Actually, it’s easy to take an ebook reader to the bath or the beach. Put it in a clear baggy, or wrap it in saran wrap; it works just fine, and if you drop it in the water, it’s also just fine — unlike a paper book (the pages of which you can’t change if it’s in a plastic bag, and which gets wrecked if you drop it in the water. :)

The Sony Reader has a very nice display (but then, so do all e-ink devices), but unlike most of its competitors, the Sony Reader does not support dictonary look-up of words while you’re reading.

Also, Word on the Street’s timing wasn’t particularly apt for Sony this year; those who follow such things have known for weeks that Sony is planning a big announcement about ebooks for next week (rumoured to be either a new model or the addition of Wi-Fi technology to the existing model), so who the heck would buy this week?

Also, Sony was selling their ebook reader at $275 at Word on the Street. Now, yes, that was marked down from the regular price of $299, but, really, was there anything else at all on sale at Word on the Street that cost even half that amount? Even a third of it? One shouldn’t read too much into small sales (if they were, in fact, small) of what was by far the biggest-ticket item on offer at the entire event. When I went by the booth (around 3:30, I think), it was packed with people, and I suspect a lot of consciousness-raising happened, even if few sales were made that day.

Okay, I love reading. Not the books. Reading. Good stories actually. The format isn’t an essential piece of that experience for me. Yes, I am aware there are people who love books. The physical part.

For me, its the stories contained within. And that ‘within’ can be in paperback, hardcover (though a nice leather bookbinding still reeks of wealth and obviously it would be nice to have a whole library of my favourite stories in leather covers)on disk, tape, or cheap paper. So if Sony can come up with something that’s easy to read (lots of options on font size, guys),easy to carry around (books take up a lot of room in my purse not to mention the weight), and the ability to load it with any book I please, just like I can at the library, and I can afford it without having to take out a loan – then hey, yah, I’m there. Oh, and did I mention my story loving daughter would LOVE some new gadget she could both use, and show off? Make it pretty.

That’s all.

So is Sony now supplying books in Canada? We bought a Reader last Christmas but haven’t been able to use it much because the Sony Store won’t download a book to a credit card with a Canadian address. THANKS A LOT SONY! Amazon Kindle is the same. Yeah, sure you can get War and Peace from the Gutenberg Project plus a number of other ancient odds and ends, but Gutenbeg files have such a ragged display on the Reader you’re soon heading down to the used book store for a paperback version. Even the approved Sony texts are torture for
anybody who appreciates typography. Widows, orphans, bad breaks–whoever designed this thing obviously
never heard of them. Actually, the Reader is a clumsy piece of technology. It is slow to paint the page, flashes to black at each turn in a most annoying way, has no features like searchability, internet, or dictionary. People who are used to laptops or sophisticated PDAs just won’t be ablke to fathom why it is so limited in its functionality. I believe eBooks will displace paper editions within 10 years but this clunker is not going anywhere.

The Sony Reader Lounge was packed all day and Sony told me that they did solid sales at the festival – even with a price tag of $275. The Word On The Street crowd did not disappoint.

With the release of any new technology, there are the innovators and early adopters that lead the way and laggards who are resistant to new ideas. The Sony Reader isn’t going to replace traditional books anytime soon but you’re out to lunch if you don’t think this product is only the beginning of what is coming.

I love books, in fact I am a bookaholic, buying $150 worth when I am supposedly visiting the book store for just one item. The walls of my home are lined with bookcases. Reading is my favourite pursuit…………………with old fashioned paper books of course not these new-fangled electronic devices. Yes, yes, I know that I can read two complete books on my Palm Pilot if I so want………………. but apart from a few bored glances over the years they don’t appeal. Did I say Palm Pilot? Well, yes, I have one of those and a desktop and three laptops so I am pretty computer savvy but electronic books??? I’ll leave those to the younger people who come along and like ducks to water take all electronic forms of traditional devices as the norm, eventually of course in the future wondering what is a “book”!

Hello.
If your eyes get tired easily as mine do, why not visit librivox.org. Sure they have only public domain works but you can find quite interesting things. I am presently listenng to Mackay’s Popular delusions after listening to Proust’s ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’. And yes the idea is Canadian.
N.S.H.

I live in Dubai where the book selection in English is limited. I started buying books online but the laptop was too hot sitting in my lap for hours in the absurd temperatures reached in this part of the world. So last summer I bought a Sony Reader and have been downloading books like crazy, I love it.

Sure it is not the perfect system but it is wonderful to have access to books whenever you want and wherever you are. I have lived overseas for many years and I can personally tell you as an expatriot that this is the best thing to come into my life since the cell phone.

It easily fits in my purse, can be read in the sun, and when I finish a book I can immediately start another with the push of a button. As for using Canadian Credit card I do and have done since July of 2008. No batteries, last for two days of continuous reading, just plug it into an access port of your computer and voila your off. The only problem that has to be worked out is format. Not all books are compatible with the system which can be irritating.

All in all I think that the Reader is a great addition to todays technology and they have just started selling them here in Dubai where they sold out in days. Just goes to show there are many ways to enjoy technology.

SJS