New Sony Reader Impressions
No, not from me – they *still* don’t sell the thing down under. But over at the teleread blog, they’ve posted Mike Cane’s impressions of a first fondle. Overall, it seems like a slight improvement over the original device – and as Mike points out, the existence of a version 2.0 product suggests that Sony is a bit serious about ebooks. As usual, it’s not the technology itself that’s problematic, but the culture surrounding it. The killer quote is this:
But, man, those e-book prices have to drop. I mean, they should be like five dollars, tops. Really. Sony is basically asking me to risk my money on a locked-up file format that might go away, making my purchases worthless and me left feeling like a sucker.
The Book is Dead 
Hi, you might be interested in knowing that since amazon introduced their (horrible) Kindle, ebook prices have indeed dropped to sane levels. There are now at least *nine* ebooks I would buy because their prices are now competitive — sometimes even below — their paperback prices. I still haven’t gotten a Sony Reader yet, but want to. Despite lacking features of the Kindle, it is a superior reading device.
Hi Mike… I also want to get a Reader, for research purposes of course :-). But it’s a little tricky to source one down here in Oz – there’s not the same grey market appeal that the iphone has! Besides, I doubt if I’ll be able to *legally* purchase from the Connect Store.
There is always ebay. Though the prices for even used ones are surprisingly high. As for content, well, there are sources. (But if you do that, be sure to you own or buy the print copy. I don’t want writers to starve! I am simply against DRM which can obsolete e-versions.)