Latest chapter in the e-book saga

E-books will mature as a product at some point -- with so many big names pushing them, they almost have to. (Even if it's to Harper Lee's chagrin.) Sony launched its new Reader just last month, and Amazon's digital "Upgrade" service was announced at Book Expo earlier this year.

The latest news come from Adobe, which is releasing a beta version of its Adobe Digital Editions software. Besides supporting multiple formats, this software will also enable a social networking feature for shared reading lists.