Sony finally launched the Reader this week, just in time for the holiday shopping season. This isn't going to be the kind of success that the PS3 will be, but I think it is a hugely important product just the same. Sony is going to spend a bunch pushing the concept of the electronic book to consumers, signing up publishers from Houghton-Mifflin to Tokyo Pop, and even bringing book retailer like Borders on board. As a result, the eBook market could finally be exiting from a long, depressing slump.

Before I continue, I have to confess: I am an eBook fan and always have been. Last year, I read "The DaVinci Code" on my Treo 650. I reviewed RocketBook and a few others over the years and almost bought the spin each time vendors told me they were going to "change publishing forever." Sure, the products were bulky, expensive, hard to find, and painful on the eyes when you tried to read them for long periods of time. They also had very little available content (Go Project Gutenberg!) and pitiful battery life. Other than that, they were great. Okay, so eBook readers have always sucked, but with the Reader, Sony solves many of these problems.

I tried out a preproduction version of the Reader this summer for a few weeks and was pretty impressed. The 6-inch, 160-dpi electronic ink screen is easy to read in normal lighting conditions. The screen isn't backlit, so you'll need a reading light the same way you would with a regular book. Of course, this is what gives the device its days-long battery life.

You can buy it at SonyStyle.com for a pretty steep $350, but for a limited time, the company will throw in a $50 credit for buying eBooks. The books are sold in DRM-protected BBeB format, but the device will also read unprotected PDFs and RTF files. Of course, it would be better if the Reader supported the protected PDFs that are sold by many online eBook sellers, but that is still a pretty open platform--for a Sony product anyway. Plus, the device can download RSS feeds. Browsing through Gizmodo, Engadget, and Lifehacker posts wasn't exactly pretty, but it worked. (But where is Gearlog? I'm working on it.)

At $350, the Reader will remain a geeky, early-adopter product for the next year or so, but that's OK. Sony is getting the ball rolling again. Already, Panasonic is working on the WordGear, an eBook reader with a 5.6-inch, color screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600. Amazon is reportedly working on a hardware device that will work with its MobiPocket system. Who knows? Maybe the price of the iRex iLiad will come down a bit. Right now, it is a steep $800!

To be fair, the iLiad uses the same electronic ink technology the Reader does, but it has a bigger screen and built in Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, it costs nearly twice as much as the Reader and doesn't support DRM-protected books. Not yet, anyway. (Word is, that will change in a few weeks.)

What would guarantee the Reader's success? If I were Sony, I would try to make some inroads into the college market. Think of all those textbook publishers churning out expensive, heavy-print editions that students need for just one semester. They may seem like a stodgy bunch, but I think they will jump at the chance to publish electronically. Right now, the only ones making money from used textbooks are college bookstores. This is a perfect market for both eBooks and the Reader. Sony could let professors map out all their course requirements right in the Connect online store. Hell, you could lease the Readers to students and still make money on the deal.

As it is, Sony is selling books for about 75 percent of the paper price. The hardcover of "Cesar's Way" sells for $24.95; it's available for $14.36 on Sony Connect. No bad, but not great either, considering the cost of making and distributing an eBook is next to nothing. Eventually, Sony will have to hand over the book-selling business and focus on hardware and services: Buy an eBook anywhere, read it on any device. We aren't there yet, but now that the Reader is finally out, I think we might get there soon.

Dan Costa is the Consumer Electronics Editor at PC Magazine and a cohost of Gearlog Radio; check back every Thursday for his take on the world of gadgets, gear and other tech stuff.