Sometimes there is synchronicity on the internet. I post about Amazon’s Kindle 2 and lo and behold, today there is news not only of the Sony Reader but Google as well. I’m wondering how much Google can get their hands into. They are forming alliances everywhere.
So, why would Sony join hands with Google? Well, because they can instantly add 600,000 book titles to its catalogue. Google has slowly been converting a ton of public domain books to digital format. Now those books will be available to Sony Reader users. That’s a major catalogue increase. Oh, and they are free.
The Sony PRS-700 Reader is, you guessed it, selling for $350. That’s their highest end model. It features a 6 inch touchscreen display. It also includes an LED reading light, unlike the Kindle. The battery allows for 7,500 pages of use and removable storage ports. That allows you to upgrade the memory space, again, unlike the Kindle. Three big drawbacks, however, are the lack of 3G support, no Amazon bookstore, and heightened glare and reduce contrast (on the PRS-700 model – because of the touchscreen). Another nice feature of the Sony Readers is the integrated mp3 player. I did look at the Sony bookstore and it did seem to carry most of what I would buy. Most titles seemed to go for around $12. And now, with the addition of the public domain catalogue from Google, this reader suddenly got much more compelling.