Image source: www.ubergizmo.com

The e-book has been around about for some time, but the most important hinderance for books to actually move into the digital realm has been the lack of an affordable e-book reader that was any good. While there are masses of other significant challenges that need to be overcome before big publishers get heavy about e-books, a key primary step is the hardware itself.

The good news is that Sony’s gotten a lot right with its Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader System ( $299 ), which the majority know as the Sony Reader. Slim and comparatively lightweight; screen needs no backlight and is easy to read in bright environments ; with the addition of optional memory card ( SD or Memory Stick Pro ), it’s able of storing thousands of electronic books ; font size can be altered with a single button push ; decent battery life ; displays PDF and Word files, most image files, and plays MP3 and AAC audio.

Overall, we were fond of the way text is shown on the screen, and we did not suffer eye-fatigue over long reading periods. Having said that, it seemed to be a tiny troublesome that when you turn a page, the screen takes a 2nd to refresh. This is known as a “ghosting” effect and it seems to be an inherent disadvantage to E Ink technology.

Even though it’s not a big deal, when we showed the Reader to other users, it is one of the 1st remarks they made–they predicted the page turn to be more liquid. Though the Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader System is a magnificent platform for reading e-books and other documents, the price and availability of compatible “books” makes it a tougher sell.