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Sony Reader Taking Hold?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the i-have-a-whole-shelf-full-that-don't-require-batteries dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sony recently launched their latest attempt at an electronic book reader. The 'Sony Reader' is small and lightweight, about the size of a paperback book, and using E-Ink technology it only requires battery power when changing the page so light on power requirements. While it isn't their first attempt at an electronic book reader, critics are already predicting the Reader's success."

3 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. This will save my wrists! by montyzooooma · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Having recently struggled through Johnathon Strange, The Cleric Quintet and half of the Thomas Covenant saga in massive hardback editions I am seriously looking forward to a convenient lightweight way to read these tomes.

    Unfortunately with most ebook sellers pricing themselves higher than equivalent paperbacks it's going to take more than this to really liven up the market. I favour SF&F so Baen ( http://www.baen.com/library/ ) are a welcome exception. They offer DRM-free downloads and subscriptions AND offer a load of books for free download.

  2. Doomed to failure by Xenkar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Paperback books are cheap. This ebook reader can't compete with real books so long as it will be priced $300 to $400. The only way eBook readers could become commonplace is if they give them away.

  3. They'd have me if...... by aussie_a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'd have me if it was possible to install other readers onto it (I don't want Sony to write the programs, just make it so other people CAN write the programs and the user can install them on the reader). Alternately I'd be more tempted if their format wasn't DRM'd (yup, non-DRM e-books do exist. One store that sells quite a bit from numerous prominent authors (such as Kevin J Andserson) is Fictionwise).

    I'm a big time e-book reader and I'm migrating to an e-book only library (for new books anyway). If Sony has success, that's great. But I'm finding it doubtful that they will, because if someone like me isn't interested, what is their demographic?