Barnes & Noble e-reader to allow lending books?
updated 10:35 pm EDT, Fri October 9, 2009
Barnes & Noble reader may ship Oct. 20
Barnes & Noble's first e-book reader should launch soon and could introduce a watershed feature for any reader, a contacts claim this evening. The bookstore supposedly has a "major event" scheduled for October 20th where it's likely to introduce the e-book reader it promised for the end of the year. The device is likely to be a grayscale reader but to use AT&T 3G for downloading books online.
More important may be a rare lending feature. Barnes & Noble is pressing publishers for usage rights that would let customers temporarily give an e-book they own to a friend. Loans would most likely be limited, however, and publishers are said to be hesitant to allow too many loans in a given year.
Wi-Fi is also deemed probable based on the comments of one unnamed senior official at a publisher, who says the short-range wireless is being used for in-store demos that Barnes & Noble considers essential to the e-reader's success.
Barnes & Noble's launch if fulfilled would give it an edge in the e-book reader market over the Amazon Kindle, which allows multi-device reading but not loans or Wi-Fi. It may also set the stage for future competition between the book retailer and a future Apple e-book store mated to a tablet platform.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2008
Seems like the eReader wars are
starting to heat up in earnest. Maybe this time the tablet platform will pick up with multiple brands and Apple possibly leading the way. I'm not an avid magazine reader as I once was, but I still spend a lot of time reading on my computer screen. If I can get a tablet where I can get subscriptions and use for internet browsing, I think I'd get a lot of use out of it. I'm definitely in the market for a decent tablet. I don't see the form factor as a problem. I just want decent battery life and a durable device that could cope with a few knocks.