"Instead of black, the Sony Reader now comes in silver or dark blue."

The original Reader was a dark blue also but it looks black unless you have bright light.

I know, just nit-picking...

I'll stick with my Axim x51v for now, thanks for ebooks.

Cellphones can't do that yet? Cmon guys, another thing to carry/charge/dock/sync...

You have to really read a lot to apreciate this thing... but count on Sony to beat a dead horse just a few more years... I hear they still sell mini disk players too

So... this is probably a reeeeally stupid questions but... does it do color? I don't think it does from any of the descriptions and my memory of e-ink, but it keeps talking about displaying jpg's and whatnot... just... I dunno, I think I know the answer but I'll throw it out there anyway.

Flame on!

I need a letter/A4 size e-book reader for scientific papers. It would be so nice because when I have a lot of reading it's either torture my eyeballs with a backlit screen or deforest half of North America.

No it doesn't do color, not possible at this time with e-ink.
I read a lot, I know loads of people who do, this thing beats the shit out of books because it's smaller, lighter, can carry tons of them, and I can get all my books free now. Why wouldn't this be a good idea for avid readers?
And dont get the Sony, get a Bookeen:
[www.bookeen.com]

Personally I'd prefer to continue listening to audio-books on my iPod.

there are people that read things other than novels, too. not saying there are enough to support the product. but just because buying this for reading novels might not be so great, it doesn't mean it's a useless product.

still, i wish it was under $200 . . .

The Bookeen does actually look better. It all depends on the price tag, though. If it can beat $200, it might be worth a shot. I spend that much on novels alone in a six month period.

Smaller and lighter than a book is a very good start, but how long do I have to wait until they make one ipod sized? I just want something that can fit in my pocket and I know I can't be alone on this...

I know the Mac community is a niche in the big picture of things, but we do jump on the new tech bandwagon better than anybody. so yet again no Mac support so again no sales. I guess things are going pretty good over at Sony so they can afford to do it their way. By the way......Bookeen supports al of the major OS players. Guess my business will go in that direction.

@jimcord: I'm not going to bitch about the lack of Mac lovin' (hey MS, would've loved to try a Zune but kind of can't). Until at least 75%-80% of new books (both fiction and non-fiction) are in e-book format, I'm not buying. The selection in the physical world is far more robust.

Also, I just wasn't a fan of the original Reader. The text looked like it was written on a thermal fax from 1987. Actual factual books are easier on the eyes.

It's a beautiful device. But it doesn't do search, so forget it. I read ebooks on my Palm Treo and not only are they searchable but you can highlight a word and jump right to the definition in the dictionary. I'd get the Sony device if you could do these things.

A couple of months back IEEE Spectrum had a roundup of cool new devices, and what people - as in, actual potential consumers - thought about them.
One of these gadgets was a flexible, newspaper like ebook reader. More like a screen, really.
Don't remember the exact specs, but it would beat the hell out of both the Sony reader and the Bookeen if it became an actual product. Bigger actual screen, smaller carrying size, easier handling.

I agree on the search part, but for me, this ebook reader would mostly serve for leisure reading anyway, so it wouldn't be a big issue. Again, if it comes down to under $200, it'd worth it simply for the convenience.

@omg-ponies:

A fax from 1987? You must've been looking at the SONIE keepin-it-real-fake version. The text looks a heck of a lot better than a lot of trade paperbacks I've seen.

I have one of these. It rocks. Load it up with books and the documents I need to read (PDFs, etc) and go. The ability to resize text is a lifesaver when the eyes are exhausted but I have 200 pages left that aren't optional.

my answer? Buy a cheap Palm and read all the e-book you want, for a hell of a lot cheaper.

Oh, and when you get tired of reading, you can play a game, or surf the net, or read your e-mail, or work on some office docs.

lame, lame lame lame lame lamity lame.

shame on you if you buy into this overpriced, limited piece of [crap] technology.

Repeat after me....Palms dont use e-ink, Palms dont use e-ink, Palms dont use e-ink, Palms dont use e-ink, Palms dont use e-ink. Your ability to comprehend is lame.

I returned the original Reader for a refund because it couldn't flip a downloaded pdf book into landscape mode for viewing. For example, Google Books has digitized Harvard's library, but you'd need a magnifier to read the mini-pdf.

But, from the description above about handling pdfs ("best when formatted for the Reader's display"), I suspect that they haven't addressed the original problem.

Can anyone find out?

The e-ink readers also are great for long trips or people who travel alot. You can go 4 or 5 books before you need a charge.

Reading an e-book on a Palm or a Axim (I have a 51v) is ok in *short* intervals but the backlight begins to tire your eyes out quickly and the constant scrolling can be annoying sometimes.

For those who want some more letter sized that lets you take notes and do more university type tasks look at the iLiad [www.irextechnologies.com]

e-ink will take over the world, mark my words. You people should read Innovator's Dilemma.

Two things about this new model. I own the old one. 1. Is it still heavy like the older model? 2. why can't they make the screen bigger or decrease the size of the border, especially the bottom?

Sony products always worry me, what with their uber-DRM tactics and all. And for this price tag, it seems a color screen wouldn't be too much to ask.

I am pretty suspicious of Sony's claim about having the "majority of the NY Times Bestseller list" in their catalog. Most new releases are not available in the ebook format due to piracy concerns. And even if Sony does actually have them, I am sure they are in some ridiculous proprietary format that means you can only read the books as long as you own their specific device.

For reading novels, the Palm is too small for me. I have been using the Ebookwise for the past 18 months. While it is extremely basic, it has served my needs very well. The screen resolution isn't the greatest, but I have never had a problem reading text comfortably--and it easily holds just as many books as the Sony model.

For those wanting to look at graphics as well, the Ebookwise would not be a good solution. Nor would it be good for reading in direct sunlight--too much glare--but I imagine this is a problem with most electronic readers. My only real gripe is the lack of PDF support, but for $120, I can deal with conversion.

Damn, can i trade my last year's model in for the new one? Blue suits me better than black.

did they fix the issue of it breaking when you breathe on it yet? : P

For everyone saying a palm/ipod can do the same, you obviously don't know what you're talking about. I download tons of ebooks, in fact, you can find almost any book you want in digital form. As for reading them on anything that emits light, good luck on your eyes, because you'll be blind very soon.

I was really interested in this product until I saw one on display.
It was a demo unit and had image burn-in all over the screen.

Just got one works well