Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Sony Announces Wireless eBook Reader - With Free Library Checkouts



Looks like the eBook wars are starting to heat up! That can only mean great things for consumers.
It flew under the radar under a quiet leak this morning, but Sony's just announced the Reader Daily Edition, as well as updated Mac-compatible eBook Library 3.0 software and a new library content service. The Reader Daily Edition has a seven-inch touchscreen with 16 levels of gray as well as a AT&T 3G modem, enabling it to pull content wirelessly -- it'll launch in December for $400, and the 3G access will be free and limited to accessing the Sony eBook store. We're a little more geeked about the library finder service, which enables you to check out ebooks and other digital content from your local public library on any of the Readers -- for free. The New York Public Library is the flashy public launch partner, but there are "thousands more" looped in through a partnership with Overdrive.com -- check out the huge selection of top-tier content you can get through the Chicago Public Library, for example. That's pretty amazing, and it's definitely a major advantage over the Kindle. We're gunning for more info now, we'll let you know as soon as we find out more -- until then, check two more images after the break.

Read - Sony Reader Daily Edition PR
Read - Overdrive.com partnership PR
Let's hope Apple announces a new tablet device next month that can tether to an iPhone data connection. Then we'll really see the eBook market take off.

Hopefully, the industry will soon adopt ePub or some other standardized format so that your book collection is not locked into a specific platform. (Remember when music files were proprietary and locked in to your iPod?) That change is almost certain to come soon.

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