Sony Reader - Sony reinvents the ebook reader
Jan 10, 2006 - Linknet Product News

Sony Reader - Sony reinvents the ebook reader

Linknet Product News - January 10, 2006

Several attempts have been made over the last decade to provide an economical and user-friendly tablet device for reading electronic books. So far the idea has just not caught on.



Now Sony is trying again with the Sony Reader, which the company claims addresses most of the major problems that have always plagued digital readers:

1. Image clarity. CRT and LCD technology just don't give the kind of sharpness required to read hundreds of pages of text. According to Sony, "The Sony® Reader’s display uses e Ink® - a significant improvement over CRT and LCD technology. Instead of rows of glowing cells, e Ink® microcapsules actually appear as either black or white depending on a positive or negative charge determined by the content. The result is a reading experience that’s similar to paper - high contrast, high resolution, viewable in direct sunlight and at a nearly 180-degree angle, and requiring no power to maintain the image."

2. Form factor. Unlike a pda or notebook, the Reader is roughly the size and shape of a paperback. Small enough to carry around. Large enough to have a readable screen.

3. Storage capacity - Sony claims the Reader will hold up to "80 average-size books".

4. Availability of titles - With no good readers available, there is not much incentive to publish digital versions of major books -- and no way to make any money doing it. Sony hopes its CONNECT Store, which it claims will have thousands of eBooks available, will address this problem.

5. Price - The introductory price for the device will be something like $400 usd. They won't sell many at that price, unless they are going after the institutional market -- libraries, schools, etc. But the price will probably come down if the idea flies. Also, the ebooks themselves will not be much cheaper than actual paperbacks.

6. Compatibility - The Reader will read PDFs, and also "personal documents, blogs, newsfeeds, and JPEGs with the same amazing readability, so you can take your favorite blogs and online newspapers with you." Actually reading these requires converting them (with your PC) from native format to Sony's proprietary BBeB format.

The group with the most to gain from this kind of technology would presumably be authors. If book production can seriously be boiled down to learning how to create a PDF file, think of what might happen to all those who control the print-to-paper book industry.

Of course publishers will continue to control the major distribution and marketing channels. But the acceptance and proliferation of electronic books will mean that direct online distribution will be available to thousands of enterprising authors who would rather control the process themselves.

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