Books nourish our minds and make great gifts, but let's be honest—we kill a lot of trees to make them. Sony's Reader might alleviate the green bibliophiles guilt. Its high-tech display looks a lot like low-tech paper, so it's easy on the eyes. And with up to 7,500 page views per charge, it's surprisingly energy-efficient. Download tomes at the Sony Connect store (the free software is similar to iTunes); you can also use the Reader to view PDFs and Word documents, and to listen to MP3s.
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Comments
It's a great idea in theory, but the Sony Reader only works with a restricted list of books - those published by the large corporate presses. In that sense, it contributes to the process by which the corporate media have shut out alternative perspectives. For decades, New Society Publishers has been at the forefront of awakening environmental consciousness and helping people to live ecologically, socially, and spiritually sustainable lives. But you won't see any of New Society Press's books on the Sony Reader.
Posted by:Lyn Miller-Lachmann |January 8, 2007 2:49 PM
Aah, but I've been waiting for this kind of thing for so long! Don't say such negative things about it.
Even if the official e-books supported are only corporate ones selected by Sony, if it supports PDF and Word Documents, can't you just download those from other e-book sites and play them? At the very least copy-and-paste into a Word Document should allow you to read it. If Word Documents are supported, I want to be able to read my own notes on it, so you must be able to get around it like that.
Posted by:Koshi |April 18, 2007 7:20 PM