By the Chapter and Verse Team » Canada may have missed out on being part of the international launch of the best-selling Amazon Kindle, but the news isn't all bad for those keen on purchasing a digital ebook reader.

The Kindle 2 was made available to 100 other countries on October 19 amid much teeth-gnashing in Canada, which was not among the hot 100. (The main reason, apparently, is that Amazon has yet to strike a deal with a wireless carrier in Canada to allow it to deliver wireless content to the Kindle).

For now, Canadians have only one major alternative - but it's a very good one: Sony's Reader Digital Book.

Unlike the Kindle, Sony's platform requires the reader to be connected to a  computer (via USB) to go online to search and buy eBooks. It can connect to both PC and Mac computers.

The two main Sony models are the more recently launched PRS-700 Reader Digital Book and the still popular PRS-505 model. The 700 has a number of excellent features that distinguish it from the older model.

According to Sony, "The eBook store has approximately 55,000 titles available for purchase and download. Canadians can also access hundreds of thousands of public domain books from Google, boosting the available titles to Canadians from the Sony eBook Store to more than 400,000."

The Reader Digital Book models feature high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display technology which provides a reading experience very much akin to ink-on-paper. The result is crisp text and graphics that are readable even in bright sunlight. 

Two big advantages over the Kindle: Touch-screen technology which makes it much more like using a real book; and a built-in LED reading light f For times when ambient light is not available (PRS-700).

The Reader models use minimal power and can sustain up to 7,500 pages of continuous reading on a single battery charge. They support multiple file formats for eBooks, personal documents and music. 

With the included eBook Library 2.0 PC software, you can easily transfer Adobe PDF documents with reflow capability, Microsoft Word documents, BBeB files and other text file formats to the Reader. 

• Buy the Sony Reader Digital Book at Amazon