Sony have finally announced the Sony Reader to be available in the UK from September. It's about time the reader has been available in the US for about 18 months now. We were fortunate enough to be able to try one last year whilst on a 3 week business trip/holiday.

I have to confess I have always thought that Digital books would never catch on. I have tried to read books on laptops and PDA's  on long journeys and found I lost interest or my eyes became tired  and on a very small pda screen found I was doing too much scrolling up and down the page. Repetitive Strain injury would set in before I finished the book! So I have always gone back to the good old dog eared paperback you could settle down in comfort and lose yourself in a good story.So I was very cynical when I was offered the chance to have one on trial for two weeks. My initial surprise was how slim and light the Sony Reader Touch is. It fits comfortably in your hand. My second reactions was how good and easy on the eye the new E Ink® technology uses 8 different shades of grey and doesn't feel like you are reading a computer screen. I then needed some books to read. The books came with a Cd with 100 classic books on it. from War an peace to Jane Austin. As I was on holiday and wasn't in a phase of high culture I settled to download a  Lee Child thriller.  The download process was simple to use  and certainly as easy as downloading music to your I-pod. Once downloaded The book appears in your main directory. You just select it and the book appears on the screen. You can then select the book to read.  I found it really easy to use the controls. When reading the book you turn a page by moving your finger across the screen  (the pocket edition uses buttons) you can move backwards or forwards and you can bookmark a page at anytime. It was a tribute to the Sony Reader that I very quickly became engrossed in the exploits of Jack Reacher and soon forgot I was reading a book on new gadget!

So in summary, after my review I bought one. If I was a person who didin't travel and just read books in the house I think I would find it hard to justify it's £229 price tag, but as I travel quite alot and when I do I take up to 5 books at a time then the saving on weight,space and sheer convenience.