There’s no denying the fact the popularity of Nook ereaders has been on the decline for several years now.
It’s gotten to the point where Barnes and Noble barely even bothers acknowledging the existence of their last remaining E Ink Nook anymore.
I find it interesting that B&N has removed the Nook GlowLight Plus from the main Nook landing page on the Barnes and Noble website.
It used to be listed below the Samsung-branded Nook tablets but now it’s nowhere to be found aside from a basic text link on the navigation menu.
Barnes and Noble doesn’t even have a single picture of their Nook ereader on the main Nook page anymore.
They just have their latest $49 Nook tablet and the Samsung tablets show; you have to go out of your way to find the link to the Nook ereader page.
Even if you type the word “nook” into the search field at B&N it won’t lead you to the Nook GlowLight’s page. The search will just automatically load the main Nook page, which again doesn’t show a listing for the E Ink Nook, just the Nook tablets.
At this point B&N might as well just give up on Nook ereaders entirely if they can’t even bother to advertise or promote them on the main Nook landing page. They stopped showing Nooks on the homepage ages ago. At first I thought maybe the Nook was out-of-stock and that’s why they weren’t showing it on the main Nook page anymore, but that’s not the case—it’s still for sale. It’s just that nobody seems to care much about Nooks these days, B&N included.
I still have my Nook Simple Touch and use it. Funny that it still runs after almost bricking it with all the different ROMs I put on it. Those were fun times 🙂
I loved my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. Unfortunately, the screen got cracked in a couple of spots and the light is bleeding through. If not for that, I’d still be using it. I don’t understand why they downgraded (IMO) with the Nook Glowlight plus. The not shipping to Canada is a big issue: many people would like an alternative to the Kindle or Kobo…Sure there are ways to get it, but it could be easier…
I have a Glowlight Plus and like it very much, especially for reading outside. It has the great feature of actually being able to turn the light off, not just down, when needed. It’s odd that Barnes and noble have stopped advertising it.
I don’t think you need to “go out of your way” to click on a menu item that is clearly listed on the left side of the nook webpage. Heck it even has its own menu header to make it a little clearer…
I think B&N is just clearly pushing the tablets and that is more the issue than anything…
The Nook still rocks. An awesome tablet line -up. I used to gift them like crazy — so a lot of family and friends still using them.
It is fairly easy to find the link for the Glowlight Plus IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IT. I think Nathan’s point is just that. Yes, you can find the Glowlight Plus if you are looking for it. However, there it nothing directing your attention to it if you just go to the B&N web site looking for a reader without previous knowledge of their offerings.
This is a real shame because with the latest software update, the Glowlight Plus is really a very good 6″ reader. Since the update, I almost never use any of the ‘rooted’ features of my rooted Glowlight Plus. The stock B&N software now provides an excellent user experience (IMHO).
This is a real shame because with the latest software update, the Glowlight Plus is really a very good 6″ reader.
Does this mean that B&N improved the fonts? I purchased the Glowlight Plus, only to return it several days later because the fonts were too thin- definitely thinner than what the Simple Touch had.
Yes, the new software contains more formatting options. This includes changing the font wait between thinner, Regular, and Thicker. They also added additional line spacing and justification settings.
See this link for pictures of the new software.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=70816547&postcount=389
weight, not wait.
I like reading my Glowlight Plus, but what drives me nuts that I have yet to resolve is that there is no way to tell from the list of books which ones you have read a part of, which you have read all of, which you have not started yet. With 200+ books, it is very difficult to remember which ones I have finished. At the same time, I see that my GF’s kindle shows a % on each cover thumbnail, which is a nice solution. Has anyone figured out how to do something like this with a Nook?
I’m still using my Nook simple touch but it’s starting to show its age. One button sticks sometimes and the rubber around another it’s starting to crack. I’ve put it through a lot of use and I love it. I feel it’s waaaay better than a regular tablet for reading because of the insane about of battery life. I hope the glowlight is still available when I need to finally replace my Nook.
The answer can be found in their stock chart. BKS is now approaching century-lows and the reason is because their are hemorrhaging money with no real plan to save themselves.
Interestingly, B&N *did* find $50 million to buyback their stock — attempting to prop up their share price — but they don’t have enough money to even mention their e-reader on their website. The reason is that the Nook e-reader ain’t gonna save them and they know it. So they’ve shelved it.
These are desperate times for them Personally, I can’t understand why anyone would be any type of device from them at this point. Two years from now, it’s not at all clear that they’ll be around to service it.
BDR,
The facts in your comment make me sad. Yesterday I walked past a former B&N near NYU, shuttered and empty for the past 2 years. When the remaining stores close book browsing will be a thing of the past for a large part of the reading public.
It’s a huge loss.
Personally, I much prefer on-line book “browsing” to brick & mortar stores which carry only a handful of titles by comparison (and then only those authors from the Big 5 stables) while providing only back-jacket reviews.
Before the revolution, I discovered (at most) only 2-3 authors per *year* that I liked well enough to read. Now I’m finding 2-3 per month, if not per week.
Brick & mortar bookstores are the next-to-last vestige of an ugly 3rd chapter in story publishing (the earlier chapters being stone tablets & parchment). Those first 3 chapters were marked by monopoly/oligopoly, where only the anointed and the lucky were chosen to participate and then only to be fed upon by the slew of parasites in the publishing world.
The on-line revolution is the 4th chapter of story telling and when we rid polite society of said parasites from Big Publishing, the revolution can fully progress. The inevitable collapse of B&N should make *that* inevitable as well.
Change is both inescapable and good. Embrace it.
Well said! 😀
And let’s not forget, that when your wish finally comes true the consequences will probably be grave. When B&N, along with books a million and maybe others close down, enjoy your $35 or higher ebooks from Amazon, because when their msin competition goes, they will jack up their prices unyil they hit the sky….
They won’t care if they can earn billions cause they’ll be the only plsce to go, they’ll raise them cause they want to and becauae they can. They’ve already did that with blurays for example. When they got exclusive rights to sell the Agent Carter series they sold it for $54… for an EIGHT episode season no less…
It’s a pity, I really liked the Nook Simple Touch design, with it’s rubber physical buttons, and went out of my way (I live in Spain, no direct sales here) to buy them, the first one died after a really spectacular fall, and the second one is alive and kicking, although I have turned to Kobo to buy a lighted one, I have it as a backup.
When I was deciding to buy an ereader with built-in light I looked at the Nook Glowlight Plus, but as it wasn’t possible at that moment to run Android on it, and the buttons were out, I definitely turned to Kobo and bought the one with a bigger screen to read in bed, the NST was my portable reader for my bag during commute.
I didn’t have any problem finding it. If BN was smart (and we know they aren’t) they would bring out an 7.8 or 8.0 e-ink reader to beat amazon. Thank goodness for Kobo.
I have a question. I hope someone can help me. I have a nook that I love and I put the nook app on my iPhone 5 I used for awhile. Now all of a sudden it won’t load. I’ve tried deleting and adding back. Still won’t. If anyone has any feedback I’d appreciate it.
I disliked the newest version of the glowlight, now plus, so much that I returned it and went back to my previous glowlight.
The most “updated” version of the nook glowlight does not allow the “n” button to be held down to turn on the backlight. So therefore, you better hope you’re not in the dark when trying to turn on the backlight…because hoping you’re touching the Settings bar at the top, and then HOPING you’re in the right area of the Backlight bar from there is a joke.
Another disappointing major feature, the battery isn’t NEARLY as long. Joke joke joke, laughable.
I do not know what you mean. The back light comes on and stays on when you turn the devise on.
I find the glowlight plus on the main nook landing page. I check the website almost daily and it was never removed that I can remember.
And to the person with your iphone question. Maybe your iphone is low on space?
I noticed they brought it back too. It was gone for awhile though.
Well, it was on the page the day you wrote this article so no idea when it was gone, if ever…
I LOVE my Nook…THE READER ROCKS!!!….and I love the Barnes and Noble Bookstore…their staffing is great, the atmosphere great for looking and buying.
GUESS WHAT.!!!!………REAL PEOPLE …..WORK THERE…….and THEY ARE REALLY HELPFUL AND NICE….REAL PEOPLE…NOT MACHINES OR BLANKS SCREENS…..I really like that and If you do too..I would go there…Amazon is pretty good but I like talking to real people in person I can ask questions about my device it I don’t understand something or about a book or Record or whatever.
I don’t like blank screens when I buy stuff anymore….I have questions sometimes hard to explain because I don’t even know the name of something sometimes or exactly what button to push where….
Barnes and Noble are great and I go there to buy stuff now….because I can take my Nook there to read stuff on it and I might spill my coffee on it (which I do sometimes because I Like coffee) AND I like asking about different things about it and how to program it with people right there I can talk to…
Anyway, I LOVE the Nook ..especially when I swim….and THAT means a lot …becuase I also splash water on it sometimes because I REALLY USE IT by the the POOL
Thanks for reading….hope you buy one too (and I don’t own stock…Im just a regular person!!
This post needs to be updated. The Nook GlowLight Plus is again featured on the Nook landing page (below the Nook tablet and the Nook by Samsung tablets).
I cant get my light to come on. And my nook is about 8 months old, I haven’t used it for about 3 months. How do I get the light on? Thank you!😳