a way to keep their nook customers coming to their store since they now have no real reason to.
Ah... I guess if you show up with a Sony Reader you are s.o.l.
B&N still doesn't have eReader on the Android market? That makes absolutely no sense.
I own a Nook and I actually purchase books from BN. They should have this promo for BN Nook owners only, since we actually plunked down the $260 for their device.
@MsCG1
Did they send you the $50 store credit when you registered? I haven't used mine, yet....
@MsCG1 They probably made a loss on the Nook hardware, you should buy them coffee
@joelaf I was an earlier adopter of the device so I missed out on the gift card. But from the BN and Nook boards, BN is giving the card out to customers who purchased the device up to two or even three weeks before the offer went into effect.
Seriously, I spend a whole lot more on books with the Nook then I did when I depended solely on online purchasing and brick and mortar stores. Coupled with the fact that BN won't let us use our PAID BN memberships when purchasing ebooks, or Nook accessories, the least they can do is to throw Nook owners some free coffee. Exclusively.
@MsCG1
They just sent me the coupon, and I've had my Nook for about 2 months. My understanding was they extended the offer to all Nook owners.
@joelaf Are you serious? I just bought mine on April 11. Hmmm, Where did they send your coupon to?
I would feel like a heel calling up BN and asking for a coupon ...
@MsCG1 Are you aware that you can get all sorts of free things when you bring your Nook into B&N?
I walked in to a B&N with mine the other day, connected to their WiFi, and an offer for some free brownie thing came up on my store page. I walk over to the counter, show the lady working there, and she hands me a free brownie.
Whatever else the Kindle does, it doesn't give you free brownies.
@MsCG1
First I registered my Nook, to get updates. Then, when I set up a B&N online account, they sent it to me in an email. You can print a physical coupon, or an entry code for use online.
@joelaf
Oh, I wonder if that's the difference then. Are you just now setting up your BN account for the first time with your Nook? I bought my Nook almost two months, but I registered it the next day because I had a lot of books on my account that I wanted available on the Nook asap.
I doubt they will give me the $50 coupon if I've already had the device registered for 2 months. *sigh*
Love the nook. Have it since launch, and it has GREATLY improved.
So they're trying all sorts of gimmicks now.
Ebooks will always be fail as long as they have their own proprietary walled-garden ecosystems, and nasty digital restrictions management(DRM). The music industry learned the hard way, it's about time the book industry learned as well.
@mukatuna U mad? They've always given us free stuff, it isn't something new. We get free books every week, free magazines, free pastries from the cafe ...
And while BN is closed, it mostly sucks for everyone else, but NOT Nook owners, as I can purchase my books from BN, Kobo, Fictionwise, Sony, and tons of other online bookstores and put them ALL on my Nook.
And even better, FREE library books from Overdrive can also be loaded and read on my Nook. Free coffee, free books ... this particular brand of fail is packaged full of win.
@MsCG1 No I'm not mad. I buy an ebook from B&N, can I read it on a Kindle, a Sony or an iPad? NO, I have to read it on their own Nook. Also what happens if B&N decides at sometime in the future to discontinue the service, and turns off the authentication servers, all my purchases are rendered useless. Which has happened with various DRM's music services.
I buy a song from Apple iTunes, I can play it on a Microsoft Zune or a Sony Walkman just fine. Why should it be any different when it comes to ebooks?
@mukatuna Hence why I said that BN's closed format sucks for EVERYONE ELSE. But since I'm a NOOK owner, this really doesn't apply to me. I don't HAVE to buy my books from BN to read on my Nook, I have other options.
B&N the biggest brick and mortar selling of books in the country, if they decided to NOT invest in the BN Nook, or the BN app (unlikely, but since you want to be irrational, I'll indulge you), do you really think they're going to piss off tens of thousands of consumers who purchased their books by NOT removing the DRM and allowing them to take their purchased books to be read on other devices?
And I like that you crow about how "open" iTunes is now, considering they weren't like that WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED OUT. And since we're comparing eReader apps, iBooks is even MORE closed than BN. At least the BN app can be read on multiple devices and other eReaders. You buy a book from iBooks, you can only read it on an Apple device.
eReaders aren't going anywhere, and they will evolve and become more user friendly, just as music media did. But to declare it as a "fail" is just blatantly false and reactionary.
@mukatuna
Actually, B&N supports the ePub format which works with Sony e-readers and any other open e-readers. They also offer free ebook apps to Windows, Mac and iPhone/iPad (maybe even BB, but I might be wrong on this one). The only villains are Amazon and Apple who have their own walled gardens. Apple is by far the worst, jacking up the prices for everyone else thanks to their market approach.
I still don't have a nook, though, I might wait until Christmas or even next summer for one.
@mukatuna
use Calibre to convert. I downloaded 2 free William Gibson books online. Calibre even lets you pick the device you are converting to, from a dropbox.
Legit, I might check this out.
If it doesn't work on my Sony eReeder, all the coffee in the world won't sway me.
So...B&N is assuming that people are too stupid to know how to download and install an app? I'll show you...
*ADF pod deployed*
*Firing*
pew....BOOM!!!
It seems like a good idea... walk into a B&N and look toward the cafe at a bunch of books. I'll ne taking mine there soon.