Readers of this Techblog or of my personal blog will know that I'm a fan of eBook technology. I love the idea of being able to take my personal library with me anywhere, to read at any time.Recently I had the opportunity to try out one of Sony's new eBook Readers, the Sony PRS-600 Reader Touch Edition, for a couple of weeks.But before I get started on this unit, I'd like to direct you to my previous review of a similar Sony Reader as a starting point...no need to summarize, this is the web after all. Read it and come back, I'll wait:Hands on with a Sony eBook ReaderOk, all caught up? Excellent.It's all in the TouchThe big deal about the Touch Edition is obviously the touch screen technology. In the above mentioned article I griped about the placement of the page-turn buttons. The fact that the interface used button technology to navigate around the screen and around the book was a problem for me -- I'm used to reading my ebooks on a touch screen, have been since the Apple Newton and Palm Classic days. So for me, it's all about the ability to interact with the text on the screen in a meaningful way. We don't need no steenkin' buttons!I want to touch itLet's look at the act of reading for a moment. What do you do with a paper-based book. You read it by turning the pages. You make notes (in the book margins) about the content. You fold the page to bookmark your location. You look up (in a glossary or in an external dictionary) words you don't understand. You get your hands slapped for breaking the spine. On better eBook readers, all these functions are available in the device, except for the breaking the spine bit. The Sony Reader PRS-600 has the following features: 6 inch eInk display512MB onboard memorySD and Memory Stick PRO Duo memory expansion slotsBuilt in dictionaryTouchscreen highlighting and annotatingBuilt in audio player (unsecured MP3 and AAC) But these are pretty much inline with Sony's other units in the Reader line. The two standout differences are the button placement, and the touch screen interface. This unit has far fewer buttons, as the touch screen is now the interface. I like this. It gives the Reader a much cleaner and sleeker look. You can still use the buttons to flip pages, but you can also simply swipe your finger or the stylus across the screen to turn pages. Touch it, how 'bout I read itWhen it comes down to it, all these features are meaningless if they get in the way and keep taking you out of the story to figure out where the button to jump back a page or two is. Not on this unit. I spent about a week with it, reading between 1-2 hours an evening, and after an initial period of adjustment; determining best grip for page-turning and comfort, the device/interface vanished for me. I became more involved in the content of the story I was reading, than I was in the process of displaying and manipulating that content. My primary gripe from the previous Sony Reader review had vanished -- no more button mashing. It became natural to 'swipe' the screen to turn the page, though I did have to learn the 'right' pressure needed to turn the page. But, unfortunately, one secondary problem still remained. When jumping between chapters or manipulating the menu, the screen refresh rate is slower than I'd expect, resulting in a 'flash' as the screen rebuilt itself.  Also, in some lighting conditions, the glare off the screen was noticable, especially when compared to a glossy iPod Touch under the same lighting conditions.   But curiously, I found that in low light conditions, say a bedside reading lamp, readability of the page actually improves. The larger screen and scalable font size make reading in low light conditions possible. And, since the Reader used eInk technology which doesn't require a backlight, there's much better readability in bright or direct sunlight than you'd get on the iPod Touch. Also, no backlight means much longer battery life -- Sony says up to two weeks. And again, I do like the crisp text produced by the eInk display. It's really very easy to read for an extended period of time. But overall, it's really the addition of the touch screen technology that really makes this unit a reader worth reading -- pushing buttons to change the page just seems so 20th century. Message Edited by bgrier on 10-05-2009 11:57 PM