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Barnes & Noble chops e-reader prices for Mother's Day

For a limited time, the Nook Simple Touch is available for $79 while the Nook Color drops to $149.

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Mobile accessories and portable audio, including headphones, earbuds and speakers Credentials
  • Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
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David Carnoy
Barnes & Noble is also throwing in a gift bag when you order a Nook Simple Touch or Nook Color. Barnes & Noble

A day after getting a $300 investment from Microsoft, Barnes & Noble is on the offensive again, chopping $20 off its Nook Simple Touch e-ink e-reader and the Nook Color tablet for Mother's Day.

You can now pick up the Nook Simple Touch for $79 and the Nook Color for $149. The sale runs until May 12 and Barnes & Noble will also throw in a free Nook gift bag with purchases of those devices (while supplies last). The bag doesn't look all that exciting, but hey, it's better than a plastic bag.

It should be noted that the Nook Simple Touch didn't sell as well as Barnes & Noble had hoped during last year's holiday season and the company recently started shipping the hot-selling $139 Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, which earned a CNET Editors' Choice and is back-ordered until May 7. The Nook Color is also an older model that came out in 2010 and doesn't have the faster processor of the $199 Nook Tablet.

Barnes & Noble has discounted the Nook Simple Touch to $79 a couple times before, but that price point is the lowest for a touch-screen e-reader and matches Amazon's highly rated non-touch Kindle 2011 with Special Offers, which costs $79 and is ad-supported.

CNET readers frequently point out that you can get refurbished Nook e-readers at nicely discounted prices. A quick look at Google shows that most refurbished Nook Simple Touch units are selling for $79, though I did spot one for $59.99.

Watch this: New Nook lights it up

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