Will e-books finally take off? I hope so.
Terry Teachout‘s WSJ article about the upcoming Sony Reader and what this might mean to reading and publishing renews my enthusiasm about having an ebook reader that’s separate from my computer. For one thing, having most everything I need with me at all times would be great. I’ve got a zillion academic books that I’d prefer to have in digital form, which would save shelf space for all my different editions of Ulysses. 🙂
I can also see subscribing to magazines that way in the same way I now subscribe to podcasts. Wired has also just published a good article on the Reader, with a few pictures. Am looking forward to holding one of these in my hand.
Hmmmm… it seems like Mac users will be left out in the cold with this device. I wonder if Steve Jobs has something even better up his sleeve or if Sony is going to do anything to accomodate Mac users. 🙁
2 comments
The sony reader looks like an interesting apparatus but other reviews raise some doubts :
– their model of paper is “read only” : there is no note taking facility, or search facility. it seems to be page at a time only.
– their model for license mangement is restricted : only two formats of files seem to be supported, adobe pdf (see above!) and a prorietary sony system. (an earlier version of this device, the sony librie, had a rights management system based on “this ebook will self destroy in 2 weeks!” approach.)
at $300, i would be tempted to own it, but not at $500 🙂
cosmicray …
$500 is to expensive just for an ebook reader.
amazon have kindle and the price just $300
i will chose kindle than sony when i decided to buy it.