Easy Talk: E-book vs Paper book

Special: World Book Day

While it's possible to install a Nook app on most Android tablets, the Nook tablet goes further in offering a home screen with quick links to favorites and recently read books. You can pause reading to check e-mail or Face-book, then hit a book icon on the corner of the home screen to instantly resume your book.

Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets also emphasize reading, alongside shopping, movies and other Amazon services. They have had more success than Nooks.

Huseby says Barnes &Noble has the advantage of having more than 600 stores where customers can come in to check out the products before buying and return for tutorials and other help.

"Amazon doesn't have them," he says. "You can call them on the phone or chat online, but they don't have a store in which you can get a human contact and expert bookseller."

B&N has been trying to turn itself around as competition from discount stores and online retailers toughens, and as consumers shift away from traditional books to digital formats.

Barnes & Noble says it will continue to make and sell the company's $99 Nook Glow-Light e-readers.

In July, Barnes & Noble said it would separate the Nook and retail businesses. The retail business includes bookstores and the BN.com website, and has been outperforming the Nook unit. Nook Media, whose investors include software company Microsoft Corp and educational book publisher Pearson Inc, houses the digital and college businesses of Barnes &Noble.

The company expects the separation to be complete by April 2015.