If Barnes & Noble does go under, there are ramifications for everyone who has purchased ePubs from them.
They will be gone.
You will not be able to access them online.
If they are physically downloaded onto your device, you will be able to keep them.
The current NOOK reader app for the Windows environment does not allow you to download your NOOK books, it only allows you to access them online.
If, like myself, you still have a copy of NOOK for PC, you can download your NOOK ePubs to your PC.
While no longer available from Barnes & Noble, that program can still be downloaded via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20120211053432/http://images.barnesandnoble.com/PResources/download/eReader2/bndr2_setup_latest.exe The following link will download the equivalent program for the Mac. https://web.archive.org/web/20120211053436/http://images.barnesandnoble.com/PResources/download/ereader2/bn/mac/NOOKforMac.dmg.zip Please, spread this far and wide.
You have legitimately purchased these ePubs. You should not lose access to them because Barnes & Noble's executives have decided to scuttle the company.
Barnes & Noble's ePubs have DRM. There are legal programs that will remove their DRM; if Barnes & Noble does go out of business, you have every right to remove that DRM so that you can continue to access your legally purchased eBooks.
I'm sick and tired of loosing access to legally purchased products because the company selling them goes out of business and thus no longer is there to authorize the software to run.
In this particular case, by being proactive, we can avoid that happening to us.
But it has to be done prior to Barnes & Noble officially closing. Once they shut down their website, it's all over. The Wayback Machine will not work for accessing your NOOK books, it has to be done via a connection to a live website.
Not all NOOK ePubs are compatible with their Windows programs. So if you have been using a NOOK eReader, or a NOOK Android or iOS app, it's possible you have NOOK content that will have to be downloaded onto that device to preserve it.
Most of the programs to remove DRM require access to your account, so this has to be done while Barnes & Noble is still active.
Note: the links aren't to the very latest versions of NOOK for PC and NOOK for Mac. The link downloads NOOK for PC 2.5.5.something, the last version released was 2.5.6.something. It's possible that there exists a more recent capture of the software, this will do the job, so I didn't keep looking; there are limits to my altruism.
