Today, Amazon lowered the price of its Kindle 2 e-Book reader by $60.
[ Photo courtesy of Amazon.com ]

Amazon has moved to address what we've cited in the past as the biggest drawback to the company's family of Kindle e-book readers: Their high prices. The company has dropped the $359 price of its flagship Kindle 2 by $60. However, the price of the newest and biggest Kindle, the DX, remains unchanged at $489.

At its new price of $299, the Kindle 2 now competes in price with the least-expensive e-book reader from Sony, Kindle's closest rival. The Sony Reader 505 lists at $299, but is currently available for $279.99 from Sony and $268 from Amazon.

The Kindle 2 is now significantly less expensive than the newest Sony, the 700C, which is $349. This top-of-the-line Sony has a touchscreen and night LED lights, both features that the Kindles lack. However, the Kindles can receive content wirelessly, using the Sprint data network — and the price of the units in part reflect the cost of that access, which is free for the lifetime of the device. The Sonys require connection to a PC to receive content.—Paul Reynolds.