In a move to up the ante against Amazon and its Kindle device, Sony is to make available public domain books from Google to users of its ebook Reader device.
The move will open more than 500,000 classic titles that will be free to users of the Reader.
The move will boost the number of available books in Sony’s ebook Store to over 600,000 titles.
Google has sought to make books from authors such as Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy and the Brontë sisters available for free online.
However, on Amazon, some 245,000 titles generally cost US$9.99 a go.
Google has also announced that it is going to make the collection easily accessible on devices such as the iPhone.
By John Kennedy
