nook as a gift question

[fuller]

If I purchase a nook for a gift and go ahead and register it and

download ebooks (all as part of the gift)

can the gift recipient then change the account

for future use?

Thanks,

Mallory M. Fuller

[very-simple]

If you purchase books on your account, those books belong to you, not to a gift recipient.  The only way to "gift" ebooks properly is to give a gift card.  There are some workarounds to get books you've purchase from your account to another person's nook, but this involves sideloading, entering your credit card number to unlock the books, and no B&N archive access for the gift recipient.  This might be fine, but it might be too "tech-y" for a simple gift.

[lisat96]

I think she was talking about making a new account for the gift recipient, registering the nook with the new account and then later changing out the credit card/name/address/email information after the recipient had received the nook.  I'll be surprised if someone actually knows the answer to this.  I think you would need to call customer service and ask, but I suspect they'll just tell you to give a gift card with the nook.

[WickedElf]

I'm doing this myself right now - getting a nook for my father for Christmas.  Opened an account for him at B&N, but with one of my email addresses for now (so he doesn't get notifications of the books added). 

I debated using my own credit card on there and just giving him the number later for the DRM and having him sideload books.  Then decided that took away from the "ease" of the present (I'll show him how to sideload later, but to start with having to just hit "check for new content" as we're sitting around seemed nicer).  So I decided to be sneaky and got his credit card number and added it to the account. 

Now you don't say the relationship of the person you're purchasing the nook for - so I'm not sure if it is feasible or not to get ahold of a credit card number in your case.  But if so, I think that would be the easiest option.  Then when I'm ready to give it to him, I'll change the email address on the account, register the nook for him and then wrap it up. 

*IF* you go this route though... you might want to add a gift card to the account as well - just to make sure you don't accidentally spend on that card.  I've got mine set up where my account is logged in on Firefox and his is logged in on Internet Explorer, so which browser I use determines which account I'm getting books for.  Then I just go through every week and grab all the free books I think he might possibly like. 

[SlaughterS]

You are able to change your credit card number.  I had to do it when my card expired.

You should be able to change the email account.  B&N supplies an "update your email" link on the login screen.   

Check with the B& help desk - but it sounds doable to me.   But - I believe that Email/password is how the nook synchs to the account so you may have un-register then re-register the nook device to synch it to the account again.

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

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SlaughterS wrote:

You should be able to change the email account.  B&N supplies an "update your email" link on the login screen.   

Check with the B& help desk - but it sounds doable to me.   But - I believe that Email/password is how the nook synchs to the account so you may have un-register then re-register the nook device to synch it to the account again.

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Yes. In fact, you have to unregister the NOOK, then change the account email address, then re-register the NOOK, in that order.

[WickedElf]

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SlaughterS wrote:

You are able to change your credit card number.  I had to do it when my card expired.

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Yeah, but won't the DRM on your files be attached to your old credit card? 

Not a problem for when both cards are your own - but if you get one for someone else... any free books grabbed on that account will have the gift-giver's credit card number in the DRM (so they'd have to give that number to the gift-receiver, in order for them to open those books).

[Jenniisme]

I would think that if someone were willing to buy a Nook as a gift for someone, they wouldn't have a severe problem with giving them the cc to unlock the books.

I did it with my friend, we share books all the time.

[LarryOnLI]

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WickedElf wrote:

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SlaughterS wrote:

You are able to change your credit card number.  I had to do it when my card expired.

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Yeah, but won't the DRM on your files be attached to your old credit card? 

Not a problem for when both cards are your own - but if you get one for someone else... any free books grabbed on that account will have the gift-giver's credit card number in the DRM (so they'd have to give that number to the gift-receiver, in order for them to open those books).

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The DRM of the eBook is set to the credit card that is the default at the time the book is downloaded, not that is used to purchase the book.

If you change your credit card online, you can re-download the books to get them locked to the new credit card number, but this is not necessary because your nook remembers al the previous decryption keys.