Sony Reader - The iPod of text
Published by GadgetSpy January 8th, 2006 in Gadgets, Computing, Portable Audio, PDA, Misc.
Sony are hoping to clean up with readers in the same way Apple captured the music lovers ears with the iPod. The new “Sony Reader” promises paper-like legibility and room for hundreds of books in a device the size of a paperback.
The 6 inch screen has a wide viewing angle and text scaling features (for people who forget their glasses). The display is 800×600 resolution, and provides 4 levels of greyscale.
The battery life on offer is up to 7,500 continuous page turns with a single full charge on internal rechargeable battery.
The Sony Reader holds up to 80 average-size books, and if that isn’t enough for you; an optional MemoryStick storage media or SD card gives you room for hundreds more.
What will really help this new e-book system is the software on the PC. Like Apple’s iTunes, Sony is offeirng an eBook shop called “Connect” (which only works in Internet Explorer. Bad bad). Providing a broad range of titles in fiction, non-fiction, business, self-help and more, you’ll be able to browse the books, sample the first chapter and read author bios and reviews before making a book purchase. Most titles cost less than their print versions.
Bored of reading books? As an added bonus the Sony Reader also displays Adobe PDF documents, personal documents, newsfeeds, and JPEGs. It even plays audio files!
Listen to this article
+del.icio.usRelated
4 Responses to “Sony Reader - The iPod of text”
- 1 Trackback on Jan 9th, 2006 at 2:09 am
The Sony Reader has many wonderful features, but readers might want to learn of the downside as well. Sony would do well to phase in a nonproprietary e-book format such as OpenReader (disclosure: I’m an OR ringleader). Also keep in mind that some interesting alternatives are on the way such as the iLiad.
David, I read with interest the details at the OpenReader web site.
“We argue that is not the best way to view documentation on a computer.”
Jahn - This is a device that reads books that are in the ‘book’ format. I assume that you understand that the pages will most likely be delivered will simply be scanned from the book and displayed. Are books searchable, editable - do i care ?
“Have you ever tried to view a PDF document on a PDA?”
Jahn - No, I have never tried to wash my car with a squirt gun either.
“The PDF format is the “end of the road.” It’s what other formats convert to and thus has limited editing, formatting, and advanced search capabilities.”
Why is this an important feature set for eBooks? I certainly can scan any page and make it searchable, but when i read a book, i am reading a book. This device enables me to read a book without having to drive to Borders or order it (and wait) from Amazon. I agree their should be a standard - The ISO and ANSI approved PDF/X will probably be fine for this - or even perhaps PDF-A. I think OpenReader will be great for educational textbooks and manuals, but to read a romance novel or Harry Potter, sorry, don’t need it.
Yes I agree with David as it does sound very good and could be the next iPod od text, but the Sony Reader is not perfect by along way saying that there is nothing else at present that can touch it.