Barnes and Noble has high hopes for digital media, hoping the new medium will outright save the bookstore from print media’s downturn.  Already steady in the tablet market, B&N’s Nook will soon offer a new Video service, scheduled to launch this fall.

Movies & more

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Premiering on the service will be blockbuster movies, classic films, and original TV shows from major studios such as HBO, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, Viacom and Warner Bros. Entertainment, plus favorite movies from The Walt Disney Studios.

Through deals with major studios, Barnes & Noble will offer something for everyone in the family to enjoy, including Disney-Pixar’s Brave and Toy Story 3, Marvel’s The Avengers, 21 Jump Street, Awkward, The Artist, Breaking Bad, Dora the Explorer,The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Spartacus, Magic City, The Walking Dead, True Blood, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter movies, The Dark Knight, The Hangover and many more.

Barnes & Noble currently sells DVD and Blu-ray Disc in their stores, and with the launch of the Nook Video, they can integrate compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc and digital video collection across their devices through UltraViolet and link their UV accounts to their NOOK Cloud account so they can enjoy theor digital content in other connected devices such as SmartTVs, smartphones and even non-Nook tablets via the Nook App.

“As one of the world’s largest retailers of physical video discs and digital copyrighted content, our new NOOK Video service will give our customers another way to be entertained with a vast and growing digital video collection, as part of our expansive NOOK Store,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble.

“The launch of our new digital video service with our long-time studio partners allows us to bring award-winning current and classic movies, TV shows, documentaries and more to millions of customers’ screens, coming soon.”

Moving in on rivals

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Clearly, digital media has found a happy home in mobile.  Netflix is seeing the competition encroach on every side, but the movie-rental service isn’t resting on its laurels.  A recent update to the Netflix Android app looks to refine the user experience, unifying its interface across iOS and Android devices.

But in many ways Barnes & Noble is competing more directly with Amazon in the retail department.  They, too, have been ramping up efforts to deliver a comprehensive video streaming service with movie purchases and rentals.  Partnerships are key to the success of any major player in this sector, and Amazon’s had little trouble signing on studios to distribute through its online outlet.

Google moves into B&N territory

And speaking of digital marketplaces, Google’s moving into B&N territory,  introducing a new Google Play Books app for Android devices.  The app is available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Korea and Japan with over four million books on the go.  The app features Places and Dictionary, which allows readers to tap on a certain word for its definition, or tap on the name of a place to reveal its exact location.

Translation allows you to easily translate words or phrases to and from a number of languages by just selecting the text or word and using the button on the top action bar to indicate which language you’d like translate into.  Highlighting and Notes comes in handy for students, and it has a new sepia reading theme, in addition to the current day and night themes, 2D sliding page turn animation, and lots of stability improvements.