Barnes & Noble has a new product page for something called NOOK Audio… and absolutely no description of what the NOOK Audio is. Nate at The Digital Reader received a tip about the new page, and reports that the book retailer also filed for a trademark on the term recently.
Update: It could just be a new line of earphones. Update 2: Yup.
B&N uses the NOOK name to cover its e Ink eBook readers as well as the NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet 7 inch Android tablets which can be used to read books, play music or movies, or run apps including games.
The NOOK Simple Touch eReader doesn’t have any audio capabilities, so it’s possible that the NOOK Audio could be some sort of new eReader capable of playing audio books or converting text-to-speech. Competitors Amazon offers several devices which can do both of those things.
Or NOOK Audio could be an entirely new device such as an MP3 player or an audio accessory such as a speaker dock or special headphone designed for the NOOK Color or NOOK Tablet.
Or maybe it’s something else. Leave your best guesses in the comments!
I work for Barnes & Noble and can easily clear this up. We stopped producing the “Sonas Earbuds” and are replacing them with new BOSE earphones and earbuds, two different styles. It’s nothing very exciting. Just two more accessories. The “IE” (in-ear) model will be priced at $29.95 and the “OE” (over-ear) model will be priced at $49.95. We don’t know when it will be available since there are none currently in our distribution center. I hope this clears up questions for some of you.
im thinking its more gonna be an app of sorts for the nook tablet, utilizing the speaker/microphone you’ll be able to record and listen to audio books… ehh? maybe?