Teleread received a tip from one of their readers that books downloaded from the Barnes and Noble eBook store are coming in ePUB now, instead of the legacy PDB format used by eReader/Fictionwise.
It also seems that Teleread is jumping on the “eReader is generic” bandwagon, since they point out that even Barnes and Noble can’t keep them straight.
From Teleread:
Now here is where the lamentable tendency many have of calling e-book readers “e-readers” (or, using Barnes & Noble’s studlyCapped form, “eReaders”) really comes back to bite the consumer. Because what B&N obviously means is “works with the e-book reading devices you already own (as long as they’re one of these four)” but what the consumer is going to see is “works with the eReader™ you already own.”
And so if the consumer has one of the devices eReader supports that are not iPhone, Blackberry, Windows, or Mac—to be precise, this includes Android, PalmOS, old Windows CE, new Windows Mobile, Symbian, and OQO—he is basically out of luck, and has no way of knowing this until he’s already sunk the cash.
So to clarify: If you want to read an eReader(TM) book, you can read it in the B&N program or in the official eReader(TM) program. If you want to read a new B&N eBook, you can only read it in the B&N program, which they are helpfully also calling an eReader, though not the same one. Despite the fact that B&N owns eReader AND B&N eBooks. So who’s on first?
Have you found your B&N books are showing up in ePUB now? Are you reading on a platform that doesn’t support B&N yet, but has an eReader(TM) program? Share your experiences below!