Zinio app for Kindle Fire/Nook Color

[seaneads]

Just an update for folks in case they haven't seen the information elsewhere.

Zinio and Barnes and Noble are having a major spat right now, and there is no way to download the Zinio app onto a non-modified Nook Color or Nook Tablet. From what I can tell, the app cannot even be side-loaded onto the device. B&N considers Zinio a direct competitor for a digital magazine service they are launching, and this is the reason they have made the restriction.

Zinio is not available in the Kindle App store right now (it was previously available, then it was taken off, then it was added back, and now it is off again), but Zinio still has a direct download link for the app at imgs.zinio.com/faq/fire.html

[seaneads]

If anyone wants to try it, I may have a workaround to put Zinio on the Nook Color/Nook tablet.

There's an "alternative" app store called goodereader.com, which has many apps otherwise unavailable to Droid tablets that are blocked from Google Play, B&N or Amazon.

The direct link for zinio is

apps.goodereader.com/android-apps/magazine-and-textbook-apps-for-android/?did=34

I don't have a Nook Color or Nook Tablet handy to try this, but I did use this site to put the 3M app on a Kindle Fire, and it worked very well (I've posted more information about that in the Kindle Fire forum). If you have a Nook patron interested in zinio, trying the goodereader link certainly couldn't hurt, and I'd love to know the results.

[Stacy McKenzie]

I have a nook color so will give this a try and report back.......

[seaneads]

I gave it a try with a first generation Nook Color. Unfortunately, the app would download but not install, and I got a message saying the app was blocked.

This really is unfortunate, but it serves as a good example to use when patrons ask us advice about which purchasing e-readers. We should remind them that both Amazon.com and B&N are content vendors first and manufacturers second, and sometimes have a vested interested in blocking certain apps they see as being competitors to the content they are offering. I would be annoyed to spent a few hundred dollars on a Nook Tablet or a Kindle Fire only to learn that they could block access to a popular app by fiat.