Barnes and Noble has found a new way to annoy Nook users. According to some posts on the Nook subreddit, B&N has started rolling out a software update for Nooks that changes the font types that are available for reading.
The good news is they added some new font types to choose from. The bad news is they removed the Georgia font type, probably because they no longer want to pay Microsoft’s licensing fee, and they also removed the “thinner” and “thicker” options for Nook fonts so you can no longer increase the boldness for better readability, which obviously doesn’t require a fee so they’re just being jerks about that one.
A couple days ago I posted about how B&N could draw in more customers if they were to release a new Nook in 2025 with some interesting new features and some software updgrades to draw in Kindle cast-offs, but that’s clearly never going to happen.
B&N has a history of slowly and steadily making Nook software worse each passing year instead of making it better, and this latest update just proves that. Sure, it’s nice to get some new font types, but suddenly taking away some people’s favorite font and removing the boldness option entirely is a sure way to anger users.
The new software update version is 8.1.7.109(E). It looks like the software update is only available for the latest models, the Glowlight 4 and 4e, and the Glowlight 4 Plus. So far it looks like older Nooks get to keep the Georgia font and thicker font weight option.
The latest software update also adds a new “Nook Hub” section for managing software updates. An optimistic person might think that’s a sign that B&N intends to start updating Nook software more frequently, perhaps to add some new features and improvements. But it’s hard to think that way if you know how B&N has handled Nooks over the past decade.
Unfortunately there isn’t a way to avoid this latest update if you want to keep the Georgia font and boldness setting, other than keeping your Nook disconnected from the internet. Eventually it will download and install the update automatically while connected to WiFi.
I thought they were still supporting their other eReaders models. I guess not.
is anyone still uses Nook?
It’s a shame that good, still usable hardware is wasted and ends up as junk because of insatiable greed.