Sony Reader Taps Google's Public Domain Books

Sony Corp is making available public domain books from Google to users of its electronic book reader, Sony said on Wednesday, vastly increasing the amount of available content on the device.



In the latest round of a budding digital book battle with Amazon.com Inc, Sony said that more than a half a million classic titles will be free to users of the Reader, which allows consumers to read books and newspapers on a hand-held device. That will boost the available titles in Sony's eBook Store to more than 600,000, Sony said.

Sony sells two versions of its Reader, which competes directly with Amazon's Kindle. Kindle users can access over 245,000 titles plus newspapers, magazines and blogs. Whereas Amazon touts its relationship with publishers and access to a wide range of best-selling titles - which generally cost $9.99 - as a selling-point for the Kindle, Google has sought to make its collection of public domain books widely available. Public domain books, whether Jane Austin's "Persuasion" or Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace", are no longer protected by copyright. Last month, Google announced it was making the collection easily accessible to mobile devices such as the iPhone, and Amazon has said a similar move was afoot at the company. Sony Reader users will be able to read the Google books on their devices, or download a PDF file to read on a computer. The books are already accessible over the Internet at http://www.books.google.com.

Sony, NBC Ink Content Deal For PlayStation

Sony Computer Entertainment America will make movies and television programs from NBC Universal available to buy or rent through Sony's PlayStation Network, the companies said on Tuesday.

Under the deal, films from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and programs from NBC will be offered for download through the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in the United States.

With the addition of NBC Universal, Sony said its video service now features more than 1,300 movies and 4,500 TV episodes. The content is being offered via the PlayStation Network, which has almost 9 million registered accounts in the U.S. and more than 20 million worldwide. Universal will offer new movies such as "Milk" along with library titles like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." NBC shows including "The Office" and "Heroes" will also be available. Prices will vary depending on the content and the format. NBC Universal is 80 percent owned by General Electric Co and 20 percent by Vivendi.