The Wall Street Journal reports that Barnes & Nobel is ready to release its ebook reader this week:
Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookstore chain as measured by revenue, is playing catch-up with Amazon in digital books, one of the few growing segments of the publishing industry. Over the summer, Barnes & Noble introduced its own e-book store, which now features over a million free public domain books from Google Inc. Its e-books can be read on devices including Apple Inc.’s iPhone and a forthcoming reader from Plastic Logic Ltd. called Que.
The book chain has scheduled an event for the media, publishers and publishing agents in New York on Tuesday. Features of the Nook include a wireless connection to download books from the retailer’s online e-bookstore and an e-paper display from E-Ink Corp. that is separate from the color controls.
The New York Times Book Review ad urges readers to “experience nook at your local Barnes & Noble or at nook.com.” That Web site couldn’t be accessed Monday afternoon.
Pictures of the e-book reader are above. There’s no information on many of the key features which I considered when I finally gave in and purchased an ebook reader last week after previously expressing some reluctance.
After comparing features I picked up an EZ Reader Pocket Pro as opposed to the more well known models. Important factors in my purchase included handling a wide variety of formats and using SD cards for external storage. In addition, there’s no danger of Amazon remotely wiping out books. I’ll post a review in the near future. There’s no word as to how the product from Barnes& Noble compares on the features I considered.
