Sony announces Daily Edition e-reader, you decide

Be amazed. Sony stepped up its game with a wireless version of its e-reader portable device.

Before going into details, I want to tell you the price of said device: $400.

I know what you're thinking. It's hefty sticker for something without color, right? Well, yes and no. While color for this technology is still years away, I think they will slash prices much like Apple has done with its iPhone and iPod Touch.

AT&T has partnered with Sony to provide the wireless broadband access. 3G connectivity is reported to be free, though you will be limited to the eBook store only. By comparison, Amazon's Kindle also offers free wireless and uses the Sprint-Nextel provider.

The Daily Edition e-reader has a seven-inch screen with touch capability, and is slotted for sale in December.

By contrast, Amazon's brand new Kindle 2 e-reader is on sale for $100 less than a new Sony Daily Edition, with the larger Kindle DX selling for around $500, but both Kindles lack touchscreens.

According to Engadget.com and other web sites closely following Sony updates, the company is powering the offensive against Amazon's Kindle by teaming with public libraries; making digital versions of your favorite books available, wirelessly. The New York Public Library is the running back for Sony's launch, carrying the load of thousands of eBooks ready for download, although a volley of other libraries have been brought onboard.

Sony has also thought of copyright issues concerning the distribution of its Readers and content.

Sony eReaders sold in the first Kindle war landed with DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection, but the software was proprietary. Meaning, if Johnson&Johnson invented their own reader, they couldn't use the technology from Sony.

To avoid an Apple iPod domination repeat, and to keep the playing field fair, Sony is promoting a universal document format (EPub), using cues from Adobe Acrobat and similar PC- and Mac-based systems. OverDrive will quarterback from here, becoming the distributor for Sony and enabling users to move copyrighted, and time-sensitive digital copies to the Sony e-reader.

Yes, I said time-sensitive. To engage users to buy, rent more books and material, expiration dates have been set on all things downloaded, though, the details are still a bit fuzzy.