I was a nervous twitch away from pushing the Barnes and Noble Nook pre-order button today when I was interrupted with Daniel Pink’s tweet referencing Farhad Manjoo’s “Black Friday Is For Sucker’s” post, building the argument for why I shouldn’t buy an e-book reader.
In an instant, he deprived me of my instant gratification but also perhaps spared me next month’s buyer’s remorse. Basically, his main points were:
- E-readers are still too expensive,
- Service provider catalog limitations, and
- Early-adopter pitfalls (eg, HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray, and on and on and on)
Valid points, all. However, I still want one. It looks like a sexy product and I’m all about sexy. I mean sexy products, not me. I can’t help Timberlake “Bring Sexy Back”. I really mean good design. I’m an Apple zealot after all. Needless to say, comparing the Nook to a Kindle is like comparing a thong to granny panties. And that’s my last sexually charged comment, I promise!
So, I stared at my over-crowded library of dusty books and pondered a way to justify my purchase, dismiss Farhad’s conjecture and rejoin the herd of suckers.
E-readers are still too expensive
OK, I can sell my unused books and offset or eliminate the cost. Ah but wait, I keep most of these books around for reference. Besides, selling them online is too much of a hassle. I’d rather just donate them.
And in regards to Apple’s rumored entry into the Tablet/E-Reader space: Apple’s device will most likely cost 2x, 3x, or even 4x the cost of a Nook and I already have a MacBook Pro.
Service provider catalog restrictions
Well, it hasn’t seemed to hinder my iTunes-only buying habits. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t occasionally purchased a CD here and there and ripped them to my iPod. If we are to believe the Nook specs, it can “Directly load and read PDFs”. Sounds to me like my library is virtually unlimited since converting/printing any document to PDF is trivial.
Early-adopter pitfalls
OK, this is a tough one. Need I produce a photo of my portable mini-disc player? But I just mentioned that the Nook supports PDFs so unless Barnes and Noble decides to revoke all of the content that I legally purchased (oops, didn’t Amazon do this?) and remotely disable my device, I don’t really see a problem here. After all, it’s $250, not chump change, but not exactly the price of the first Blu-Ray players ($1,000) where without the media you’re screwed.
Alas, I still have not pushed the purchase button. I have an idea stuck in my craw that if removed, I’ll commit to one for myself and buying one for each member of my family for their next birthday (it’s a good thing my 4 nephews can’t read yet).
Take my books, please!
Remember my over-crowded library of dusty books that I can’t seem to part with. Well, I’m here to make B&N a deal. I will buy a Nook if you convert select titles (only the ones you can sell) into digital assets that I can load on my Nook. Here’s how it could work.
- Compile a list of your most popular used book sales. Only the ones that you can reliably sell.
- If I have one of these, allow me to bring it into a store and exchange it for the digital version for my shiny new Nook.
As long as the margin for the used book exceeds your cost for the e-Book, you’re set. And don’t forget, you just got me to come into the store and we know that used book sales drive new book sales. I’m bound to walk out of there with a new book. Leverage your bricks to offset Amazon clicks?
Format secured. Nook becomes industry defacto standard. Barnes & Noble once again leads the way. Come on, make us proud! Help us, help you.
Bottom line.
Don’t believe everything that you read (including this post) and, yes, Black Friday is for suckers but sometimes it just feels too good to resist. But trust Farhad, we really don’t need that radio-controlled rubber rat but we may need that electric toothbrush if I we are believe all of the “teeth whitening” ads in his post.
