Electronic Book opens new chapter for readers
By Bushra Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Electronic Book been described as the gadget that will do for reading what the iPod did for listening to music. This device is capable of storing hundreds of books in electronic formand displaying them with the same clarity as real ink and paper,BBC TVreported.
Unlike previous attempts at creating "e-books", the Reader's screen has no flicker and no back light, allowing bibliophiles to read for hours at a time without eyestrain.
Its electronic paper and ink also require little power, so battery lifeshould not be a problem. To accompany the launch of the Reader, Sony has created an online bookstore selling 10,000 electronic books from six leading publishers.
Ron Hawkins, a vice-president of Sony Electronics in America, said theReader was designed to be easy to use. "Not intended to replace traditional books, but to supplement them, the Sony Reader allows people to take a library of books and other reading material with them wherever they go," he said.
The Reader and Connect bookstore will be launched in America onSaturday.
Although Sony has no plans yet to sell the device in Britain, it couldarrive in the UK next year.
The Reader will sell for around $350 (ś190). It measures seven inches by five inches and weighs around nine ounces. Electronic bestsellers such as The Da Vinci Code can be downloaded from Sony's Connect website to a computer for $6 (ś3.20). Each book can then be transferred to five different Readers.
Once a book has been selected on the Reader's menu, consecutive pages appear on the screen at the touch of a button. Sony claims it can be recharged in four hours and that its batteries will power the equivalent of 7,500 page turns.
It comes with 64MB of internal memory - enough for around 80 books, but also comes with a slot for a removable memory card that can hold hundreds more.
Rather than having an LCD screen, the Reader uses electronic ink and paper.
Its screen is made from millions of tiny capsules, suspended in a transparent liquid coating a plastic film. The capsules contain positively charged white particles and negatively charged black ones. Depending on what type of charge is applied to the page, the white or black particles move to the surface, forming images and words in black and white.
Sony has likened the Reader to the iPod, the portable music player. Just as the iPod lets owners carry their music collection with them, the Reader can store an entire library.
However, some analysts believe the comparison is inaccurate. Most people have just one book on the go at any time and may not see any advantage in carrying a Reader rather than a book.