lalinguabella (lalinguabella) wrote,
2006-02-06 19:04:00

News: The Sony Reader

How would you like to take 10 paperbacks with you on your beach vacation, but you don't want to carry a shoebox's worth of extra space? It sounds like a dream, but we've all heard the promise of eBooks, and the resulting technology was just an electronic version readable on your normal computer screen. Not exactly portable, unless you had a laptop, in which case it was impossible to read at the beach. The bright light made the screen too hard to read, plus who would dare risk their laptop at such a venue? And reading from the computer screen was too tiring to the eyes, anyway. The technology never seemed to live up to its promise.

“Well, if we believe [Sony's] hype, 'The digital book has come of age.'”
Well, if we believe their hype, "The digital book has come of age." It appears that the early forms of eBooks will be a distant memory when Sony unveils its new "Reader". I first heard about this product only today on Instapundit, but it has already captured my interest. The Sony Reader is smaller than a laptop, and it's readable in direct sunlight and at angles. This is all made possible, it seems, by a miraculous invention, e Ink. I hear it reads just like paper, except that it's electronic. I can't wait to see it.

List of features:
  • Paper-like display
  • Small and light
  • Contains enough memory for at least 80 average-sized books
  • ...available memory upgrades, plays music, displays graphics, and more!
Wired magazine's article on it says it went over well at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. It's scheduled to be available for $300-$400 this spring. According to Wired, Sony's plan for success with this product is based on integration with their online music sales store. A one-stop shop to get music AND books? Sign me up!
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