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Sony Touch eReader to Go to School no comments

Posted at 1:18 pm in eBook Readers & Textbooks,kindle dx,Random,Sony eBook Readers

Sony of Canada announces in a press release (via Sonyinsider.com) that high school students at Blyth Academy will be using Sony Touch ereaders “that are pre-loaded with course textbooks, outlines, assignments, reference materials, background reading and personal timetables.”

Amazon’s Kindle DX ereader did not receive many good reviews in its own academic trials at the collegiate level. I think that this was to be expected and came as little surprise as the necessary study tools are just not in place in the current version of the Kindle DX. Presumably Amazon will use the feedback that they received to make Kindle DX 2 much more viable for use in the classroom.

The Kindle DX also ran into problems with the National Federation of the Blind, which claims that the Kindle DX ereaders discriminate against the blind. While the Kindle’s TTS feature would be great for visually impaired readers, it is difficult for a blind person to turn it on without sighted help. The Federation says that the menus should have a spoken option as well.

While this seems true and the Kindles do need more accessibility (Amazon is reportedly working on this), the National Federation of the Blind’s tactics of boycotts, filing complaints with the Department of Justice against schools in the trials and even filing suit against one school seem rather heavy handed. Wouldn’t it be more productive to work with Amazon to improve accessibility rather than just blocking the trials? After all, this is a relatively new technology, and one which holds promise for all students, especially those with disabilities.

I’m not sure if the Sony ereaders will face this particular hurdle in Canada – it does not have any text to speech feature. It does have somewhat better study tools than the Kindle DX with its touchscreen and stylus. I would think that the Kindle DX ereader’s larger screen would be much better suited for use in reading textbooks though.