[Web4lib] Extra ! Extra ! > Sony Announces Reader Daily Edition: 3G Wireless, Plus Free Library Content

[McKiernan, Gerard [LIB]]

Colleagues/

 

Hot Off The Press ! / Watch Out Kindle ...

 

/Gerry 

 

During an event at the main branch of the New York Public Library this
morning, Sony unveiled the newest version of its eBook Reader, the Daily
Edition ... which will have built-in free wireless capability via AT&T's
3G mobile broadband network. 

 

The new Reader, to sell for $399, will be available by December, just in
time for the holidays, at SonyStyle stores and via sonystyle.com. The
Daily Edition will feature a 7-inch touchscreen, and a high contrast
ratio with 16 levels of grayscale; you can read in either portrait or
landscape orientation. It will have enough onboard memory to hold over
1,000 standard ebooks and is also expandable via Memory Stick / Duo and
SD card slots. 

 

[snip]

 

Sony also announced its Library Finder app, developed in partnership
with Overdrive.com. Users of Sony's eBook Store will be able to easily
locate their local libraries online, and using their library cards,
download free ebook content. When the lending period is up, the content
simply expires.[snip]

 

Dr. Paul LeClerc, president and CEO of the NYPL, ... detailed Sony's
partnership with libraries to provide free digital contentto all
versions of the Sony Reader. Currently, he said, the library offers over
40,000 downloadable titles and is in partnership with Google's
book-scanning initiative, with the goal of digitizing over 1 million
titles. "We believe it must be delivered free," he stressed.

 

Steven Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reader Business Division, ...
emphasized the importance of access, content, and affordability for
ebook readers. He mentioned that Sony is moving from a proprietary ebook
format to ePub's format, which will streamline the publishing process
immensely.

 

Links To Source / Photos / Press Release / Etc Available At 

 

[ http://preview.tinyurl.com/ljdedr  ]

 

EnJOY!

 

/Gerry 

 

Gerry McKiernan

 

Associate Professor

Science and Technology Librarian

Iowa State University Library

Ames IA 50011

 

gerrymck at iastate.edu

 

There Are No Answers, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying

 

The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed /

Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace