Barnes & Noble discontinues eBook sales

[Willa]

I hope this isn't a harbinger of troubles in the world of retail eBook sales, but I received the following notice from Barnes & Noble today stating that they are discontinuing eBooks sales as of today!

Dear eBook Customer,

As of September 9, 2003, Barnes & Noble.com will no longer sell eBooks.

If you are a Microsoft Reader customer, you will be able to download your eBooks for the next 90 days through your Microsoft Library.

If you are an Adobe eBook customer and have not yet downloaded your eBook, please remember you have 90 days from your date of purchase to complete the download via the email link you received.

After December 9, 2003, eBook titles that have not been downloaded to the appropriate Readers will no longer be accessible.

If you have questions related to your past eBook purchases, please send your inquiry to ebookquestions@book.com.

As always, we appreciate your patronage, and we regret any
inconvenience this may cause you.

Sincerely,

Barnes & Noble.com

The eBook tab at bn.com is gone, and a quick search on eBooks shows a list with each title noted as "Not Currently Available."

Does anyone know what caused bn.com to discontinue eBook sales?

[Willa]

I did a little searching and found this Yahoo! news story which states that bn.com cited limited sales and technology for its decision. eBook sales haven't "taken off" as anticipated and "consumer haven't "embraced the technology" by rallying around a common eBook reader according to bn.com.

The Motley Fool has posted their take on bn.com's decision noting the surprise decision - surprise given that a a virtual retailer would abandon a format that seems to fit so well with its business model.

Hopefully, the industry perception that bn.com was only a small player in the slowly growing eBook marketplace is true. If you're an eBook fan, now's the time to give your support and your patronage to eBook retailers like Peanut Press, Amazon.com, Powells.com, FictionWise.com, Simon & Shuster, etc.

[davidspalding]

Mua-ha-ha-ha! ROFLMAO.

Shame on us consumers for not embracing the one and only DRM-happy Microsoft reader, with two versions required in ROM and RAM for Pocket PC 2002 users. And mea culpa likewise for not jumping at $20 prices for eBook versions of books now on shelves for $12 trade paperback. Amazon does this endlessly, so maybe they'll jump ship, too. More biz for Fictionwise!!

"There isn't widespread adoption of an affordable and an easy to use e-book device."

Don't tell that to Fictionwise! They sell most eBooks in just about any format a PDA might read.

Blame Microsoft and greedy publishers, not the consumers, Daniel. Bestseller ebook versions at major retailers have NOT been affordable, and Microsoft has blundered the client software: memory hog, lack of options, slow as molasses, and problematic DRM. Mobipocket and Peanut Press have the answers. Call them....