With the gorgeous Sony Reader being launched this Friday, it is starting to make some headlines. The Times is questioning whether it signals the death of the paperback. Though, I think that a 70 year old librarian might not be the demographic that Sony are going after. Asked for her opinion, she brings up a good point “If you dropped it in the bath it would do terrible damage”. That’s right people, be warned. If you drop your Sony Reader in the bathtub, Civilisation as we know it will come to an end!

At the start of the month, I wrote about the launch of Sony’s sexy new eBook Reader. I managed to get my hands on one of these for 5 minutes while in the US last week.

Its very slim and light, while still sturdy. Great for throwing into a bag when travelling. The display was really clear and very readable. The non-backlit display meant that it was very similar to reading a real book with very little strain on the eyes. There is no scrolling, so if you zoom in, it repaginates the book. There were 3 levels of zoom, the middle one I found to be the most readable. The only minor issue was the response lag, taking a second or two to respond to a page turn or go back to the menu. Its a slow transition too, with a fading effect from the previous page to the next. Though, once you are used to it, it doesn’t cause any major problems. I heard rumours that colour displays are not that far away, which would be a major bonus, especially for reading non-fiction books such as text books.

For my 2 cents, these things are going to have as big an impact as mp3 players did a few years back, maybe not this Christmas but definitely in the next year or two. The question is, are Apple going to get in on the act?

Sony’s new Reader is now available for preorder on their UK Store for £199. It is a lovely looking piece of kit capable of storing 160 eBooks from a library of thousands of titles available on Waterstones.co.uk. Its thin, light, sleak and uses a special 6″ screen that acts like real ink and is easy on the eye. I want one.

*Update – the price is £199 + VAT with free delivery.