What nook you reading?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009, Barnes and Noble officially announced their new E-book reader, and direct competitor to the Amazon "Kindle 2", the "Nook." The Nook is an E-book reader employing a 6in E-ink display for a mediated reading experience as well as a 3.5 in lcd for UI navigation. Paired with Wifi, 3G through At&t, as well as a 2GB internal memory, with a micro SD slot for expanding, and a very stable linux-based Android operating system design by Google, this device truly becomes game chaning. All of this on top of the $250.00 entry level price has forced Amazon to likewise drop the Kindle's price. Finally, true, fair competition may proceed.

That which makes this device such a game changer is a greater availability to the public. At $250.00, the device becomes no longer just a luxury to a plausible purchase for say the student that doesn't want to carry to many textbooks. Or, given its ability to zoom text, an aid for the visually impaired news reader.

Regardless how accessible this device is, it is that which it represents that captures my interest greatest. The Nook, as all e-book readers, is trying to capture the book/newspaper market. An integration of old media into a new media device. As we have seen throughout much of history, old media does not typically fade away, but instead takes a back seat to the next big technology. Yet with the implementation of E-ink and E-readers, we are not replacing, but reorganizing a long held standard. Sure E-ink isn't quite as tangible as a piece of paper, nor can you fill a library with E-books, but you can carry a library in a single device. Some people are for and against the adaptation of such devices, for it seems to represent a phasing out of libraries - a symbol of human being's acquired knowledge, and the idea that such knowledge is accessible to everyone.

Yet in the dawn of Internet, such information is still here, it has just been rerouted to servers and web pages. Yet one cannot truly pry themselves of that comfort of "curling up with a good book." - very little positive can be said about curling up with my computer.

I see these E-book readers as wonderful attempts to lead the information age forward, yet there are still many problems to be resolved. Most significantly is that of establishing a library-type atmosphere. Most e-book readers are marketed as devices to read books you have purchased, but what about renting a book at the local library? There is some news that a few companies are devising such strategies, yet it is a much more global adaptation that is needed for E-books to truly succeed. Secondly, these devices need a more efficient input strategy. Thus far neither Amazon nor Barnes and Noble has developed a truly efficient, and simple, means of taking notes! The possibility of pairing such a device with a computer lcd interface could help, which is what the Nook is trying to do.

Ultimately, studies have cited that although the e-book reader could aid in the education process, there are some limiting practicalities currently holding it back - most strongly those cited above. If these design flaws could be met, as well as continuing price drops I see an exciting integration in the not too distant future.

And if you still aren't sold on the idea I will leave you with one last message:
think of the trees.

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