Attack of the E-Readers

Looks like Amazon‘s Kindle has got some competition.

Sony announced two new e-readers today, The Reader Pocket Edition and The Reader Touch Edition. The Pocket is small (5-inch screen) and lightweight, whereas the Touch has a (surprise!) touch screen, an onboard Oxford American English Dictionary, multiple font sizes to choose from, and the ability to save notes that you make while reading.

The readers are priced at $199 and $299 respectively, making The Pocket the most inexpensive e-reader on the market.

Sweetening the pot is a deal that grants Sony’s users access to Google’s public domain library for free.  “Add it up and Sony will have access to more than 1 million books.”

Downsides? Unlike the Kindle these devices do not have wireless capability, though Sony says they “will have an answer [for that] shortly.” Also, exactly like the Kindle, they haven’t come up with a way to capture that new book smell so many of us hold dear.

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Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and was once given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. Formerly of The Rumpus and McSweeney’s and most recently the founding editor of BuzzFeed Books, Isaac is now the co-host of BuzzFeed News’ Twitter Morning Show, #AMtoDM. He also appears frequently on The Today Show to talk books, and is co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (with Recipes) (winner of an IACP award), and the author of a YA novel and picture book forthcoming from Bloomsbury. He uses Twitter.

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