Barnes and Noble has started sending out emails to customers informing them that they will no longer be supporting the 1st generation Nook as of June 29th.
After that date, Nook users will no longer be able to purchase or download ebooks on the 1st gen Nook. Not only that, but customers will no longer be able to register the device or sign in with a Nook account either.
B&N doesn’t really give much of a reason for the change.
All they say is that because of advancements in their ereader technology they are unable to continue to support the 1st Nook, and sorry for the inconvenience.
The email can be read on this webpage.
Here’s more from the email:
Please note that as of June 29, 2018, you will not be able to purchase new content, register with a BN.com account, or sign in using a NOOK account on your NOOK 1st Edition. However, you will still be able to access your existing library, or download new content, by using our NOOK Reading Apps for iOS, Android, or Windows, on mobile and tablet devices, as well as any of our other NOOK devices.”
For several years there have been whispers that B&N might shut down their Nook department due to heavy financial losses, but as of now they’re just giving up on the 1st gen Nook so it’s not as bad as it could be.
It’s disappointing to hear that Barnes and Noble is effectively making the 1st gen Nook useless, but it was released all the way back in 2009 and probably almost no one uses it anymore. Still, cutting it off from B&N’s servers altogether is a pretty bold move.
If they’re doing this to the 1st Nook there’s no reason to believe they won’t do the same to other Nooks down the line. It doesn’t exactly insure much confidence in the Nook brand. Amazon encountered a similar situation a couple years ago with their older Kindles, but they opted for a software update to keep things working instead of dropping support for them entirely. Unfortunately B&N is taking the less customer-friendly route yet again.
It makes me wonder if they’ll also cut off the Nook for PC app.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut it off too considering it’s been 5 years since they got rid of it, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they forgot that it still works. 😀
I thought they already had. My PC app stopped working shortly after they revamped their website to prevent ebook downloads.
Makes me wonder if it has anything to do with Microsoft’s stake in the company. It sure seems like one of their tactics. Further, how can they cutoff access to “lifetime” reader rentals? If you paid to read and want to re-read, seems a bit sketchy to me.
Microsoft lost a boatload of money investing in the Nook and jumped ship back in 2014 so they’re no longer involved.
B & N has just sent out a message. Do not buy anything electronic from us because we might cut you off at any time with virtually no warning. Unlike Amazon which has kept its old Kindle’s running. Avoid them–not customer friendly. Try Amazon or another company.
Nook didn’t “just send” that message. They communicated that loud and clear when they stopped allowing customers to download the ebooks they paid for.
I’m no fan of Nook, but I hate seeing the Amazon distortion field at work. No company should be expected to continue to support hardware forever.
What are you going to do next? Write a letter to Sony complaining that they are anti-consumer because they no longer support repairs on your betamax player?
Give me a break.
You can have all the breaks you want BUT this is more than simply “discontinuing hardware support”. When Apple stops supporting a device, they still allow the content which *can* still run on the discontinued device to continue to run and you can still register the device. I’ve an iPod 5 that I can still purchase (some) content for from Apple.
THIS amounts to a big middle-finger to their users of this device because they didn’t have to do what they did. It smells like punishment for not upgrading to a newer Nook. It looks like that, too.
My interpretation of the message is that if you download your content onto the device prior to June 29, you can still continue to read it in perpetuity. You will just no longer be allowed to sign-in and download the content (on this particular device) after that date.
Got the email, and still have my Nook 1st edition. I managed to avoid using their platform in lieu of borrowing books from the library and free downloads from Project Gutenberg.
They are offering coupons for two of their newer devices, the Nook Tablet 7 and the Nook Glowlight 3. I’d be all over this if I didn’t just get a Glowlight Plus earlier this year (the night light option would have been great to have).
Either way, I’m even less confident in their software now, and will continue to use means other than B&N to get my actual ebooks.
Where are the coupons to purchase the other devices you mentioned found?
They were unique codes only offered to users of a registered 1st Gen device.
Since sideloading is still possible, it’s not a total loss for those still using this device. Still, it’s hard to imagine what they gain by this; certainly not enough to counter the ill-will that this might generate.
Yet another bad move by them but, quite obviously, they didn’t get themselves into their corporate predicament by making good moves.
This is why they invented the term SNAFU
I’m on a kindle paperwhite and a 1st gen nook. sad to hear that my library will be inaccessible from B&N. I mostly use the nook these days for native epub reading, so I’ll have to step up my conversion game..
sad to hear that a perfectly usable device is going away.
I’d imagine that part of the reason for this is to shut down the free AT&T 3G service that B&N has offered since the beginning. But that certainly could have been done separately, especially since the Nook Wi-Fi didn’t use 3G.
I have my suspicions that B&N’s changing its communication protocols, and that updating the 1st-generation NOOK with its outrageously obsolete Android Cupcake code base just isn’t in the cards.
Should I get the Nook tablet 7 or the Nook Glowlight 3 ? I have a lot of books with B&N but I dont want to invest much to have them cut me off again like there are doing with my 1st gen.
It depends oh how you want to read, of course. The screen on the Nook tablet is pretty crappy, and so is the device itself for that matter. You’d be better off getting a nicer tablet and installing the Nook app onto it. The Glowlight 3’s screen is a lot better for reading if you can get along with the software quirks. B&N has started selling refurbished units for $89 if you want to save some cash, and older refurbished Nooks are cheap on eBay.
I can’t access my nook app on my tablet without WiFi so for traveling I would have to use a reader only. I got an email with code to get the glow light 3 for $60. Sounds like I will have to but my hesitation is how long before it’s also no longer supported?
This experience has really put a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to B&N. I have spent hours on the phone with customer service about this shut down. My 92 year old Mom has now lost her whole library and finds it impossible to use her replacement glowlight. After 3 weeks of trying to use it she hates it. And when customer service would not take it back and told her too bad just learn to use it.She has had enough of B&N also. So good luck everyone
I never received any notice of this from B & N so now I have a paperweight that upsets me whenever I see it (my 1st gen Nook tablet).