The plot thickens with a thin eBooks device

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LAS VEGAS -- Sony opens a new chapter in the electronic-book saga by unveiling its handheld Reader today at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The tale has been a ho-hum one so far; eBooks account for only about $10 million of the $24billion publishing industry.

But the electronics giant hopes to change that with the Reader ($300-$400) this spring.

Around the size of a paperback but only a half-inch thick, the Reader has a 6-inch gray-scale screen and is easy to hold at less than 9 ounces.

The Reader's breakthrough is its LCD "electronic paper" display, which is touted to be as easy to read as a printed page. The screen is not backlighted and is viewable from multiple angles. And unlike a computer's display, it doesn't "redraw" itself dozens of times a second. The lack of flicker is easier on the eyes.

"This new display technology allows for long immersive reading, the type of which you wouldn't want to do on a computer screen," says Sony's Ron Hawkins. "It's very close to looking at the printed page."

Users can read up to 7,500 pages on a single battery charge, and internal memory stores about 80 books. Extra memory cards will expand storage to hundreds of books.

Timed to the launch of the Reader, Sony plans to have more than 1,000 eBooks available on its Connect online service, where it now sells music (musicstore.connect.com).

Publishers have been selling eBooks for nearly 10 years, but the boom has yet to hit. Most eBooks are read on PCs and PDAs. Typically, eBooks sell for 20%-25% less than a printed book's current selling price.

HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman says she's "very excited" about the Reader. "The time is really right for eBooks to become another format for selling books."

Until now, eBook devices have been too bulky or the displays too hard to read, says analyst Richard Shim of the market research firm IDC.

But technological advances such as the Reader will "help the eBook market take off," Shim says. "And if they can get this download service optimized to a point where it's on the same level as iTunes, they can recharge this market."

Among early fans: best-selling author James Patterson.

"It will get people to look at books in another way," he says. "As we get more and more comfortable watching television on our cellphones, maybe people who have an eBook may read a few chapters (instead)."

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