Sony Out of E-Book Business, What Does It Mean For Customers?

Sony has finally done it. In a move that did not surprise anyone, Sony finally pulled the plug on its e-book business to focus on other areas. I gave up on Sony a long time ago. But a lot of people were still doing business with the company. If you have bought laptops or e-books from the company, you are not out of luck. You will still get proper support. As far as the Reader store goes, Kobo will take care of its customers:

Sony announced in early February that it plans to close Reader Store in the U.S. and Canada on March 20, 2014. Unless a customer chooses to not be included in the transfer process, Reader Store will transfer customers to Toronto-based eReading company Kobo …

Until the Reader Store is closed on March 20, 2014, you can continue to shop at the Reader Store and use your Reader device. In late March, you’ll receive an email from Reader Store with instructions on how to transfer to Kobo.

As part of the transfer process, we will send you a link to enable you to transfer your Reader Store library and any Reader Store account credits to a Kobo account.

Yes. Whether or not you transfer to Kobo, you can download eBooks you previously purchased at Reader Store until April 30, 2014. However, if you transfer your eBook library to Kobo via the transfer link, you will continue to have access to your eBooks after this date.

Highlights, bookmarks and annotations you made in your Reader Store eBooks will not be available after you transfer your library to Kobo.

This means you will have to backup your data just to be on the safe side. The transition might not be as smooth as it sounds. Besides, your bookmarks and annotations won’t be transferred. It’s unfortunate but that’s the best Sony and Kobo can offer at this point.