(Janurary 26, 2010) — Book lovers are finding new reasons to pay Barnes & Noble a visit both in-store and online as they purchase the Nook, the newest innovation in reading technology. The Nook, released in late November 2009, is the first color touchscreen eBook reader with digital lending. It is also the first eReader that operates on the Android system with a 3G network and Wi-Fi-enabling. Users can store up to 1500 eBooks, eNewspapers and eMagazines on the 2GB Nook and flip through pages of reading material with a simple stroke of the finger. Barnes & Noble’s eReader software and LendMe technology allow readers to sample eBooks free of charge and lend them to friends with software downloaded on Nooks or other compatible devices, like the BlackBerry. The Nook not only has a digital library, but also features an MP3 player that holds about 26 hours of audio. Despite the many features of the eReader, some people still appreciate and prefer the old-fashioned book. “The joy of reading a book is lost,” sophomore Jessica Palacios says after using the Nook.“Instead of reading from a book, you are reading from an impersonal digital screen.” The Nook’s full-color 3.5-inch E Ink Vizplex display, however, works to enhance one’s reading experience by giving each page on the eReader the appearance of an actual paper. Users can also customize their Nooks with personal screen savers and photo galleries, as well as with cases and accessories. The innovative features of the Nook have made it appealing to both book lovers and techies, naming it the Best New Gadget at TechCrunch’s 2009 Crunchies awards. Time Magazine says, “It’s the stuff around and behind the screen that make the Nook cool,” ranking it second in the Top 10 Gadgets of 2009. PC World and Wired.com describe the Nook as a “Kindle-Killing E-Reader.” Unlike the Amazon’s Kindle 2, an earlier version of the eBook Reader, the Nook cannot support word documents and does not have text-to-speech capabilities. However, having other unique features such as in-store browsing, expandable memory and customization options have earned the nook praise from websites like NYMag and PCMag.