Sony’s Reader Digital Book Will Support .epub Format

Sony announced yesterday that starting next month, its Reader Digital Book model PRS-505 will support books in the .epub format, the International Digital Publishing Forum’s XML-based format for reflowable digital books and publications. This makes Sony’s Reader the only e-book reading device to support the format.

“The Reader is an open device, and we will continue to explore formats that will provide the widest variety of content for Reader users,” says Steve Haber, senior vice president of consumer product marketing for Sony Electronics. “The upgrade opens the door to a whole host of paid and free content from third-party e-book stores, Web sites and even public libraries.”

The device will also support Adobe e-books with digital rights management, and have the ability to reflow standard, text-based, PDF e-books. It will also continue to support the BBeB-formatted e-books offered at the Sony eBook Store. Current owners of the PRS-505 model can upgrade their units to support the new format.