The Sony Reader

The New York Times reports that Amazon, Google, and Sony are again focusing on digitizing the age-old book, a US$ 35 billion a year business.

Amazon is preparing to launch its own digital reader. Called the Kindle and priced between US$ 400 and US$ 500, the reader connects wirelessly to a new ebook section on the Amazon site.

Meanwhile, Google will start charging users for full access to the digital copies of books stored in its database. Publishers set the price for access, and will be sharing profits with the search engine giant.

This week, Google also rolled out a tool that lets users paste excerpts of books into other websites.

Ebooks returned to the limelight with last year's introduction of the US$ 300 Sony Reader. Its long battery life and ability to store 80 books has been compared to Apple's musical approach with the introduction of the iPod.

These moves have driven Barnes & Noble to rethink its decision to stop selling ebooks in 2003. Over the next 18 months, it too will begin selling ebooks on its website.