Barnes and Noble is offering a sale on their E Ink Nook ebook readers for what feels like the hundredth time. This is about as low as the prices have gotten, though, so they are definitely worth considering.
Both Nooks are marked down by $20 at B&N.com and in Barnes and Noble retail stores until October 26th, making a new Nook Touch just $59 and a Nook Glow $79.
At $59 the Nook Touch is hard to beat, even for out-dated hardware, which isn’t really all that out-dated because E Ink evolves at the rate of a snail’s pace. The screen and text still look really good compared to newer devices like the Kobo Aura and Kindle Paperwhite. Smaller text isn’t as sharp, but the text is bolder.
At $79 I’d still pass on the Nook Glow, however. The frontlight just isn’t very good at all compared to other frontlit ereaders, and the added layer makes the text appear noticeably lighter and grayer in tone, even with the light off. You’d probably be better off just buying a clip-on light for the Nook Touch, or spending $40-$50 more on the new Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Glo if you really want a frontlight.
The great thing about the Nook Touch and Nook Glow are they can both be hacked and turned into E Ink tablets. You can install a bunch of Android apps, even competing ereading apps like the Kindle app. You don’t have to rely on Barnes and Noble at all if you don’t want to, which is nice because who knows if they are still going to be around in a few years.
Perhaps this sale is an indication that B&N is finally getting set to release a new E Ink Nook. But they run so many sales it’s hard to say. They are running out of time if they indeed plan to release a new model, which they’ve hinted at before. They need to announce it before the end of the month to get it shipping before the middle of November if they want to take advantage of the busy holiday shopping season. I’m thinking that if B&N doesn’t announce a new E Ink Nook in the next couple of weeks, then the Nook is done for. Simple as that.
I certainly hope the Nook continues on. I like the interface and the fact that I can switch from reading on the NST to the Nook Tablet easily. I still prefer my magazines on the Nook HD.
I do agree though, if B&N does not announce something new soon, then there is nothing to announce and the Nook line will be dead as soon as the batteries start to reach their end of life. Shame.
Maybe I’ll try the Glow at this lower rate and put up with a little degradation. I though B&N was going to stick with the readers but drop the tablets. That I could understand, but for a book company to drop readers in general, well that’s does not seem to make sense.
Gary
Nathan,
I must respectfully disagree with you on the Nook Glow. I have both a Glow and non-Glow. At least in my experience, the light on the Glow, while far from perfect, is still an order of magnitude better than using a clip-on light. I used a clip-on light on my NST for about 2 years before recently purchasing a Glow from my local Wal*Mart for $75. I would not want to go back to the clip-on light for any money. The Glow’s light is far from even, but it is still better than I have ever been able to achieve with any clip-on light I have tried.
I was considering a Kindle PaperWhite, but thought that at $75 is was better for me to stay with B&N as I am already invested in their infrastructure. It has only been a week, but I don’t see my regretting that decision.
I understand your point, and I’ve said that myself before too, that the Glowlight is still better than a clip-on. But for me whenever I go to grab a Nook, I often rather grab the regular Nook Touch because I like the darker fonts better.
Nooks are great!! Physical page turn buttons and a microSD card slot.
The Nook Simple Touch is my favorite e-reader for gifting due to its low price. I will probably pick up 1 or 2 for X-Mas gifts.
I really do hope B&N keeps producing e-readers.
I love my Nook Glow. I don’t really notice the issues other have stated they have with it. I do love that it has the SD card slot and can’t figure out for the life of me why other ereader and tablet makers seem so opposed to it. I do hope B&N continues to make ereaders. They do make a great product and it will be a shame if Nook leaves the marketplace.
If for no other reason than to have an easy outlet for their ebooks, B&N needs to keep an eReader or two branded for themselves.
B&N has one of the better DRM implementations – allows easy sharing of multiple devices on one account – which I really like. Makes it easy to manage a device for my Mom. She mentions a book she’s interested in and it magically appears on her reader – go figure 🙂
B&N should forget all the odds and ends of the tablets and focus on a really good eInk design and for the folks reading magazines, a simple and inexpensive color reader.
Gary
I want a new e-ink e-reader nook. It getting late october and if they dnt let us know something I will feel forced to buy from amazon, which I’ve wanted do for months now bec the nooks outdated and we have luxury from every ereader company corner rubbeing them in our face. They could at least respectfuly let us know what’s up. I dnt care for how amazon treats writers and pushes at other companies and I dnt want kobos shotty/horrrrible customer service/returns and cheep products. I’m a patron for b&n but am getting aggervared they will not update us on what’s going on.
Sorry for my spelling and punctuation..I’m using my phone and typing fast.
I love my Nook Glow. I don’t really notice the issues other have stated they have with it. I do love that it has the SD card slot and can’t figure out for the life of me why other ereader and tablet makers seem so opposed to it. I do hope B&N continues to make ereaders. They do make a great product and it will be a shame if Nook leaves the marketplace. 🙂