In a world where Kindle is king, who should consider a different brand of e-reader? Well, if you’re on a first-name basis with the barista at Barnes & Noble—and if you’re fond of sharing your favorite reads with friends—you may want to become acquainted with the Nook. (Note: If you’d much rather shell out more money for the bright and shiny iPad, read no further.)
The Barnes & Noble e-reader may look and act a lot like the Kindle (think similar 6-inch black-and-white displays, prices and 3G wireless networks to browse and download books and the like). But the Nook boasts a few key differences. As far as aesthetics are concerned, the Nook has a color touchscreen—a tasty morsel of eye candy that is much more palatable than Kindle’s keyboard.
Then there is the matter of free book browsing when Nook users physically stroll into Barnes & Noble stores. As you walk into the bookstore giant with your Nook in tow, the device recognizes its homeland, greets you with welcome messages and tips you off to in-store offers. The best part? You can use the Nook’s Wi-Fi to read any e-book in the store. (A familiar act to anyone who has spent entire afternoons at the store, grabbing an armful of books, ordering a coffee and scoping out the comfiest cushy chair to put a dent in your reading list—typically sans purchase.)
Share and Share Alike
For those of us who like to spread the love with our fave books, the Nook offers a lending feature. If you come across a book that merits sharing, the Nook gives you the ability to lend digital books to other Nook or iPhone users as well as anyone with a computer that runs the Barnes & Noble e-reader software. Your friends will have access to the book for two weeks, after which time you get it back.
The downside? Some tech experts have reported that, when compared to the Kindle, the Nook has a shorter battery life and is a bit slower to boot up, power down, turn pages and such. But the free book browsing—and the lovely designer cases we’ve highlighted here—left us quite willing to forgive any pokiness.
Designer Dish
Whew, now that we have all of that tech talk out of the way, we can coo over these amazing designer collaborations. Iconic designer Jonathan Adler, the always genius Kate Spade and Jack Spade (the male counterpart to the Kate Spade line) all contributed covers for the Nook.
We are quite enamored with the something-for-everyone selection of designs. (Though we admit to being partial to Adler’s bold punctuation cover and the workman’s-glove-inspired Jack Spade cover, which is swathed in cotton canvas and finished with a durable blue latex bottom).
Did we mention the sweet surprises that await you inside? Some of the covetable cases also include business card holders and sewn-in labels just begging for personalization. While we admit that the act of holding a real book in our hands will never lose its allure, we are quite smitten with the form-meets-function-meets-free-reads thing that the Nook has going on.
A Nook and Cover to Call Your Own
The Nook and all of these designer covers are available online at Barnes & Noble:
1. Jane Street Cover in Bright Pink/Marmalade, Kate Spade.
2. Punctuation Cover, Jonathan Adler.
3. Dipped Industrial Canvas Cover in Blue/Natural, Jack Spade.
4. Canvas Bella Library Cover, Kate Spade.
