Lessons for Nook from Zune
(Credit:
Barnes & Noble)
It's busy times in the e-book reader world, with Barnes & Noble launching Nook, Plastic Logic making noise about a new Que reader (no doubt to counteract B&N's announcement), and Amazon lowering prices on the Kindle.
The Nook is the device getting the most buzz, having been launched a few days ago. It's white, has an e-ink screen, and is priced at $259, all like the Kindle. But it also adds a nice color touch screen "strip" below that is used for browsing and buying new books. It's an interesting of-the-moment alternative to the Kindle's keyboard.
The Nook's biggest distinguishing feature is its ability to wirelessly "lend" e-books to another Nook user for 14 days. During that time the lender cannot read the book, just as if they'd handed over a physical copy.
This is very reminiscent of the sharing feature Microsoft built into Zunes from the start, in fact this was one of the Zune's biggest distinguishing characteristics from the iPod. However, it did not help the Zune get above single digit market share. So is lending (or borrowing) really a feature that people care about?
I think the Nook has a couple of things going for it that didn't work for the Zune.
1. The Kindle isn't a monopoly
The Kindle, on which I was unduly harsh when it first appeared, has been the most popular e-reader. But it does not yet have the massive market presence that the iPod did by the time the first Zunes came out. (Amazon has not released sales numbers, but TechCrunch estimates it somewhere north of a million.) This matters because lending and borrowing are only attractive if you believe there will be other people near by you whose taste you trust to borrow from.
The tide was clearly against the Zune by the time it came out, which did not give consumers confidence that there would be other Zune users to get music from. In that case, it was just safer to stick with the leader, the iPod.
2. Books are better for short-term sharing
Music is something that, if you like it, you will want to listen to for a long time. The Zune has quite strong restrictions on how long somebody can listen to the song after they first borrow it, and for the lender not all songs can be shared. This makes for a suboptimal experience for the borrower, and frustrating inconsistency and confusion for the lender.
However, with many books a single read will do, so a limited borrowing time is less problematic. It's why libraries worked for so long. (I'm not sure if the self-destruct on borrowed books starts from the time of lending, or the time of first reading. From a reader's perspective, obviously, the second is preferable since with our busy lives it might be a while before you get to starting a book.)
But Barnes & Noble should also take a lesson from Zune and apply the lending rules universally across all titles. Don't let happen what happened to Microsoft where the studios placed restrictions on certain songs and artists who were hot at the time. Barnes & Noble is in the fortunate (for them) position, however, that book publishers are in a much weaker state than music labels.
I can't help wondering if Barnes & Noble is pitching the wrong angle of lending, though. Lending is altruistic, whereas borrowing is selfish. If I'm a prospective Nook buyer, I'm more thinking about what's in it for me than how I can be beneficent to my fellow Nookies (Nook owners).
Adam Richardson is the director of product strategy at Frog Design, where he guides strategy engagements for Frog's international roster of clients, envisioning and creating new products, consumer electronics, and digital experiences. Adam combines a background in industrial design, interaction design, and sociology, and he spends most of his time on convergent designs that combine hardware, software, service, brand, and retail. He writes and speaks extensively on design, business, culture, and technology, and he runs his own Richardsona blog. Adam is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
Zune was 3 plays only. Nook is a book for TWO WEEKS. Hardly comparable
The Nook runs Android...another win for Google..
While it reinforces the idea that software data is something that should be locked-down, I can grok the idea behind it, and in this case (unlike music) it actually makes sense.
That said, I wonder if B&N will ever have a feature that mimics real books, in that you can not only 'loan' an eBook, but actually give it away - that is, send it to another user's eBook and let the recipient keep it in perpetuity.
I have no interest in buying a DRM-shackled ebook reader (unless the books are much cheaper).
I believe that with the Nook, you don't have to be near anyone, you just specify someone to lend it to and it is sent to them. You also don't need a nook. it can be any device with the B&N reader.
Rachel
http://www.nookboards.com/forum
- by maneeshpan November 1, 2009 3:14 PM PST
- The problem with the Zune's sharing option is you can share music only from Zune to Zune. When the Zune first came out -- it was a new device it needed time to gain market share -- it never did gain significant share compared to the iPod but ate into the business of established Plays for Sure mp3 players by Microsoft's old business partners in the space.
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(6 Comments)Zune software is restricted to Windows -- iTunes and iPod are interoperable between two operating systems -- compatible with Windows and Apple's Mac OS X. iTunes has gone DRM free with music and so have most industry players but Microsoft chose to stick with DRM for music just a different type of DRM that worked with their Zune.
Even now, the Zune has not been able to overtake sales of Apple iPods. So Apple still has more market share in mp3 players and in selling music as well as video now than Microsoft.
If Microsoft offered Zune 2 Zune and Zune 2 iPod sharing -- if they could pull of Zune 2 iPod sharing that would probably work better as there will be enough users to share music with -- only problem is music sold for Zunes last I check still have DRM and its a DRM that is incompatible with Apple iPods. If they used the same Fair Play DRM Apple used earlier for music before iTunes Plus came along they could deliver Fair Play DRMed tunes from Zune 2 iPod. However, Apple never licensed Fair Play -- and for music have now abandoned it entirely.
I wish Apple would offer an iPod 2 iPod sharing service to share music that would be much more effective as there are millions of more iPod owners than Zune owners and they can share their music with each other.
The concept of the Nook is interesting -- I have never bought e-books before, or downloaded and read free e-books. Save for accessing Google Books sometimes -- I don't usually read e-books and don't like any DRM at all -- I've heard a lot of consumer complaints against Amazon over the Swindle they pulled with the Kindle -- how Amazon could and has already deleted some e-books of Orwell books off Kindles.