14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that history is repeating itself as far as Barnes and Noble is concerned, as quite a few users of the Nook e-reader found that they were unable to make the best of their devices due to server issues.
Late least year, around the same holidays as the ones happening now, two things happened to B&N's e-reader and e-book business.
For one, demand for the Nook e-reader was so strong that the bookstore chain failed to meet all orders on time and had to send out gift certificates instead.
The second unfortunate development was a server crash that happened when the many users who got a Nook for Christmas tried to buy books.
As consumers know, the e-reader has wireless web connectivity and lets one buy books online straight from the B&N e-book store.
Unfortunately, so many people tried to do this at once that the servers crashed from the load.
Now, it would appear that the very same thing has happened again, at least that it whats The Digital Reader reports.
Apparently, multiple Twitter users posted tweets saying that the Nook activation and e-book download systems have been offline or overloaded.
No doubt the sales of Nook Color, besides just the regular, grayscale ones. played a role in the overloading of the servers, as they likely spurred their owners to try and buy more than their usual share of texts.
Granted, it seems that the problem has begun to be resolved, as some owners have finally managed to get some e-books.
Still, the troubles with getting books to read mostly defeated the whole purpose of e-readers being a quick way of getting reading material instead of buying a physical copy.
What remains to be seen is if B&N upgrades its servers in the wake of this regrettable turn of events.