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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."

8 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Success??? by SpookyFish · · Score: 5, Funny

    But what is the DRM, and how will it rootkit me?

    1. Re:Success??? by thej1nx · · Score: 5, Funny
      But what is the DRM, and how will it rootkit me?

      Ah, thanks for buying our product and it is good of you to ask that question. Since we could not find a satisfactory and adequate way of protecting our copyrights, we have now introduced DMCA 2.0(Damn, My Corneas! Arrrggh!!!)

      First our qualified, expert ex-mafia representatives will drop by to gouge out your eyesballs. Rest assured that this will be a painless, troublefree process. They will knock you out with a big mallet first. The ebooks text will be all be encrypted in Navajo code(already patented by us). A special navajo talker will be provided to you to decrypt and narrate the text to you. We will ofcourse be charging you an arm and a leg(and two eyesballs) for this valuable service. You have already agreed to all this in the EULA(it was the microscopic fine print).

      Have a nice day.

      Thanking you, Marketing/Mgmt team

      P.S. If you upgrade to our premium service we will also provide a trained free seeing eye dog(1 year supply of dog food also included)!

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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?

  5. Finally! by Ours · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's about time. I've played with one of these 2 years ago in Tokyo and fell in love with it. If it wasn't for the price (aroud 400 US$) and the fact that it was all in Japanese (so I couln't check if it read PDF files), I would have bought one. If these baby can read PDF and HTML, it's going to be one great tool to read technical documentation during my daily train commute. No more heavy books to carry around breaking my back.

    --
    "You superiour intellect is no match for our puny weapons" - The Simpsons
  6. Re:From the Fine Article by JanneM · · Score: 5, Informative

    What besides DRM does this do extra??

    It's the screen itself. I've seen and played with the previous reader here in Japan, and the screen really is amazing. As in "you have to see it before dissing it" amazing. It really is like reading on paper. The brighter the environment is the better it looks.

    On one hand, this reader is supposedly able to show any PDF or html and connect over USB like a mass-storage device, which is good (and the lack of which is what stopped me from buying the previous model). On the other hand, Philips is soon coming out with their version of a reader with a paper-like display, and I'd frankly rather buy from just about any company other than Sony nowadays. So I'll wait until I see what the Philips reader will be like, and unless they screw up with some DRM-only boneheaded move, that's what I'll get instead.

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  7. Pictures and More Details by giafly · · Score: 5, Informative

    The unit reads PDF files as well as Sony's proprietary (anyone surprised?) BBeB format (stands for Broadband Electronic Books). They will be releasing software for reading BBeB format on your computer so you can read books you've purchased on your PC as well as on the Reader, but apparently you can only "share" your copy of the book with up to six other devices. When pressed for details about how this "document DRM" actually works, the PR rep we spoke with had zero information -- we asked whether a Mac version of the BBeB-reading software would be released but no word on that either. - Engadget

    --
    Reduce, reuse, cycle