I'd really like to see it in action. Last time Sony produced a hardware solution to eBook reading it was absolutely awful, but the technology has come miles since then. If Sony has a hardware reader that reads as well as MS Reader's free software, and if they can get the price down into comfort range, it'll change everything.

I wonder If I will need to use the Sony E-Book Reader with a clip-on light for dimly lit cafes.

The Sony Ereader has come up for ordering
link Sonystyle
www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/IN...tion-Start

I have one and can give a few first-hand comments:

<> The e-ink is FANTASTIC. The contrast is high and easy on the eyes. Reading the screen at light levels typical of reading paper books is more comfortable than on any backlighted LDC screen available. I know because I have been reading ebooks on my PDA for many years and was surprised how much better the experience is with the E-Reader.
<> The e-ink only requires energy to change. Nothing is consumed when static therefore the battery life for the E-Reader is awsome! One could easily read a long book on a single charge. This is excellent for reading on cross-country plane flights and other extended use situations.
<> In a perfect world the e-ink would also be backlighted for low-light reading, but that is a technological issue, not a design flaw. The suggestion about using a clip on reading light might be the solution -- it works for paper -- the E-Reader is like a book in this respect.
<> The price is too high -- no debate.
<> The ergonomic design is partially good and partially bad: the size is good, the weight is slightly too high, two different sets of page turning buttons make it possible to change hand positions easily, ten buttons are available for speed navigating (good), there is no "home" button for returning to the top of the menu (very bad -- I strongly recommend this to Sony).
<> There are three font size settings: small, medium, large which allows for personal preference and comfort. (*Note: I have noticed that some PDF files don't adjust to all three settings, probably because of formating restrictions in the PDF file itself.)
<> Bookmarking and history lists for every book are very easy to use and convenient.
<> Screen change speed is rather slow. This may be a technological issue with the e-ink and/or a processor issue. I expect Sony to make speed improvements in future models. I have read some strong complaints about this. Although faster would indeed be better, I don't find this to be that big of a deal.
<> Sony's proprietary ebook format allows footnotes, which is cool. The E-Reader will also accept etexts in: rich text (conversion from MSWord docs is done automatically and painlessly by the sync software), plain text, and PDF texts. There is a great repository of FREE ebooks in these formats on

www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page


I'll list a few more points on my blog: rivertyde.com

I recently spent a great deal of time sitting around in hospital rooms reading and have become very fond on my E-Reader. It was expensive and there is room for improvement, but I am still glad I bought it.