It's become quite a habit for various consumer electronics' powerhouses around the world to launch what could be described as “social campaigns”, in which they heavily promote some social issue alongside one of their products, which could potentially solve it. And that's also the case with Sony, that have just announced the start of their “Reader Revolution” campaign during which they'll be trying to promote reading across the US (where, apparently, the interest for reading has reached dangerously low levels).

However, the Japanese company is not talking about going to the library in order to pick up a paperback book. No, they're talking about a whole new era in the reading process, the digital era, with content being available in electronic format and downloadable from the Internet, while paper has been replaced with eco-friendly e-paper.

To be more specific, as of today, Sony begins an extended “read-in” with two-time world record-holder in memory Dave Farrow who will serve as a designated reader in a Manhattan storefront, reading digital books on the Reader around the clock for 30 days. For each page he reads, Sony will provide an eBook library of 100 classic titles to a school or learning institution. The goal is to give 15 million eBook titles by the end of the program. The first 100 schools to start downloading their selected classic titles will also receive an education pack of five Reader Digital Books.

And now, to refresh your memory, let's see what the Reader Digital Book by Sony is all about. The ultra-portable device features a high-resolution, high contrast electronic paper display and can store hundreds of books and other documents using a combination of internal flash memory and optional Memory Stick or Secure Digital (SD) flash memory cards. In addition to electronic books in various formats, including here Adobe eBook and EPUB, the Reader can also store and display personal documents in Adobe PDF format, RTF, text and JPEG photos.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Sony's initiative will actually convince more people to start reading or to purchase one of their readers, but this initiative is nevertheless quite an interesting one, especially from a cultural point of view.  


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