In its press release touting its new eReader, Sony Corporation also announced a new service that will allow owners of the new device to access eBooks owned by their public library..... sometimes.
The eBook store will now have a Library Finder page. Sony, working with OverDrive (www.overdrive.com), the leading global digital distributor of eBooks and to libraries, will now offer visitors to the eBook Store by Sony easy access to their local library's collection of eBooks. Thousands of libraries in the OverDrive network offer eBooks optimized for the Sony Reader, and visitors can now find these libraries by typing their zip code into the Library Finder. Through the selected library's download website, visitors can check out eBooks with a valid library card, download them to a PC and transfer to their Reader. At the end of the library's lending period, eBooks simply expire, so there are never any late fees.
The process is much more complicated than the Kindles 60 second wireless downloads and we need to wait and see what the selection and availability is like before getting too excited about this, but it could have promise.
Free ebooks are equipped with particular reading hardware. The internet is now making its way to create more and more of this reading hardware to cater to the increasing needs of free ebooks. Readers around the world are now making free ebooks as their usual options of resources and electronic publishing have to make more programs that can accommodate the demands. There are two leading ebook reader/hardware today, the Kindle model of Amazon and PRS-500 of Sony. The internet has yet to endorse and create more of these to be able to make free ebook reading convenient.
ReplyDeleteSo what do you recommend? I am considering getting a Kindle or a Sony Reader. I read recently that the New York Public Library "lends" its books for use, for three weeks, on the Sony device. I understand that lots of other libraries are doing the same. Are libraries working with Sony and NOT working with Kindle? For me, that would tip the decision about what to buy to Sony. What advice would you offer?
ReplyDeleteIf what I use personally matters... I use the Kindle app, eReader and BookFinder on my iPhone. I have used an actual Kindle and did not really enjoy the experience - not enough to justify the price, anyway. I will say that their WhisperNet download service works flawlessly.
ReplyDeleteThe ePub format became the official standard of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) in September 2007. Sony, Barnes and Noble and several others have already embraced that format. If I were to buy today, I imagine that is the way I would go.
Personally, I am still waiting. I also still like "real" books and am in no particular hurry to make the jump - especially as long as my iPhone can fill the gaps for me when a "real" book isn't available or practical.
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