Sony Reader gets 500,000 free books

by Stevie Smith - Mar 19 2009, 17:15

With the second-generation of Amazon’s Kindle electronic book reader fighting off a sudden burst of negative press, the rival Reader device from Sony Corp. has this week received a timely boost to its appeal thanks to a massive content deal with online search giant Google Inc. 

Specifically, the content deal will result in Reader users being given access to around 500,000 published works, all of which no longer have copyright protection; the deal will also give Sony a distinct catalogue advantage over the Kindle, which presently carries around 245,000 titles.

From Google’s standpoint, the partnership will provide the search specialist with pride of place on the Reader’s dedicated eBook store, which should result in increased traction for its Google Book Search service, reports the Washington Post.

“We believe in an open platform for accessing and reading books,” said Google product management director Adam Smith in a statement, “and we’re excited to partner with Sony to help bring these public domain books to more people.”

Adding to the considerable weight of Google and Sony’s announcement is that the half-million public domain titles have been optimised for viewing on the Reader and all of them are available for free transfer to the portable electronic device via a dedicated section on the eBook store. The only download requirements are a Reader and an eBook store account.

Of course, Google’s extensive listing does not include recently released hits from the New York Times bestseller list, but offers a huge amount of classic titles such as The Awakening, Black Beauty, The Letters of Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. The list is also split across a number of languages including French, German, Italian and more.

While Google and Sony are basking in their combined glory, Amazon is dealing with audio royalty accusations from publishers regarding the Kindle 2’s controversial text-to-speech feature, while Discovery Communications is suing Amazon for supposedly violating its technology patent.

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