Sony Reader Makes Friends With Jane Austin
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Sony, Reader, Google, Classics, kindle | Themes: Digital Entertainment, Business
Oprah kicked off the Kindle. Everyone knows that the device’s popularity is thanks in large part to the chatshow queen, but the Kindle is not the only eBook reader out there and it looks like Sony is eager to make itself heard among the Kindle-mania.
While it all comes down to personal opinion, I’m a big fan of Sony’s Reader, more so than I am of the Kindle. No real logic behind it, I just think it looks nicer and if I’m going to read electronic books anytime soon (and I really don’t plan to), it’ll be on a Sony device. The company last night announced the arrival of a whole bunch of classic titles, courtesy of Google Books.
Google’s Book Search hasn’t quite had the recognition it deserves. It's a great idea, but no one really uses it on a regular basis. A lot of great books are under expired copyrights and it seems not many people really realize what they can get for free these days. That said, the deal with Sony should shed a little light on the issue. Google and Sony yesterday announced that the search giant would be providing titles whose copyrights have expired.
The deal will bring the Reader library to 600,000, over double that of the Kindle (250,000 according to CNet). All we need now is some fancy celebrity endorsement and the Sony Reader will be well on its way.
Do any of you guys have an eBook reader, Kindle or otherwise? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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I have a Sony reader and love it. I does look much nicer than the kindle and I don't mind that I have to hook up to a computer to get new books instead of being able to browse wirelessly, which is the advantage of the kindle. HOWEVER, I spend most of my time reading the classics for free and absolutely do not buy anything from the Sony store. In most cases, the ebooks sell for the full retail price of the hard copy books. Even when they are cheaper, they are very often only 10-15% cheaper. How is it possible that they think this is fair? With no printing or distribution costs,the ebooks should sell for half of book store prices at most!
Use my tablet as my e-book reader. I like my tablet ebook reader.
), high screen resolution, good exercise (7lb..
), and good for my eyes (I have pause my reading and look for a plug every couple hours... lol)... oh.. it is also good for personal safety, too. Wwith its metal chase, 7 lb weight, explosive Li-ion battery... I can probably use it as a weapon or bullet-proof shell...
Good quality, "color", works with internet, adlobe and MS Office, no extra cost (since I already own it), big storage (well it a laptop..
as for the current ebook reader out there... I like the book collection and 2G(? maybe 3G.. can't remember >_
oops some part of my post got cut...
)"... but I like the design of Sony's new eBook better. Other than Amazon and Sony?... hmm... na.... btw I also use my iTouch as my ebook reader which is far from being perfect but good for my need.
well.. " I like the book collection and 2G(? maybe 3G.. can't remember
isnt it spelled jane austen? or are we talking of two different people?
cause jane austen wrote pride and prejudice.
on a side note, the pride and prejudice we had for class had it spelled both ways. spelling fail for the publishers.
there are about 3000 hand made ebooks downloadable for the Sony at http://www.mobileread.com .
Other books for the Jinke/Cybook/Bebook and Iliad and others, you can download there too.
You can even make your own ebooks there, and upload them if they are copyright expired.
Find better versions then on project gutenberg (often layout optimized for these readers).
I would only recommend you a Sony reader (I own the PRS 505 and it is one of my most fun gadgets around!) if you are an avid reader, or just love to code books from HTML text to the appropriate format.
The device is slow, but the good thing about it is, that it uses e-ink technology;which almost looks like a magical text appears on a white plastic background.
It looks much better then reading books on your laptop.
Apart from text files, the device also has the capability to view greyscaled pictures, pdf, and playback mp3 files (which makes little sense to do,unless you're listening to an audiobook on a low bitrate compression).