A Digital Reading Experience - "like.no.other"

I've long been interested on the e ink technology and where it would advance.

Last 2004, Sony launched Librie, an e-book reader that utilized the e-ink technology. This product, however, failed to take off. This could be credited to the high retail price and the draconian antipiracy technology. This technology lets the user rent the book from Sony. After 60 days, the e-books deleted themselves. I can see why this didn't click. Plus, Librie was only released in Japan.

This year, Sony is making another attempt at the ebook reader business with the Sony Reader. (Yes - that's what it's called. Sony Reader. Amazing... no fancy, artsy-fartsy names!). Thank goodness they released it to other markets! The Reader can read BBeBs (Sony's proprietary [anyone surprised?] Broadband Electronic Book format), PDFs and JPEGs. It can even play MP3s. Cool.

According to one review I've read, the Sony Reader has a very good display, which is extremely similar to a page with real ink.

I'd love to have one of these. I hate staring at my laptop for long periods of time when reading a paper or an ebook. However, I'd have to wait until other low-cost e-ink readers are out on the market. I still love you Sony... but the pricetag is pretty hefty. E-paper technology couldn't vary among readers anyway.

The Sony Reader is already on sale for $349.99. It was recently featured on the Consumer Electronics Show, along with similar readers such as the Iliad from iRex Technologies which will be available April 2006.