Sony takes a swing at Kindle with free books
Sony today announced that its eBook store now carries over 500,000 free public domain titles, thanks to a partnership with Google.
The company's eBook Library desktop software is designed like a stripped down version of iTunes, organizing the user's content library, and serving as a portal to the eBook Store from Sony. Today, the software features a link called Unearth a Classic which goes to Google's Book Search database of public domain content optimized for the Sony Reader.
Sony's Reader, has been around considerably longer than Amazon's Kindle and is now in its third generation. The devices have scored crucial shelf space in some of the United States' biggest retail chains: Borders/Waldenbooks, Target, and Wal-Mart, but became immediately outdated by the Kindle, which offered wireless access to content in its first generation. Sony's products have yet to offer wireless connectivity, but can be filled with books via USB connection to a PC, or through SD and Memory Stick Duo removable memory, like many PMPs.
The inclusion of Google Book Search increases the eBook Store's size sixfold, and also means that the majority of Sony's eBook is now free content. "We believe in an open platform for accessing and reading books, and we're excited to partner with Sony to help bring these public domain books to more people," said Adam Smith, Google product management director.
Two of Sony's Readers support Google's free library, the $350 PRS-700, and the $300 PRS-505, but not the original PRS-500.