Less than a month after Sony Corporation announced the launch of the Sony Reader, a device for reading electronic books, Adobe Systems has released a beta version of Digital Editions, a software package that includes an e-book viewer. Digital Editions is a free 2.5 mega-byte download that works in conjuction with Adobe's Flash Player 9, which is also available as a free download from Adobe's Web site.

The beta of Digital Editions can only be used with Microsoft Windows; a final version is planned for release in early 2007. The software for Macintosh is sheduled to be released later this year. Adobe is also offering a selection of free e-books, including F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, Henry James's Daisy Miller, and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

To download Digital Editions and e-books, visit Adobe's Web site [2].