AfterDawn: News

Sony unveils two new e-readers

Sony unveiled two new e-readers on Tuesday which will compete with Amazon's popular Kindle e-book readers in the emerging market for digital books, one of which stands $100 less than the Kindle. The Sony Reader Touch Edition sports a 6-inch touchscreen, and has a price tag of $299 just like Amazon's latest Kindle.

The second new e-reader has a smaller 5-inch (not touchscreen) screen. Dubbed the Reader Pocket Edition, the portable e-reader will cost $199. Both new e-readers will be available in August. From the details revealed by Sony, it's a mixed bag when compared to the Amazon readers.





Sony Reader Touch Edition

Each device will store around 350 e-books on its 512MB of flash memory, compared to Kindle's 2GB of flash memory. However, both the Sony e-readers have a battery life of two weeks compared to 4 days for Kindle. The e-readers support Sony's BBeB format, the ePub standard, Microsoft Word documents and reportedly, Adobe's PDF.


Sony Reader Pocket Edition

"Sony is also committed to working with local libraries throughout the country as they make the move to digital books," the company said in a statement. "Sony Readers are compatible with the industry-standard formats that libraries use for their digital collections, so consumers can easily download perennial favorites and new releases from their local libraries and enjoy them for free."

Both e-readers match the Kindle's 800x600 screen resolution. New e-books and New York Times best sellers will be available on the eBook Store from Sony for $9.99 and the eBook Library software 3.0 now supports Mac as well as PCs according to Sony.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 5 Aug 2009 11:07

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• 3 comments

• Ryoohki

  I wonder if Sony will be able to wipe out a book someone has purchased without their authorization just like what can happen with a Kindle :)
  
  Also, you have to wonder why these things have built-in memory instead of allowing the use of memory cards. Well, I suppose they don't want people using 'unapproved' copies of books would be why but that only makes it unlikely that I will ever own an ebook reader of these types.
  
  Seriously though, what the hell is Sony thinking with 512MB of memory. You would be stupid to shell out 300 dollars for that piece of shit. I'll just have to be happy with (continuing) reading ebooks on my DS. The smaller screen size doesn't bother me ;)

  5.8.2009 12:55 #1

• Shinraboy

  They did the polar opposite of what I was hopng. Not only are these ugly, but they're the same size and one is smaller. Not only that but the touchscreen makes text blurry. Damn it, Sony. I was hoping for a 9-inch one. No touchscreen. The 505 model is GREAT but a bit too small for Graphic novel PDFs. Ugh.

  5.8.2009 15:32 #2

• Gnawnivek

  i was contemplating a Sony e-reader, but no, i went with a Kindle instead. See, even with the latest cheaper e-reader, Sony still didn't include any wireless feature. Using a computer to dump reading material on the e-reader is fine, but not as convenient as delivered to you wirelessly... Of course, i do like Sony e-readers ability to read PDFs natively (the Kindle doesn't, but the DX does). Also, the additional memory slot (but it's too damn slow).

  6.8.2009 09:40 #3