Another E-Book, Another Proprietary Format

It seems to me that if e-books are every going to become mainstream-popular then they're going to have to offer something that traditional paper books don't: that could be far lower prices, additional content (perhaps interactive) or a breadth of titles impossible to produce in the real-world due to the low return on ultra-niche subjects.  Instead, we get more and more hardware designs, each with their own slightly different take on the concept and, more interestingly maybe, the amount of DRM needed.  Today's e-book, children, is the STAReBOOK from capital-loving Chinese manufacturer eREAD.

Apparently "the lightest and thinnest electronic reader in the world right now" at 176g and 8mm thick, it stores books on SD card and comes complete with editing software that allows users to put together their own books or magazines.  These are, unsurprisingly, saved in a proprietary format "STK".  A four-way joypad with centre select handles page-turns and navigation, while mp3 support gives you a break from studying.  The e-ink display itself is 800 x 600 pixels with four levels of greyscale; no battery life predictions from the 800mAh Li-Ion power pack are given. 

Will it ever make it out of China?  Who knows.  As I said, there has to be a monumental shift in the attitude towards e-books and media licencing before they'll become must-haves.

STAReREAD [via Akihabara News]