Your Kindle can't do this, local library ebooks now available on the Sony Reader | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

I love reading but I do so either with an electronic book or I listen to them from my downloads from Audible. Here is a listing of libraries that have registered themselves with Sony Library Finder that carry both audio and electronic books.

I wonder if we are truly headed towards the ability to get all our literature from our local libraries or is this just a part of my very long wish list. The big news this week was Google’s announcement of their making available over 1 million books in the ePub format. EPUB is an open-source format that is readable on a slew of devices, including Sony and Plastic Logic readers, the iPhone, and Google Android. Prior to this news release they were only available in PDF format. Take a look at Google books.

Many people still like the touch and feel of a real book and that is their favorite method of reading a book. But there is something to being able to pick up you SmartPhone, or Ebook Reader and begin reading a book where you left off. This is definitely something to think about. I have been playing with Stanza on my iPhone and the interface is very nice and with the flick of finger I am turning pages with a graphic response that is enjoyable to watch.

So my question that I pose is whether this a way for our local Libraries to maintain patronage, along with their brick and mortar and books in paper formats or is this something that is going to go to centralized storage repositories that can maintain the traffic for downloading requests that might someday be required?

I do love my local libraries, the helpfulness of the library personnel, and the beauty of the physical books on the shelves. I would hate to see this disappear into the ether(net) totally.

Your Kindle can't do this, local library ebooks now available on the Sony Reader | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com