Barnes & Noble.com has received a redesign along with several new features including Barnes & Noble Review, which will focus on interviews with authors, reviews of new books, music and movies.
Barnes & Noble.com Gets New Look
Currently on Barnes & Noble Review is an interview with Phillip Roth and a review of his book “Exit Ghost” by John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle.
“We wanted our site to have more motion, more content and more interactivity, and to have more of a sense of community,” Marie Toulantis, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble.com, told the AP.
Other new features include “One on One” podcasts that will feature interviews with writers, musicians and filmmakers and will be updated weekly. The site also has a “See Inside” feature that allows users to browse a book and search for key words or phrases as well as having access to the first chapter of a book.
Over at Read/WriteWeb they note that Barnes & Noble still has a lot of work to do to catch up to Amazon.com.
“Overall, a lot of nice new functionality in the new B&N – but it’s still far from Amazon.com’s level. No recommendation technology, no widgets, no web services, no RSS, little customization. Still, it has some nice multimedia and uses many of the UI elements popularized by Amazon.com (e.g. wishlists). Its current user base will be pleased, although there doesn’t seem to be much to attract new users.”
