The new Reader Daily Edition from Sony

Sony announced on Tuesday its first ever e-book reader with a built-in wireless capability. The new Reader Daily Edition has an integrated 3G wireless connection, allowing every user to access Sony's online bookstore plus the yet-to-be-announced magazine and newspaper subscriptions. The unit will be sold for $399 and will debut on December. It boasts a 7-inch touch screen (displayable in landscape or portrait mode). AT&T will provide wireless service and confirms no direct charge to the customer.



The Reader Daily Edition will join the previously announced Touch Edition PRS-600 ($299) and Pocket Edition PRS-300 ($199), both of which will become available by the next couple of weeks. Aside from the wireless connection and larger screen, the specs of the Reader Daily Edition much parallels with that of the Touch Edition: it provides an E Ink Vizplex electronic paper screen with 16 shades of gray.

At the New York Public Library launch, Sony highlighted a few notable new features of its e-book platform. Perhaps the most notable is its expansion of support for library loans to all Sony Readers. If your local library supports electronic lending, members will have the ability to download the borrowed books and move them to the Reader for 21 days (the file will expire after 21 days). Sony has partnered with Overdrive.com for ease of searching for available books at all the participating libraries.

Another particular feature is the launch of the version 3.0 of Sony's eBook Library software, which offers support for Macs (and Windows). The said software is used to transfer purchased files (and other supported content like a PDF and Epub files) from the computer to the Reader. (Although supported, the PC step is no longer required for the Reader Daily Edition, which can directly access online content.)

Also highlighted by Sony is its new "open" Epub format that the company is moving to from its previous proprietary BBeB format. Although the Epub books at Sony's store will still be encoded with DRM, it will already permit the Sony Reader to also work with files bought from BooksOnBoard, NetGalley, Powells.com, and any other retailer that uses the Adobe-backed standard. (However, that does not include Amazon, who has its own proprietary Kindle standard, or Barnes & Noble, who is working on its own Epub flavor for its forthcoming Plastic Logic reader).

The trio of Sony Reader products strengthens the fact that Sony is not giving the market up to Amazon. Indeed, the company is presenting some nice alternatives: a budget-friendly $200 starting price point on the entry-level unit as well as wider file compatibility. What entices more to many will be the abundance of free content not available on the Kindle: Sony Readers can be able to access the hundreds of thousands of public domain Google Books as well as the free library loaners. The library loans are surely compelling, however Epub collections are not that comprehensive. On the New York Public Library site, notable titles can be found such as Twilight and Freakonomics, however there were not a lot of other top 10 selections.
The built-in wireless access of the Daily Edition, in the meantime, takes Sony onto features parity with the Kindle. But even with the touch screen (which the Kindle doesn't have), the extra $100 against the Kindle's current $299 price tag may definitely be a hard sell to recession-addled customers.


Meanwhile: what do you think of these new products and features from Sony as compared to Kindles? Do you think $199 is still too expensive for an e-book reader? Are you waiting for better screens with cheaper titles? Feel free to provide feedback.