There's also the issue of RSS feeds. Although the Sony Reader offers them, it needs to be pointed out that they have an extremely limited implementation. You can add them only through their Connect Reader Store, and you get, literally, exactly 20 feeds to choose from. And what are they? No, not Reuters, the New York Times, or ABC News. Here is a sampling of what's available:
- The Huffington Post (2 of the 20 choices)
- Gizmodo
- Wonkette
- Engadget
- Seth Godin's Blog
Now to be fair, they do also offer Slate and Salon, which I might actually have picked on my own.
But compare this to what's available on the iLiad through Mobipocket. The 50 Most Popular items at the eNews Store include CNN, ABC News, and the BBC's World News. There's also USA Today, Time Magazine's Top Stories, and a number of French and German offerings. If the top 50 aren't enough for you, there are ten readily-accessible categories with additional feeds:
- Top Stories
- Technology
- Entertainment
- Business News
- Science
- Movies
- Sport
- Weather
- Horoscope
- Religion
Don't like any of those? Click "Add a Feed," and a box comes up saying "Please enter the URL of the eNews (RSS, RDF, or ATOM feed) you want to add." For me this has worked flawlessly, even with one provider of paid online content, which I already pay for (the Wall Street Journal).
I'd like to be the first one to announce that with the Mobipocket RSS implementation and the iLiad, the eBook newspaper is now a reality. It's no longer a question of when material will be made available: it's here now, and it couldn't be easier.