With Sony announcing today that its Reader Digital Book will be able to read electronic books published using the .epub format -- the same that many of the largest book publishers are using -- ring in a new age for e-books?

Until now, Sony's e-book reader could only read books available from the Sony e-book store, PDF documents and digital rights management (DRM)-free text.

Starting next month, the new PRS-505 Sony Reader will be able to access secure DRM- and non-DRM-protected content in the .epub format, formerly called the Open eBook format.

The Sony Reader Digital Book is the first e-book reading device to support the .epub format, which is the XML-based standard format proposed by the International Digital Publishing Forum. It allows publishers to convert books to different formats, protect the copy using DRM and adds the ability to resize PDF e-books and other text to better fit the reader's screen size.

Such publishers as Harper Collins, Random House, Simon & Schuster and Penguin are offering texts in the .epub format.

CNet has more on this development here.