Jason Kottke raves about the Sony Librie - the epaper device that’s the most hype-worthy underhyped gadget there is.

"What you can’t see from the photo is how insanely crisp and clear the text on the "screen" is. It was book-text quality…it looked like a decal until you pushed the next button and the whole screen changed. It was *really* mind-boggling and you could instantly see how most books are going to be distributed in the very near future. Despite looking like a computer, when you were reading, it felt like a book because of the resolution (a very odd sensation). And it’s not only for books…I was told that there’s e-paper that’s capable of full-color 24 fps video. Can’t say enough about how blown away I was by the Librie."

But Kottke also catches what might hold this amazing piece of tech - first written about in Online last year - back from rapid, mainstream adoption. In short, it’s built by Sony, the company that drops more balls than any other.

"…uses Sony’s Memory Sticks for more storage, and the content self-destructs after 60 days. If Sony opened this up and used normal flash memory like everyone else, this thing would be huge. Enormous. It’s a TV, video player, book, magazine, gaming platform, and hybrids of all of the above. Instead, they’ll probably keep it closed and someone else will capitalize on it.)"

Matt at Snarkmarket links to another look from Motherdigital.

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