Google and Sony have teamed up to try to take on Amazon and the e-book market today, with Google making its entire library of public-domain e-books available for free on the Sony Reader, Sony’s popular e-book reader. With the new move, Sony has 600,000 titles available compared to Amazon whose library is just over 245,000.
Google’s books are usually available as PDFs but will now be available in ePub format for the Sony reader.
At the same time, Sony announced that they were lowering the price of their PRS-700 reader to $349.99, making it $10 USD cheaper than the newly released Amazon Kindle 2.
The companies note that Google’s books will not work with Sony’s older PRS-500 reader but are fully compatible with the PRS-505 and the 700.
“We founded Google Book Search on the premise that anyone, anywhere, anytime should have the tools to explore the great works of history and culture,” said Adam Smith, product management director for Google Print. “We believe in an open platform for accessing and reading books.”
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If the state of the economy isn’t keeping you from making consumer electronics purchases you may want to find out if there’s a Circuit City closing nearby. On Wednesday the company announced store closing sales at 154 locations.
“Merchandise will be marked down to sell fast. Everything must go,” said Stephen Miller, Principal and Managing Director, Gordon Brothers Group. “The timing couldn’t be better for consumers. We don’t expect this sale to last very long.”
Michael Keefe, President and CEO, Hilco Merchant Resources, said, “This sale comes at a perfect time for everyone to enjoy large savings on many of their holiday gift purchases. Consumers who arrive at the start of the sale will certainly have the best selection of products from which to choose and will find great values on everything in the store.” Both Gordon Brothers and Hilco were brought in to help oversee the store closings.
All sales at the 154 stores being closed are final on items purchased during the store closing event, but normal refund policies will apply to merchandise purchased prior to the sale commencement date. Circuit City gift cards purchased prior to the sale commencement date will be honored, but no gift cards will be sold at the 154 closing stores. Cash and all major credit cards will be accepted but not checks.
You can find a complete listing of the stores being closed at the Hilco Merchant Resources website.
Although many businesses have been hit hard by the economy, Circuit City was already on shaky ground and doesn’t appear to be doing better. Earlier this year Blockbuster considered buying the struggling company, but after they were given access to Circuit City’s books their offer was withdrawn.
