I see that Sony's book reader is now being sold in Border's Book stores. I have been able to test a few kinds of these devices over the years and have been unimpressed. The Sony device costs about $350. Greyscale, no color. Uses an electronic Ink technology developed by E-Ink, which we also tested for signage applications. E-Ink means it requires no power to retain the image. Slim format and fairly bright screen, though still not bright enough to my taste for out of doors. Content availability has always been an issue for these devices. Their Connect Ebooks site contains some 10,000 books which average about half of what they cost in paper versions. Gives access to some very cheap classics in the public domain. You download via a PC. Downloads do not expire, but can only be shared in limited ways. No keyboard or other annotation capability. More technical details and background.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Sony Book Reader
I see that Sony's book reader is now being sold in Border's Book stores. I have been able to test a few kinds of these devices over the years and have been unimpressed. The Sony device costs about $350. Greyscale, no color. Uses an electronic Ink technology developed by E-Ink, which we also tested for signage applications. E-Ink means it requires no power to retain the image. Slim format and fairly bright screen, though still not bright enough to my taste for out of doors. Content availability has always been an issue for these devices. Their Connect Ebooks site contains some 10,000 books which average about half of what they cost in paper versions. Gives access to some very cheap classics in the public domain. You download via a PC. Downloads do not expire, but can only be shared in limited ways. No keyboard or other annotation capability. More technical details and background.
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