Morning:
20°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
Sony's electronic book hails new dawn for reading
Last updated at 09:37am on 28.09.06Books have been the orphan in the digital world. Music has the iPod. Video has YouTube. Books have, well, Amazon.com, where you can buy them printed on paper.
Of course, there are electronic books available for download at Amazon and elsewhere, but they haven't really caught on.
Sony Corp. however is now tackling part of the problem with the U.S. launch of the first e-book reader that imitates the look of paper by using innovative screen technology.
Is this the iPod for books? Not quite. But it is a step forward.
The Sony Reader is a handsome affair the size of a paperback book, but only a third of an inch thick. It went on sale this week for $350 (£190) on Sony's Web site, and is available in Borders stores in October.
Unlike other e-books, the screen has no flicker or back light, allowing the reader to spend as much time reading as they want without the fear of eyestrain.
The 6-inch screen can be taken for a monochrome liquid-crystal display at first glance, but on closer inspection looks like no other electronic display. It's behind a thin pane of glass, but unlike an LCD it shows no "depth" - it pretty much looks like a light grey piece of paper with dark gray text.
The display, based on technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off E Ink Corp., is composed of tiny capsules with electrically charged particles of white and black ink. When a static electric charge is applied on the side of the capsule that faces the reader, it attracts the white particles to the face of the display, making that pixel show light gray.
Reversing the charge brings the black pigments floating through the capsule to replace the white pigments, and the pixel shows as dark gray.
Like paper, the display is readable from any angle, but it doesn't look as good as the real thing, chiefly because the contrast doesn't compare well. The background isn't white and the letters aren't black. The letters show some jaggedness, even though the resolution is a very respectable 800 by 600 pixels. It will display photos, though they look a bit like black-and-white photocopies.
But it's still a more comfortable reading medium than any other electronic display. The text is easy on the eyes in almost any light you could read a book by.
The other major advantage of the display is that it's a real power sipper. Sony says a Reader with a full charge in its lithium battery can show up to 7,500 pages.
The reason behind this trilogy-busting stamina is that the display only consumes power when it flips to a new page. Displaying the same page continuously consumes no power, though the electronics of the device itself do use a little bit.
The Reader's internal memory holds up to 100 books, depending on their size, and can be expanded with inexpensive SD cards or Memory Sticks.
Reader views (17)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Great idea. For casual readers, it seems great. Nothing will replace the printed book though. The feel, smell and experience of reading a well bound book can never be replaced by 1s and 0s. For students, having all of your texts on one device will not allow you to cross reference having both books open at the same time. Price too high for now and yes waterproof, sandproof or even coffeeproof is an issue.
- E, Hawthorne, NY
This sounds great! Will it be waterproof? I read in the hot tub, pool and beach. I also read at work, but there's no water there!
- M Evans, Ruby, VA, USA
Sure, real books don't need batteries, but then again, you can't carry 100 books around in your backpack. As a student, I can't wait until I can get all of my textbooks electronically. It shoud save on space, weight, and price. Kudos to Sony for pursuing this technology. I, for one, wish them success.
- Abinadi A., Austin, TX
I like the idea for traveling and not having to carry several books, however it is way too expensive.
- S. B., USA
Totally not a waste of money, you can take one piece of hardware and have access to everything ever printed. Unlike expensive and power hungry displays currently on the market, this is low power and once it reaches maturity will be very inexpensive.
Real books fade, tear, and are cumbersome as any college student knows. I wish I had an e-book with all my college texts loaded, it would have lightened the load!
Can't wait for the color version.
- John, Mountain Home, ID USA
This isn't a "real" book.
- Bob, Toronto, Ont.
Spoken like a true fifty something!
- Rob, Miami, FL
I think this is wonderful. I have always thought that every Library has caused a forest to be clear cut. Trees create oxgen, books gather dust. Save the trees!
- Phillp Sparkenickle, West Bumpgarten, USA
Finally the promises of the paperless world are getting to us. Clears my shelves for more important things like motorcycle parts. Now if that robot dog could wash my dishes and make a nice cup of coffee...
- Mike Davenport, Aluquerque, NM USA
This would be a fantastic device for school books.
That is, if the learning material could ever be "published" electronically.
Think of it.
Students wouldn't be hunchbacks at the end of the day.
- Daniel Mcandrew, USA
I find myself reading in many different lighting situations and now I am over 40, my eyes aren't what they used to be.
Idea sounds good.
- Nigel Kazwell, St. Louis, MO
I bought a real book and never read it. So I think I will skip the two steps of buying an electronic book, and never reading it.
- Hotdog Neck, Dallas USA
This is great, my family goes through 20 novels a month. I would love it if I didn't have to have them scattered all over.
- Chriss, Ohio
This will be a boon to the legal profession, which wastes forests of paper on discovery alone.
- John Tuttle, Birmingham, AL, USA
I'm a software developer and I purchase 2-3 tech books every month. I also regularly take books with me to the office for some project I am working on. This will be a great way to carry all of my tech books with me, but not have to lug them all around.
- Brian Ehmann, Maryland, USA
Finally, the e-book I've been hoping for - one that's easy on the eyes. The next step is for these to come down in price and for more books to be put online for download, removing the filter between the writers and the readers (ie. literary agents, editors, etc). Instead of relying on a notoriously fickle publishing industry to decide what readers read, it will be the readers themselves.
- Jacob Oost, Ohio, USA
What a waste of money. Real books don't need batteries.
- Dhanraj, Basildon
