e-book reader

Nook Tablet: Hands on with Barnes & Noble's Fire-eater

If you've preordered the Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble hopes you're now having second thoughts.

That's the message of the just-announced $249 Nook Tablet, the successor to 2010's Nook Color (which remains on the market for $199). The new 7-inch color tablet equals many of the basic specs of the Kindle Fire, but justifies its $50 price premium over Amazon.com's model by offering several notable upgrades.

The Nook Tablet will offer more than twice the storage and twice the RAM of the Fire; it's got an SD expansion slot for even more storage capacity (which the Fire lacks), up to 32GB; and Barnes & Noble is already touting Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Pandora apps which will come included on the device from the start (Amazon's list of third-party Fire apps remains undisclosed). Those features are in addition to the existing assortment of apps and features already available on the Nook Color (and on deck for the Kindle Fire)--e-mail and a Flash-enabled Web browser, in addition to a fully stocked e-book store and magazine and newspaper newsstand.

In short, the Nook Tablet immediately becomes the first real challenger to the Kindle Fire in the emerging bargain tablet arena. Here's why.… Read more

B&N unveils $249 Nook Tablet, $99 Nook Touch, to offset Amazon

It may have the Fire, but now Amazon's the one feeling Barnes & Noble's heat.

On September 28, Amazon sent shockwaves through the tablet and e-reader space by announcing the $199 Kindle Fire and two new low-priced e-ink readers, the $79 Kindle and $99 Kindle Touch. At the time, a lot of people wondered if Barnes & Noble, mum after Amazon's announcement, would be able strike back with both a compelling product and pricing that could blunt Amazon's blitz.

The answer appears to be yes, as Barnes & Noble today unveiled the $249 Nook Tablet, a … Read more

$199 Kindle Fire, $99 Kindle Touch unveiled (live blog)

Editor's note: We used Cover It Live to cover Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos unveiling of new Kindle devices today in New York. If you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component at the bottom of this post. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET writers. You can also read our edited transcript below about the company's key announcements.

To sum it up, Bezos unveiled a $99 Wi-Fi only, no-button Kindle Touch e-reader and a $149 Kindle Touch 3G--both designed to … Read more

Nook Newsstand adds Time, People, Fortune

Owners of Barnes & Noble's Nook Color have even more reading material to choose from with more than 200 interactive magazines now available through the Nook Newstand.

Starting today, users of the 7-inch color e-book reader will be able to access special editions of Time, Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated, and Parents & Fitness, all designed specifically for the Nook Color. Two more publications--Entertainment Weekly and Cooking Light--promise to hit the newsstand before the end of the year.

Beyond offering the regular content found in the magazines, the Nook editions provide bonus features, such as video and audio podcasts, animations, … Read more

Microsoft cancels its Reader e-book app

Microsoft will discontinue support of its e-book reader app, the company quietly announced today.

No new content for the pioneering app will be sold after November 8, and the company will end support next year, Microsoft announced on its Reader site:

Microsoft is discontinuing Microsoft Reader effective August 30, 2012, which includes download access of the Microsoft Reader application from the Microsoft Reader website. However, customers may continue to use and access the Microsoft Reader application and any .lit materials on their PCs or devices after the discontinuation on August 30, 2012. New content for purchase from retailers in the .lit format will be discontinued on November 8, 2011.

While sales will be discontinued, users will have indefinite access to purchased content housed on their device, Microsoft said. Microsoft also said it had no plans to offer an alternative app and that it would not help users migrate their Reader content to another e-book reader.

Launched in 2000, Microsoft's app displays text in the .lit file format, allowing users to read books on their Windows-based computers and mobile devices.

Microsoft did not say why it decided to discontinue the app. However, with the growing popularity of competing e-books readers such as Amazon's Kindle, the app has received scant support from the software giant. Its last desktop update came in 2007, while its last update for mobile devices was in 2009.

Updated at 10 p.m. to correct date when support would end. … Read more

Nook2Android turns Nook into full Android tablet

Barnes & Noble Nook Color owners now have a new option that can turn their e-readers into full-fledged Android tablets.

Sold by a company called Nook2Android, a SanDisk microSD card preloaded with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the Android Market essentially transforms Nook Color readers into Android tablets.

Available in three sizes and prices ($34.99 for 8 gigabytes, $49.99 for 16 GB, and $89.99 for 32GB), the SD card plugs directly into the Nook, letting the device boot into Android mode. A boot menu gives users the choice of loading Android or the Nook operating system, while removing the card will automatically transform the Nook back into its normal e-reader state.

In Android mode, Nook owners can use the built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n to surf the Web and run various preinstalled apps, such as Gmail, Facebook, and Pandora, according to Nook2Android. Apps can be downloaded and installed directly from the Android Market. The company also promises that using the cards won't affect the Nook's internal memory or void the warranty from B&N.… Read more

E-book stores get massive Star Wars update

The expanded Star Wars universe, which spans thousands of years through books, video games, TV shows, and other media, sheds further light on many additional compelling sagas that occur around the original story. However, many of those writings have never been available in e-book format, testing the patience of Jedi everywhere.

As of yesterday, owners of Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, Sony Reader and Apple iOS (via iBooks) devices can purchase a larger selection of books from the expanded Star Wars canon that were previously unavailable in their respective stores.

More than 100 books ranging from the Old Republic to a time well past the new Jedi Order can be purchased for $7.99 (or higher). Noted Star Wars publishers LucasBooks and Random House have unleashed a massive collection of titles from famous authors such as Timothy Zahn, Michael Reaves, Kevin Anderson, A.C. Crispin, Michael A. Stackpole, and many others. … Read more

Pew: E-readers outpacing tablets

The percentage of American adults who own an e-book reader has doubled over the past six months, outpacing the growth of tablets, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

E-reader ownership climbed to 12 percent in May from 6 percent last November, marking the first time that the adoption of these devices in the U.S. has reached the double digits. Over the same period, growth in tablet ownership slowed a bit following a previous surge. In May, 8 percent of the adults surveyed by Pew said they owned a tablet, compared with 7 percent in January … Read more

Nielsen: Tablets are hot, but few actually own one

Led by the iPad, the tablet market has taken off with a bang, but even with all the hoopla, less than 5 percent of U.S. consumers polled by Nielsen actually own one.

Tablets represent a huge potential money maker for the industry based on what consumers will pay not just for the device but all the content they need and want. Yet Nielsen's data, presented at the paidContent Mobile conference this week, shows that it's a market with considerable room to grow.

Adoption of tablets has risen over the past year to 4.8 percent in this … Read more