Sony Corp. has started taking orders for its Reader ERS-500, a device the size of a large paperback novel which can store over 100 books and turn more than 7,000 "pages" before the battery starts to run out. Cost:
$349.00. See:
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY... [1]
It's considerably cheaper than the competing Irex Iliad, on commentator
says. And there's a small library of books to download:
http://ebooks.connect.com/ [2]

But this is black-and-white only. Isn't that a big barrier? But what this shows is the REALITY of very portable readers starting to come on the market. It's fascinating to see that Sony will let you lease one for $12 a month. This is going to have to be wireless enabled before it is perfect, and color. The necessity of downloading to your PC and then moving it into the eBook is a non-starter. Not enough people will be bothered.

But when that is solved, and the display is color, how long is it going to be before enlightened former-newspaper companies say: "Look, instead of paying $10 a month in print, we'll lease you an eBook for $10 a month and you can use it for all kinds of other information, too. All you have to do is download our paper everyday (using a service like Clickshare (full disclosure: Bill Densmore is a shareholder of Clickshare), we'll track that you did that, and bill you)." Fine print: If you don't download our paper every day (allowing us to claim ABC circulation) the cost is $25 a month, or we repossess the eReader. Big print: "And by the way, you can use your Brattleboro Newshare account to pay for an array of other Internet content, too -- music, archives, movies, gameplays."