Bound for a Plastic Spline

IT'S JUST A MATTER OF MONTHS before I'm carrying around an e-book reader, probably the Sony eReader with its plastic spline at right. I'm not abandoning my expansive collection of hard cover books. Instead, I'm acknowledging that publishers, literary agents, editors and booksellers are using the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle more and more. I've friends who tell me they're reading more things on their iPhones than they are on any other screen. I've other friends who are downloading briefs on their Sony Readers because they can fill travel time very productively while flicking electronic screens. Fair dues needs to go to the iPod Video, because its video capabilities blazed the way for the iPhone's screen to be used as one of the most disruptive items of technology ever unleashed on the pubishing industry. Even though Sony eReaders and Amazon Kindles will continue selling strong, that's still not motivation enough for the daily broadsheets in Ireland to shift some of their production onto premium downloadable content optimised for the electronic screens that are appearing in hand luggage throughout passenger terminals worldwide.

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Previously: specs on the Sony eReader

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