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back to article Barnes & Noble Nooks bound for Blighty

US-based literature retailer Barnes & Noble today announced plans to bring its popular Nook range of eReaders to the UK market. The company has revealed intent to crack Blighty this October with the Nook Simple Touch and the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. On top of the hardware, Barnes & Noble will launch the Nook store, …

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  1. thomas k.

    Love mine!

    I love my Nook! It's gotten me back in the habit of reading again; I'd almost forgotten what a pleasure that is. Just finished Middlemarch and now on Daniel Deronda.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not sure how far they'll go, wasn't Asda pushing the Kobo at nearly half the price of a Kindle and still didn't manage to make a dent?

    I think for most people e-book reader = Kindle.

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    1. Shagbert
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      Apples and oranges - the Nook range are comparable (and in the case of the Tablet) far superior to the Kindle equivalents. There's also a thriving rooting community for them built in - my Nook Color was a full on Android Tablet about a year before the Fire even existed. The Color and Tablet reading app is also about the best ereader I've used (and I tried more or less all of them before settling on the Nook one).

      There's also the fact that while travelling back home in Blighty a lot over the last year or so I've had a lot of people ask me about it and express a lot of interest once they had a play. I'm just wondering if this isn't all a year or two too late..

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      1. Anonymous Coward
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        Anonymous Coward

        But as the article says only the e-paper tablets are coming to the UK, not the Color.

        Not sure if those are really so superior to the Kindle to bring a change to the market.

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    2. Tom Chiverton 1
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      Shrug.

      I got one for the better half, they love it and do a ton of reading, buying books on it to do so.

      WHSmith need to clue up and promote the hell out of it.

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  3. Big_Ted

    Me......

    I will grab a glowlight version the day its available.

    The only thing I hate about any reader is that those little lights that clip on just don't work well or are just awkward.

    The built in light is a great added extra for me.

    Best of luck to them if they can do online books as well at Kindle prices or better.....

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  4. John McCallum
    Devil

    Nooks

    This is all very well as long as they donot assume that $1=£1.If they charge the same as in the US they will compeate very well even with the cheapest eReader Simple touch $99=£78 inc VAT App Simple touch with glow light $139=£108 inc VAT

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    1. Big_Ted
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      Thumb Up

      Re: Nooks

      Yes, same basic price as the Kindle touch, a very nice price if thats what it ends as.....

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  5. Peter2 Silver badge

    The problem is...

    That if you buy an ebook on one platform or the other your tied to their platform. (at least theoretically, leaving aside Caliber and other solutions)

    When they actually start taking after Baen and offering their books in a variety of formats that is convenient to [b]*ME*[/b]ie [i]the customer[/i] then I might consider actually buying some books from them. Otherwise, i'm voting with my feet and not buying into proprietary formats and deliberate lock in strategies.

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    1. Kwac
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      Re: The problem isn't...

      The Nooks can read just about every eReader format, including (the International Standard) ePub.

      If you really want to be tied to one format get a Kindle.

      Yes I do have a (original) Nook, hacked. And I'll be keeping it because e-ink can be read in sunlight, unlike the colour versions.

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      1. Peter2 Silver badge
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        Re: The problem isn't...

        Your missing the point. How many formats does Barnes & Noble sell in?

        When it's more than one, then maybe they'll get a few more visitors. The point is that they are handicapping themselves by demanding that people have to have their hardware to buy their e-books, which is little short of stupid.

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      2. Andy Moreton
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        Re: The problem isn't...

        Books purchased from the nook bookstore can only be read on a nook, so they are no better than kindles in that respect.

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        1. Efros
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          Re: The problem isn't...

          Nook app in Android, and iOS as well as a browser reader. All of which will allow sideloading of epubs.

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          1. Ragarath
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            Flame

            Re: The problem isn't...

            I think the main problem is having the book sellers producing the book reading devices. They should not be allowed to tie them to propriatory formats.

            Book sellers survivied before by, well, selling books. They did not chain me to their stores; they got my custom by stocking what I wanted to buy at a reasonable price and offering a good choice.

            The free market seems unable to sort this out as there is no choice and there has not been for a long time this should have been dealt with a long time ago. You have to buy into one propriatory format or another or limit your choice of books. Why should I have to buy 3 readers to get the full choice? This is why I still buy normal paper books, plus I get the addeded benefit of actuallly owning that book.

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    2. Martin
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      Happy

      Re: The problem is...

      Amazon may "lock you down" but (a) the Kindle ebooks are frequently cheaper than the ePub equivalents and (b) are frequently the only format available. Add to that the sheer ease of buying Kindle books (one click, and a minute later you start reading it on your Kindle) and it's no wonder that Kindles lead the market.

      I have a Sony Reader, a Kobo Touch and a Kindle. I am not just being a Kindle fanboi here. I'd love it if buying books on the Kobo Touch were as easy as it is on the Kindle. (It claims to be, but it isn't really in the same class...)

      If you really hate being locked down, I believe that there are ways of stripping the DRM from Kindle books and reading them on other readers. Not that I'd know how to do anything like that, or in any way endorse it, you understand.

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      1. JohnG
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        Re: The problem is...

        "I'd love it if buying books on the Kobo Touch were as easy as it is on the Kindle."

        It is easy to get books on the Kobo with Calibre - and you're not limited to a single store.

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  6. Richard 33
    Stop

    Nook Color vs Nexus 7

    I have a Nook Color (bought from the US about a year ago) and a Nexus 7, and the Nexus 7 wins in every conceivable way, including reading ebooks. Even if I'm generous and assume the new Nooks are twice as powerful and will be half the price of the Nexus, it'd still be the Nexus for me.

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    1. Youngone Silver badge
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      FAIL

      Re: Nook Color vs Nexus 7

      Slightly off topic, but if the Nexus 7 is $199 in US money, why is it $439 in NZ money, when the exchange rate should make it about $246 in our money? I'd buy one, but not at that price.

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      1. Somerset John
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        Big Brother

        Re: Nook Color vs Nexus 7

        Not sure if this is the reason, but how much duty, if any, does your government add to the price?http://www.reghardware.com/Design/graphics/icons/comment/big_brother_32.png

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    2. Aldous
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      Re: Nook Color vs Nexus 7

      do you read for any length of time? (i.e full text, not magazine text/picture mix) just curious how any LCD screen can be considered better then any e-ink for eye straain, causing insomnia etc. seems like comparing radio's to phones, both good at what they do but not interchangable

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      1. Richard 33
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        Re: Nook Color vs Nexus 7

        Well the Nook Color has an LCD screen too (a much worse one than the Nexus 7) so it's not really an issue. Of course a Nook with e-Ink would be a different matter, but I thought they'd stopped producing those since the original Nook.

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  7. Dave Bell

    Do B&N have the necessary rights to sell any e-books in the UK? The US publisher of a book, with the rights to sell an e-book edition in the USA, is not the same entity as the UK/Europe publisher. US-sourced ebooks have been announced as in the Amazon UK pipeline, they're very casual about what's available for pre-order, and promptly withdrawn when the UK publisher notices.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Until they get their act together

    I am a loyal Amazon customer, with a Nook! I recommend using DeDRM and Calibre to ensure you have a copy of the ebook you have handed over money for in perpetuity. It is simple to convert it into any format you desire. I have my entire Kindle library stripped of DRM and working perfectly on my Nook, each book takes about 3 minutes of faffing about, roughly the same time as the download from Amazon.

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  9. night troll
    Pirate

    About Bloody Time

    Wanted one of these when they first came out, had to settle for a Sony. Don't get me wrong the Sony is a nice piece of kit especially with its metal case but the Nook has that want factor. Hopefully they will also bring the rest of the range over in time for Christmas. I would love a colour version.

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