It is like buying an Apple product. The people who sell the Novel only want you to run the stuff they want you to run... the B&N stuff and a few extra bones they throw in. I guess they get some grease from B&N to set it up that way. Okay, I wanted something to run different stuff. I wanted to run the sofware that I chose, not what some guy at B&N thought I should have. For example, I love my Kindle, but it is strangely in Black and White... so I wanted a color device to run the Kindle app... I waited a long time for Amazon to release an Android Kindle app. Why? Because I know the Android is a lot more of an open system, so I waited for the Android app to become available, then I looked at Android phones.... but they require a monthly investment... too expensive for me to pay so much every month. So an Android tablet is perfect. They will come out with more Android tablets later this year, the PDN was simply the first to satisfy my need. Also, I like hacking these devices. When I bought my ipod, that was the very first thing I did, jailbreak it, so I can use it the way I want (not the way Steve Jobs wants).