With recent disappointing news that the much awaited Amazon Kindle 2 is being delayed, Sony has released their $400 PRS-700 Reader and initial reviews say that it is difficult to read.

I can already see publishers across the country, sighing with relief that Sony struck out with their latest ebook reader which had potential to be very cool. Sony improved on this reader by including a touchscreen, a sidelight as well as a simpler interface but forgot to making the screen easy to read. The design flaw is the horrendous glare caused by the translucent layer used by the touchscreen and sidelight, rendering the device useless.

Sony also made no improvements on the software side of reader.

I guess they totally dropped the ball on this one. What could’ve been very cool improvements to last year’s reader did nothing but reduce the paper replacement to a paper weight.

There are rumors circulating that Amazon’s Kindle 2 E-book reader has been delayed and won’t make its pre-holiday target release date. Actual release is said to be sometime during Q1 of 2009.

Rumor has it that the device was on schedule for its target date until Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, demanded last minute software changes.

The Kindle was released one year ago and sold out within hours of its release. The highly popular device has the ability to wirelessly purchase and download books from the Amazon website through connectivity to Verizon’s EVDO network.

Most recently, Oprah has endorsed the reading device as a "must have" for anybody serious about reading.

The second-generation device is supposed to have design improvements over its predecessor while including a "power-over-usb" feature. No official specs have been released yet.

Oprah Winfrey has named Amazon’s Kindle her favorite gadget and is offering customers fifty dollars off the device to commemorate her pick.You don’t have to actually watch the popular daytime host in order to get the discount. Simply enter OPRAHWINFREY at the checkout to get the discount. The code will only work until November 1st, so get going.

For only $506 per year, you can receive early editions of the French newspaper Les Echos. Specifically, you’ll have access to the next mornings 6:00am print version at 9:00pm the evening before. You have to provide your own e-reader, which can be an iRex iLiad, STARebook, or Amazon Kindle. If you’re French (or speak the language) and really like getting your news early and portable, this might be of interest.

If you love reading like I do, how about a device that allows you to have a number of stored material without having to lug around so many books? Sony just did it with their Portable Reading System.  The PRS-500 is thin and light at 1/2″ thick, weighing about 9 ounces.

This will introduce a new way to experience reading with a 6″ screen and E Ink® technology making the pages you read paper-like. You can magnify the text, illuminate it when it’s dark and view it at different angles. 

Along with its portability, it has 64 MB of storage, allowing you to hold up to 80 electronic books.  If that isn’t enough, the expandable memory slot allows you to get more memory, so you can definately hold tons more. Also, the Sony® Reader can give you thousands of material to choose from because it allows you to search and browse through popular electronic books. You can get the titles from the CONNECT™ eBook online store, but you won’t be limited to these files, you can definately upload your PDF files!

I wish I had this during college…oh by the way, it’s also energy efficient with great battery life. Price? Only $300 bucks after your $50 rebate.